Gary Bertholdt and Andre Vermeulen (Atlas Copco Toyota Hilux) overcame numerous obstacles to complete a tough inaugural 4×4 Mega World 400 in ninth place overall in the Production Vehicle category at Carnival City at the weekend.
The Atlas Copco pair did well to recover from a disastrous Donaldson prologue on Friday, when they failed to complete the 67-km time trial after getting bogged down in a muddy vlei. They had suffered a puncture just nine km from the finish and decided to continue driving on the flat tyre. Then, trying to extricate themselves from the mud, they lost four-wheel drive.
Things didn’t improve much in Saturday’s race, round five of the Absa Off Road car Championship, after they started the 356-km race in 58th position among the combined Production and Special Vehicles. “We lost about 10 minutes after straying from the route and then we hit a ditch at speed while travelling in the dust of one of the special vehicles that had started in front of us,” said Bertholdt. “The sump guard came loose, we suffered a flat tyre and the GPS stopped working. We landed hard on our nose and were lucky to even get going again.”
They dragged the sump guard through the remaining 30 km of the opening 178-km loop to the mandatory service stop midway through the race, where their service crew was able to effect repairs and send them on their way again.
“This is a cruel sport and you have to learn to take the rough with the smooth,” said a philosophic Bertholdt. “After all our problems we just hung in there on the second loop and made up as many places as we could in the dusty conditions. I was happy just to finish.”
The three other Atlas Copco crews all finished in the top 10 in the two racing categories. Highest placed was the class A BAT Spec 4 of father and son combination Nick and Ryan Harper, who were fourth overall in the Special Vehicle category after starting the race in 10th place.
Johan van Staden and James Rossouw (Atlas Copco BAT Spec 2) also made a great recovery from a lowly 26th place start position among the special vehicles (thanks to a puncture on the prologue) to cross the finish line in seventh place and second in class P.
Former national rally star Etienne Lourens enjoyed a great off road racing debut with Phillip Herselman in the class P Atlas Copco BAT normally driven by Bodo Bertholdt. Despite a broken pinion tooth in the gearbox on the first of the two 178-km loops that made up Saturday’s race, they were able to maintain second place in class until the sounds from the gearbox became too ominous and the experienced Lourens decided to back off and preserve the car to the finish, crossing the finish line in an impressive eight overall and third in class.
– Credit: Peter Burroughes Communications.