by Jehran Naidoo for Auto Rush
Jacques Janse van Rensberg annihilated powerful all-wheel drive [AWD] cars at the final round of SA Drag Nationals to win the class in front of a home crowd.
The front wheel drive Opel Corsa running turbocharged C20XE motor, which comes off an Opel Superboss, was thrown in with AWD cars despite not being in the same class.
The cars were arranged in cohorts based on their times rather than vehicle specifications.
For instance, all the cars running in the 10.5 to 10.999 second bracket will be in class G.
AWD Vs FWD
The AWD vehicles had an added advantage over WOT Racing’s 9-second build but Jacques put on a show for Killarney Raceway.
“On Friday I went out to test the car and made two passes. The first was 10 flat and the second was 9.7 seconds. Then we found a small problem which caused the car not to shift properly. We did not sort it out but went with it anyway. We broke a CV as well..
“On Saturday I went out and did another two runs, 9.67 and 9.62 seconds,” van Rensberg said.
Jacques and the team swapped the ethanol for methanol which is now revving it up even faster, adversely bringing about some traction problems.
“It’s so much faster now on meth but we making too much power and it’s hard to put down,” he added.
Against the odds
During the first round of the head-to-head racing, the Corsa came up against an Audi and won.
The second run was against a BMW G80 M3 while the final race was against a BMW M4.
“ I did my best 60 foot yet in 1.5 seconds. The car did a 6.3 second ⅛ mile. I have to fit in a wheelie bar going forward because my tyres are getting damaged because of the wheelspin,” van Rensberg said.
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