Having taken his car to the race, Ball said everything was still fine during the qualifying day on Friday. However, it later started heating up too much, which lead him to take the decision to not race the car and risk damaging the motor even further.
“I had qualified in the top six with my own car. But because the weather was so hot and the car started heating up too much, I decided that I didn’t want to damage the motor even further. I never even raced in the two sprint races which preceded the Border 100 race itself,” Ball added.
Weise said the fastest lap on which their index of performance was judged was recorded at just over 1 min and 36 secs.
On strategy, Weise said the race was not long enough for them, so they decided to go for the index of performance instead of going for the overall win.
“We knew the race would not be long enough for us. The reason we won the 3-hour was that it’s so much longer than this race. Many of those fancy, fast cars break down and they can’t handle the pace.
“Our car is exceptionally tough and very reliable and because it is so standard there is not much that could go wrong. Hence we decided to go for the index of performance,” he added.
Weise, who raced the first half hour of the one hour endurance race, said the car “handled beautifully” on the day.
“It was very fast through the corners and very good under braking.
“The only problem we had was that we had put in a different type of clutch which took away a bit of the car’s performance and the type of clutch prevented us from gearing down into the corners resulting in the rear wheels locking up,” he explained.
About the Border 100 itself and their race, Ball said: “To put it this way, it wasn’t an endurance race as in PE because this [Border 100] race is only one hour.
“So guys were pretty much flat out the entire race whereas, in the PE race, guys were not always riding their vehicles flat out.”
“We just wanted to make sure we managed the car throughout the race to make sure we finished the race,” he added.
Racing friends at it again
Phillip Weise, Dean Ball claim Border 100 Endurance race Index of Performance title
Image: Supplied
They were meant to race as friendly rivals, however, some mechanical trouble saw Dean Ball and Philip Weise team up once again to claim the index of performance title at the Border 100 Endurance race at the weekend.
The pair, who claimed a shock overall victory in the Midas 3-hour Endurance race at Aldo Scribante Raceway last month, the pair were meant to go head-to-head in the East London race in their own vehicles.
However, mechanical issues with Ball’s car a day before the race, saw him and Weise share the latter’s white Solid Pave BMW 328 as they raced their way to the Index of Performance title in addition to claiming a second place in the Saloon Cars division.
Speaking to The Herald on Tuesday, Weise said it was another great race for the pairing as they managed to stay consistent throughout the race as he claimed the second Index of Performance title in as many years.
“Your laps have to be very consistent, they basically take your fastest and slowest lap times, and they calculate how many times you can get within that bracket.
“It’s so important for drivers to be doing similar lap times every time you go around. Luckily Dean and I are pretty evenly-matched in our driving capabilities,” Weise said.
Having taken his car to the race, Ball said everything was still fine during the qualifying day on Friday. However, it later started heating up too much, which lead him to take the decision to not race the car and risk damaging the motor even further.
“I had qualified in the top six with my own car. But because the weather was so hot and the car started heating up too much, I decided that I didn’t want to damage the motor even further. I never even raced in the two sprint races which preceded the Border 100 race itself,” Ball added.
Weise said the fastest lap on which their index of performance was judged was recorded at just over 1 min and 36 secs.
On strategy, Weise said the race was not long enough for them, so they decided to go for the index of performance instead of going for the overall win.
“We knew the race would not be long enough for us. The reason we won the 3-hour was that it’s so much longer than this race. Many of those fancy, fast cars break down and they can’t handle the pace.
“Our car is exceptionally tough and very reliable and because it is so standard there is not much that could go wrong. Hence we decided to go for the index of performance,” he added.
Weise, who raced the first half hour of the one hour endurance race, said the car “handled beautifully” on the day.
“It was very fast through the corners and very good under braking.
“The only problem we had was that we had put in a different type of clutch which took away a bit of the car’s performance and the type of clutch prevented us from gearing down into the corners resulting in the rear wheels locking up,” he explained.
About the Border 100 itself and their race, Ball said: “To put it this way, it wasn’t an endurance race as in PE because this [Border 100] race is only one hour.
“So guys were pretty much flat out the entire race whereas, in the PE race, guys were not always riding their vehicles flat out.”
“We just wanted to make sure we managed the car throughout the race to make sure we finished the race,” he added.
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