Pierre Martins

It's definately helping me.

Pierre Martins

Here's the magazine article -

One of my pet hates about sitting in traffic is when it’s backed up for miles and when you finally reach the point where the problem that caused the backup was supposed to be, you find out there was no problem at all. People just slowed down, rubbernecking at an incident on the other side of the highway. Grrrr! Believe you me - you wanna scream in frustration if that caused you to be forty five minutes late for a test at Kyalami involving a supercharged Lotus Exige and three Lotus Seven race cars.

Being late meant there was no time for me to check out the cars beforehand. The moment I pitched up in the Kyalami pit Vaughn ushered me into the little Exige with the words - “You gonna like this…” - and I was strapped in and heading for turn one before I knew it…

Right, let’s see how long it’s gonna take me to figure this strange little car out. It’s small inside. You can just about touch the door panel on the passenger side without leaning out of your seat. Hmmm, the seating position is perfect for my 1.75m frame. You sit nice and low in the car, the gear stick is short, but mounted nice and high on the centre console so you don’t have to reach for it. It’s like they put the gear stick exactly where I wanted it. There’s no “throw” of the gear stick, it’s more like short flick of the wrist action and it’s sweet and slick, not notchy like you’d expect from a track-orientated car.

By the time I reached Sunset Bend I was thinking ‘Crikey! What a sweet little car!’ Somebody put a lot of thought into designing this car. Light, nimble and capable, just like Colin Chapman would have wanted. The whine from the supercharger just behind your head is just-just audible and gives a reassuring torquey push from the 1800cc four pod through the entire rev range. It revs nice, clean and crisp all the way up to 7800rpm when the shift light comes on.

By the time I flicked it through the Esses I was thinking ‘Nah, this is too good to be true…’ Vaughn had told me that this was Lotus SA’s demo car, straight off the showroom floor with no aftermarket stuff on it except for the semi slicks it had on. I had my doubts. The overall package was just too perfect and quite frankly, I was convinced they spannered this thing big time and spent hours and hours on setup to a level where it would impress old track dogs like me. By the time I zipped through the Bowl and wiggled the car’s cheeky little *** as I hoofed it a moment too soon I had a huge smile on my dial. I had forgotten that this was just the warm-up lap. This was just way too much fun. It’s like the gods of sportscar heaven answered my prayers and built a track toy just for me.

In the Bus Stop the car showed that it didn’t mind being grabbed by the scruff of the neck and manhandled around either. In fact, it felt like I could have gone faster so I made a mental note to carry more speed through there next time round.

Onto the pit straight, time to string a hot lap together. Shift light, hook third, shift light, hook fourth and keep your right foot planted. Bring it all the way over to the left and use some of the pit lane entry, wait for the two bumps and peel into turn one flat out, no lifting off. Stay over on the right, feather it a little, get back on the power and pitch it in for a late apex into turn two and let the car coast wide for the run up to Nashua corner. Hmmm, the Lotus gives relatively good drive here, but boost from a big turbo would’ve been much nicer...

Nashua. I’ve always found the quickest way through this corner is to carry high entry and mid corner speed, not braking and powering through the corner. A little ‘confidence’ brake, down to third gear and balancing the car on the throttle through Nashua is easy meat for the Exige. You can carry good speed here and the suspension settles quickly as you crest the table top, so you can hoof it early and use the curb on the exit. For Sunset I just kept it in fourth, dabbed the brakes just a tad, pitched the sucker and started feeding the power back on and allowed it to run wide on the exit. You kinda get the feeling it’s got just enough power to be fast through Sunset without any surprises. It won’t bite your head off.

Back to third for Clubhouse. This is the first corner at Kyalami where you depend heavily on the clamps, and they’re more than adequate. This is also where the track plays tricks on your mind because you come from such high speed into a relatively tight corner. I always try to go faster into Clubhouse than I think I can and the Exige coped very well here. It hardly understeers, even when you push the front end hard on turn in. Third gear is just long enough for the short straight leading up to the esses and then it’s just a quick dab on the brakes, pitch it in, point it straight and squirt it through that little off-camber bit. That was sweet, but I was longing for more power to shove me up the hill to Wesbank corner. And I’m not asking for too much, just an extra 150 ponies on top of the 218hp it’s already making, pretty please? He-he-he...

Mind you, the Joubert bros and Wayne Waldeck campaign some big horse power turbo Exiges in Porsche Challenge Unlimited, and lemme tell ya, these boys are super quick. At Killarney earlier this year Charl Joubert in his lightweight carbon fibre Exige even gave Toby Venter in his monster Porsche a run for his money…

Anyway, I was heading for Wesbank corner before I got distracted by the lust for more horse power. What I usually do there is go in deep and do most of my turning on the outside of that patch of tar and try to get the car straightened out early to get on the throttle early and hard. I know when I get it right is when I change up a gear when I clip the second apex, and once again, the Lotus didn’t disappoint.

Hee-haw!!! Hello Mine Shaft! This part of the track is always a blast, no matter what you’re driving / riding. I’d like to try it on a skateboard one day, he-he-he. Anyway, the high-speed sweeper in the Mine Shaft is a piece of cake for the Exige and you can keep it tight as you slingshot out there, thanks to the well-thought-through aerodynamic package. Straighten out and hit the clamps for the Bowl. You can actually hear the brakes go zzzzzzz and the car feels like it’s sucking the track surface with stopping power. The exit of the Bowl was particularly enjoyable with a massive throttle happy predictable tail out slide. Man that felt good!

For the Bus Stop I carried more speed at higher revs and just yanked the thing through there, short-shifted for the short run to the final corner to start another lap with a huge grin on my face. I stayed out for as long as I could and when they finally waved me in I stole another lap for good measure. He-he.

We were running out of track time and i still had to test the sevens. My mouth was watering for Klippies Krige’s super-fast class ‘A’ Lotus Challenge car on full slicks, but this was a week day and the car was ruled out because it was too loud. The next best thing was Stan Alford’s class ‘B’ car, but I only managed to get three laps in before our track time was up, so unfortunately, the Seven test will have to wait for another time...

Coming back to the Exige S, I really couldn’t believe how good it was straight out of the box. I had a chat to Bradley at Lotus SA and he assured me it’s the real deal. No aftermarket parts were fitted to this car and it received no special treatment with regard to setup and whatnot. The package is really that good and this particular demo car is a fat bargain waiting for someone. Lotus SA is putting this car up for sale soon at a reduced price of more than R200k under book! Time to sweet talk your bank manager!

On a final note lemme just say this - I don’t write to please car makers, race tuners etc for the sake of advertising revenue or to butter them up for future test drives. If I think a car is crap I will say so. The opposite is also true, as is the case with the Exige S. So yes, I really found it to be a delightful track car.

Oh, and they tell me the turbo Exige is even quicker. Hmmmm…

Cheers,
Pierre.

Pierre Martins

DanR

I used to have a seven back in the UK, fun little cars and handle superb!

Pierre Martins

I enjoyed them, but unfortunately I didn't get much seat time in the Sevens. Looking forward to testing them in the near future.

The orange car #B84 had brake problems. You'd push the pedal down and nothing happens, then all of a sudden it bites and you have to back-pedal quickly or you'll lock up a wheel. I pointed that out to the owner and he looked at me like i was stupid or something. It amazes me that some people will race a car with an inherent problem and because they know no better, they think that's how it's supposed to behave.

I heard afterwards that he had the brakes fixed, based on my feedback. The ratios of the master silinders were all wrong and he was running the wrong pads.

Pierre Martins

Some more info and pics of the cars I drove yesterday -

They're called SPEADS. Fantastic cars to drive, both of them. Locally manufactured by Cris Costas. He's sold 84 of these cars to buyers in the UK and US already. I found this website od SPEADS racing in the US -

http://www.racingconcepts.info/gallery/2007_ARRC.shtml

The workmanship is out of this world. The sports prototype is powered by a 220hp 1450cc stroked Hyabusa motor, using the stock Busa box and chain driven with the rear sprocket coupled to a Quaiff diff. The single seater has a 110hp GSXR1000 at the moment, but will be replaced with a similar 'Busa motor to the sportscar version and a quickshifter.

Selling price is +/- US$ 25k. Enjoy the pics. They go as good as they look, trust me.

Pierre Martins

This is my Hungarian buddy, Gabor's 944 turbo. It was build by Mario of M&R Motors in Johannesburg, the guy I test for, as I've mentioned ealier. This is a mental 944 - 495hp! This thing flies. I drove it at a Kyalami track day and they stuck us in one of the slower classes by mistake, so I got to play axe murderer, lapping novice drivers in heavy metal GT2s and GT3s, he-he-he.

So what does Gabor's car feel like...? Lemme try to explain. It's rough around the edges, really rough. The windscreen is cracked. The carbon fibre doors, fender flares and hood are all warped and none of the panels line up properly. The roll cage is rough and unpainted with spots of rust here and there. Under the hood there are no polished aluminium plumbing or fancy anodized bits and pieces. But don't let that fool you. This car is pure business. Plenty moolahs ploughed into horse power, brakes, handling and weight saving. Gabor doesn't give two hoots about looks. The "black bitch" as he calls it is a rebel, period. Driving it... All I can say is wow! It will smoke stock GT2's no problem. With the power this thing has it's no surprise. Going up to Wesbank corner at Kyalami feels like coming down the mineshaft in my 928. Brakes are good, but for some stupid reason Gabor set the brake bias all the way to the front. This unsettled the rear end in tight corners and I got clutchlock off 2nd gear into Nashua and Clubhouse corners a few times, but that kickstarted my drifting genes. It can swing ***. Fantastic day, I enjoyed this car. Life is good! ps - The dude in the passenger seat next to me is one of his Hungarian buddies, Nandor. We call him Nando's, after a local chicken fast food chain...

Sadly, this car hasn't seen much action since the build. Gabor's business took off and family life changed his priorities. The car is parked at Mario's shop. I have my eye on it. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Pierre Martins

Picture a genuine 944 TurboCup going flat out down the back straight at Midvaal Raceway with me in the passenger seat coaching a rookie driver. At the 100m mark this guy threw anchors and what happened? The brake pedal fell to the floor. Well that was his excuse. He panicked, methinks. Instead of using the runoff he suddenly pitched it anyways. Time slowed down. We went sideways off track with the tyre wall coming up at a rate of knots. I braced for the impact. Next thing a bump in the boondocks threw the car up in the air. Spectators say it was airborne by +/- 10 feet.

We came down hard, smacked the tyre wall sideways at about 160km/h and pushed it along a couple of metres. LHD jobby. Driver's side took the impact, but I slid out of my seat and clouted the driver's seat hard. The passenger seat was a generic Porsche OEM unit with stock 3-point belt. Driver's seat was a proper job, 6-point belts and whatnot. I've done many a track day in similar OEM seat & belt setups in 911's and never thought anything of it. I guess when the **** hits the fan you kinda change your thinking a bit when it comes to safety...

Anyway, I was lucky to walk away from that one with some pretty colourful bruises and a buggered up shoulder. Driver wansn't badly hurt either, but his car was toast. Sad story. I learned a lot of lessons that day. Safety comes first and when a student drives beyond his means, slow him down right there!

As for the car, they stuck the thing in a chassis jig and fixed it. I'll get some pics next time I see it. Incredible!

Pierre Martins

Hey, seeing that we're on the 944 subject, i just have to show you this! Rui Campos' TurboCup. This car changed hands a few months ago for an undisclosed amount. Probably fetched top dollar, but how cool is this? When last have you seen one in this condition? It's like stepping back in time!

And no, I haven't driven it, but i've seen it in action at a recent Kyalami track day and I would love to get my hands on this thing. Wouldn't you?

jakermc

+1

Seems like everytime I spend some time in another car I get faster in my primary ride. CJ - when you are back in town we need to plan a day at MSR for a little car swap. We'll get you into the air cooled 911 and SPBOX while I take a spin in the Mazda.

OK, back to Pierre's thread ....

DogInBlack

I could get real interested at $25 for one of these at 220hp!

Blondurant

YES! Post on, dude. You post, we'll learn...

Here's the little home grown car I got to drive in Solo II. Won the Divisional in it. Got a cool trophy - the artwork on it was from a pic of my Cayman S that I drove in Super Stock before I jumped in this car. Anyway, learned a lot in this little rocket and had a BLAST!

Pierre Martins

Some used ones for sale here --> http://www.racingconcepts.info/forsale/

Pierre Martins

What engine, power, specs?

Pierre Martins

The story -

When I was a teenager all my mates had posters of a white Countach on their bedroom walls. That Lambo was an icon for them. Me, I had a 917k in Gulf livery on the wall, car number 24 with Jo Siffert behind the wheel duking it out with Jacky Ickx in the Ferrari 512 at Spa 1971. Next to that I had a poster of the late great Steve McQueen from the movie Le Mans, sporting his famous quote “Racing is Life! Anything that happens before or after is just waiting.” I’m sure the words “Porsche 917” is tattooed somewhere on the inside of my skull. It’s always been the ultimate sports prototype to me, not just because of its looks, but the whole saga surrounding this car, its place in motor-sport history and all the wild stories told by the drivers from that era.

Be that as it may, the problem with being a 917-nut is that the car remained out of reach of mere mortals like you and me for so many years. A visit to the David Piper pits when he comes to town once a year is the closest you could get to a 917 in recent years. Sitting in a 917, let alone driving one, was something I could only dream about, until I got a call from Vaughn Obhlidal from "On the Track Racing" magazine, asking whether I’d be prepared to test the Bailey-Edwards Replica 917 and write a story about it. Is the Pope Catholic? Hell, I would sell my soul to get my *** into a 917!

I was a tad apprehensive though. They say you should never drive the car of your childhood dreams. It will probably just disappoint you. Technology moves on and when you’re finally old enough to fulfill that dream, the car will be old school and antiquated by modern standards. That might be so with the now out-dated Countach, but how would the once mighty 917 shape up in today’s world? And how would the Bailey-Edwards Replica 917 fare, is it really a true replica of the 917, or just another look-alike kit car? I’m a little pedantic about the difference between a kit car and a replica. A kit car is just a look-alike thing with parts borrowed from various cars, bolted together on a donor chassis. Other than poser value, there is no point, really. A true replica, however, emulates the original car in form and function, with specially engineered parts and the only changes are subtle mechanical improvements where modern technology allows…

Can the bailey-edwards 917 live up to the real deal? Only one way to answer that question – Put it on a race track and give it stick. That’s one of the first things Peter Bailey said when I met him at his factory in Jet Park a few weeks before the test drive. Now here’s a man who’s got his priorities right. He made it very clear right from the start that Bailey-Edwards cars are essentially race cars, not show cars, especially the 917, GT40, P4 and their latest creation, the Lola T70 replica. Most petrol-heads can only dream about building and racing their own cars. Peter Bailey is actually living out that dream. Starting off by building a Cobra kit car as a hobby soon turned into a full-time business and together with son Greg, he established Bailey-Edwards Cars in 2003. The rest, as they say, is history. What I like most about the man is his friendly, down to earth nature. I know guys who achieved far less, yet they act like know-it-all big deals. Not Peter Bailey, he doesn’t hide anything and will tell you all you want to know about his cars. Not that there were many, but mistakes in his line of work are inevitable. Peter is honest and open about that too. You can’t help but admire the guy.

The Bailey-Edwards 917 project started with the acquisition of an abandoned project by some guy in Cape Town who manufactured a perfect full-scale model of the 917k. Peter wasted no time, bought the model, pulled moulds and started out fabricating a 917 replica. That project turned into the car I was about to test - The first 917 produced by Bailey-Edwards Cars, the car they used as a test mule for research and development before the building of customer cars commenced. This particular car was painted blue, a reproduction of the Austrian Salzburg team colours, owned by Ferdinand Peich way back when he was just a young upstart. Peich has been at the helm of Porsche for many years and is now the boss man at Audi, but I guess you knew that eh?

Anyway, the blue car sure is pretty. The fiberglass work on the shell is outstanding, but when you look under the skin you see stuff that is not exactly up to scratch, like the chassis welding for instance. But don’t get me wrong, the welding aint all that bad, it’s just not up to world class standard. And keep in mind this was the first prototype chassis, welded up by Greg (Peter’s son) from blueprints he found on the internet. Nowadays all Bailey-Edwards cars are on CAD and all chassis members are carbon steel, laser-cut and TIG-welded on a jig. I had a good look at one of the customer cars, Mike Nel’s 917 and I can tell you they put forward a pretty neat car with some good stuff in there. So rest assured, if you order a car from Bailey-Edwards you will get something that is really top notch, something that will turn heads anywhere in the world, even if top aficionados scrutinize the car.

On the original 917s Porsche laminated the bodywork to the aluminium chassis in an attempt to stiffen the chassis. The Bailey-Edwards 917 eliminates the need for that through the use of carbon steel, extra bracing and a welded roll-cage with much better protection around the footwell, something the original 917 didn’t have. I guess “Ole Pipes” would approve of that, seeing that he lost his right foot in a crash at Le Mans when doing film sequences for Steve McQueen’s film “Le Mans”. Coming through White House corner a rear wheel deflated and his car was totaled. The car broke in half and all that kept the two halves together was his right foot trapped under the throttle.

But that’s another story. Oh by the way, David Piper had a good look at the Bailey-Edwards replicas when he was here earlier this year, and he approves. Big feather in the cap of local ingenuity, methinks.

Time to get suited up and wangle myself into the blue car. Getting into this thing is similar to getting into a single-seater, you stand in the seat and systematically work your way down. A clip-off steering wheel leaves just enough room to get legs through and your feet to the very trick pedal box. The pedal box is an exact copy of the real thing mind you, manufactured in-house by Bailey-Edwards. The seat is very, very tight, similar to a Superkart seat. Once you’ve wedged yourself in the six-point harness almost becomes an optional extra. The driving position is slightly off-centre, barely making it a right-hand drive car. You lay almost flat on your back in this thing. Clip the steering wheel back in place and it rests low in your lap. If you have a beer belly you will battle to drive this car. Mind you, if your gut is larger than average you won’t even see the steering wheel. Tall drivers will also suffer in this car. Anyone taller than 1.8m will be a tight squeeze and if you’re any taller than 1.9m you can forget about ever driving a 917 in traditional trim. They’d have to put a bubble on the roof for you.

You kinda get the feeling they designed the car first, and the driver was just a brain-fart the engineers had to accommodate afterwards…

As for ergonomics I can tell you there aint any cupholders (duh), but it has an Alcantara leather dash, I **** you not! It’s functional though, preventing glare from the dash on the inside of the long sloping windscreen. Switches are Lucas push/pull type and gauges are authentic VDO units, specially manufactured with white needles to match the originals. Once you’re in and buckled up the wrap-around windscreen kinda feels like a second visor on your helmet. The “aircon” is a kreepy krauly pipe shoehorned into the cockpit to blow fresh air straight in your face.

Greg Bailey was on hand to help me strap in and give a quick run-down on what to expect from the car. Power in this car comes from a bone stock 3.6 flat-six 964 Carrera motor with Go-Tech management, putting down about 315hp on massive 365mm wide Good Year slicks in the rear on sixteen inch diameter rims, same size that the Wesbank V8s use. Pointing the way up front are 225mm wide rubber on ten inch diameter rims. Porsche used magnesium rims, Bailey Edwards opted for 7075 billet aluminium split rims with centre nut fasteners. Greg said the car would be very neutral and I’d have to press hard to get it outta shape, so basically I could expect an under-powered, over-tyred car. I had my reservations. With no stabilizer bars on this car I thought it best to build up speed with each lap and see how the thing reacts.

Fire it up and it’s loud…

This thing is thunderous, like a bespoke mid-engine serious sports-prototype should be. Out on track the first thing that struck me was how tall the front fenders are. They’re higher than eyelevel from the low-slung seat and with the two puny little side mirrors mounted on top do a good job of obstructing your view when you’re trying to look through tight corners like the hairpin at Zwartkops. But you get used to that quickly. Rear view is limited, but in a car like this you don’t care much about what’s happening behind you.

I got it sideways coming out of the hairpin a few times, but it’s always slippery there…

On a scale of one to ten I’d rate the handling of this car about eight in current trim, testimony to custom Billsteins and very stiff spring rates, no doubt. This particular car weighs in at just over a ton with twenty litres of race fuel and an eighty kilogram driver on board. You’d think that spring rates of 280nm in the rear and 220nm in front would be way too hard for a relatively light car like this, but for some reason they work surprisingly well. The car points where you want it to go on turn-in and tracts beautifully through the apex, exiting exactly where you want it in tight corners as well as fast sweepers. As for the claimed 315hp, I’m not so sure of that. The car felt a tad weaker than that in its current state of tune. One thing is for sure though, this car could easily handle an extra 150 ponies back in the engine bay with minimal suspension tweaks, but I dunno what it’ll be like when you stick some serious power into this thing like the proper 650hp 917Ks of old.

The brakes work exceptionally well, thanks to AP Racing calipers with AP pads and 325mm floating discs on bells. I’m told this car did 1’07.7” around Zwartkops in the very capable hands of Rui Campos. Driving with reserve during testing I got to within 1:5 seconds of that whilst exploring brake markers. Brakes give excellent feedback and it’s easy to modulate input by alternating the force you apply on the pedal. The car featured an adjustable brake bias **** on the dash, but I never felt the need to experiment with it. The thing stops when you want it to, period. Perhaps the only downfall of this car in current trim is the final drive. It runs a twin plate seven and a quarter inch Willwood clutch with Porsche’s brilliant G50 box coupled to a limited slip diff, but the ratios are way too tall. You only get to use three gears around Zwartkops and the car labours coming out of turn four no matter how fast you hurtle into that corner. The climb up to the table top just kills it. Peter Bailey is working on a solution and pretty soon this car will feature a Hewland crash-box with much shorter ratios. That will most certainly change this car for the better and bring down the lap times significantly. I would love to give it another go after the gearbox change, hint, hint…

And that was that, my drive in the car of my childhood dreams. When I first got into it I felt uncomfortable and I had my doubts, but I have to say it fulfilled all my expectations. Everything is snug and uncomfortably tight, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The cockpit, seating position and everything else about this car puts you in a racy frame of mind. You just wanna go fast. You just wanna stick it, and that’s exactly what I did. Engine performance was nothing to write home about, but the whole package came together so nicely in this car, making it a pleasure to drive fast. Confidence inspiring, the thing is sharp and easy to drive. The more you give it stick, the more the car asks for. You have moments when it’s kinda hard not to let your ***** get the better of your ability in this car. You get the feeling it’s almost fool-proof and you never forget you’re driving a true Le Mans legend. The car will not allow you to, even though this is just a replica. An extremely good replica, and if I may say so, possibly better than the real thing.

A real 917 will set you back gazillions. A Bailey-Edwards 917 replica will cost you +/- R700k for a rolling chassis without engine and gearbox, R1mill with a 300+ horse power 964 motor with a G50 box and limited slip diff, but if you bring an extra R100k to the party Peter will stick in a 550hp twin turbo flat six for you. And if you really wanna go crazy, take a look at the Pelican Parts website. They’re auctioning some ex-Vasek Polak flat twelves. I think I’ll just settle for one in Martini Rossi colours with the twin turbo engine. And I want it street legal so I can swank driving it to and from the track. Jokes aside, you can have a street legal Bailey-Edwards 917 just like the car Porsche donated to count Rossi for street use. All cars in the Bailey-Edwards lineup are replicas of racing cars as they were built in the late sixties and seventies. They have all necessary lights like indicators, safety belts and window wipers etc. There’s a tale in the tail lights too – Hella still manufactures them to this day, with correct part numbers and all. Anyway, if a customer purchases a Bailey-Edwards project and completes it, the car will be able to be registered as a "home built car" in South Africa.

So Mr Bailey, please be nice to me. For a small deposit and wrong address you may proceed with my 917 order, thank you.

Cheers,
Pierre.