Darryn Lobb's blog

Its been over 4 months since my last blog, and a tough 4 months at that. After winning the championship with 2 rounds remaining, I had to give my seat up to the car owners son. This meant that I sat out Round 7 of the championship. The only good thing, was to see my team mate win his first National Race.

To cut a long story short, wee managed to source a new car, a new sponsor, and a new team for the final round of the championship in November. We knew it was going to be a struggle as the car was only finished on the Thursday before Friday practice.

Things started well as I was top 3 in first session. However, things slipped dramatically downhill from there, with an eventual qualifying position of 6th (worst of the year except for the mechanical problems in East London).

Heat 1 was pretty uneventful. I ran as high as 3rd at one stage, but eventually finished a lonely 6th. Heat 2 however, was very different. A great start got me up to 3rd at the end of lap 1. The car was horrific but backmarkers kept me insight of the leaders. On lap 8, the leader slowed with a broken driveshaft. A crazy string of 5 laps alloweed me to make a pass for the lead in the final corner of the final lap. This alloweed me to take the final victory of 2009, and end of a truelly aweesome season with 10 victories from 14 heats!

Looking forward to 2010, we are looking to continue our relationship with NJOY. We have also sourced a new car, and depending on final budget approval, will possibly continue into 2010 with DAW racing. They did a fantastic job in 2009, and I’d love to continue with them through 2010.

So, Stay tuned for an update later in the week as to how our budget has progressed…

Laterz

Hi all,

I’m rather late with this blog, but 2 weeks ago, the Pro-Tour headed to East London for the 6th round of the national championship.

I went into the round with a healthy points lead, knowing that 2 wins on the day, and I would be the new South African Shelby Can-Am champion.

We got off to a terrible start on friday, with severe brake issues in session 1, and a puncture in session 2. We manage to come right in session 3 and topped the time sheets.

The team and I, felt on the back foot going into qualifying, knowing that we had only managed one decent session for the day. It turned out that back foot was an understateement, when the fuel pump on my #99 Shelby packed up on the outlap.

I managed to circulte, and somehow, still put a lap together worthy of 13th on the grid, and despite this, pretty much gave up hope on the championship, but motorsport is a funny thing.

I had a great run in the first heat and managed to finish up in a respectable 4th position after the race.

It was a tough situation, as I knew that the 2nd heat is a reverse grid (top 8)based on race 1 fastest laps! I managed the 3rd fastest lap, and as a result, started the 2nd heat in 6th position.

To cut a long story short, I put my head down from the very first lap. By lap 4 I was in 2nd place chasing down my team mate. He was battling with a flexing rear wing which was reall hurting him on the fastest race track in South Africa.

I completed the pass on lap 6 and kept pushing, knowing that a win was all I could do. The championship was then handed to me on a platter with 2 laps to go, when my closest championship rival had a coming together with another competitor, and instantly ended both their races on the spot.

I crossed the line a little under 5 seconds ahead, but more importantly, I crossed the line to take my 2nd south African Shelby Can-Am championship!

I must say a big thank you to my race engineer, Dougie Meyer, as well as the whole DAW Racing team. They have prepared an awesome car all year and it is great to bring the championship home for them. another thank you must go to my sponsors. first and foremost, DK Woodcraft who have backed me 2 both my championships. they are the best in the furniture business, and now they have proved to be the best on track once again!

I cant wait to turn my #99 into the #1 for next year! Bring on 2010!

See ya later,

Darryn Lobb
2009 South African Shelby Can-Am Champion!

Due to the long break between round 5 and round 6 of the championship, I figured I’d look into something else to keep me entertained.

So I stumbled upon iRacing… A motor racing sim, actually used by the likes of Marcus Ambrose and Dale Earnhardt Jr. I started this past weekend, slowly moving my way through the rookie ranks, and slowly, notching up a win or 2.

The realism suprises me, the adrenaline is right up there, and all in all a good experience. An experience worth mentioning would be the oval track races that I have managed to do so far. 4 of them, 1 win, 2 top 5’s and a 6th. Now I get the buzz about oval racing, even though I get it from a computer simulator.

Anwayz, on the real life front, we are off to East London in 2 weeks time for round 6 of the SA National championship. I need to take 9 points more than my closest rival to win my 2nd South African championship, and equal my fathers record

Hopefully we’ll get some testing in next week… and when we do, I’ll be sure to post something bout it.

Till then, keep it in the fast lane!

Darryn #99

This past weekend was the 5th round of the Pro – Tour SA Nationals held at Zwartkops Raceway.

It was the 2nd time back at the track this season. Due to work commitments, we werent able to test at all in the 5 weeks since te last race. Never the less, things started well from first session friday.

Our first session was tough with air temp at 5 degrees celsius. I lapped fastest in all 3 practice sessions by between 0.5 and 0.7s which set us well for the rest of the weekend!

All drivers elected to run another set of new tyres for qualifying and races (we are limited to 6 sets for the season).

Qualifying was incredibly close. The top 4 covered by 0.3s. Pole time was a 1m2.65 compared to 1m3.7 earlier in the year proving the continuous forward developement of the series. I managed to snatch pole by a mere 0.05s

This race also saw a rule change which now made it compulsary to run onboard video cameras. I spent alot of time studying my qualifying session and elected to make changes to my car for saturday.

We increased rear downforce for higher apex speed thru the 2 fast sweeps. In addition, a small change to the front ARB for a little bit more grip through the slow hairpin (leading to the longest straight).

The race was going to be won by the driver who managed to get heat into their tyres quicker than everyone else! We were battling for about 6 laps before the tyres started to come on. We were not used to such cold weather in South Africa!

I got a great start to heat 1 which turned into a fairly boring affair with a lights to flag victory by 0.8s. with an additional point for fastest lap. This meant I started heat 2 in 8th position, as we run a reverse top 8 grid based on fastest laps in heat 1.

It was a brilliant race and one of the best all season. I evenutally finished up in 2nd place 2.2s behind the winner, who was my team mate. He had started the race in pole position. There was some great overtaking and repassing between myself and last years champion (see pic attached)

I have now extended my lead to 78 points in the championship with 3 rounds remaining. This means that I could theoretically win the championship at the next round should I take 9 points more than my closest rival.

The next round sees the tour move down to East London Grand Prix circuit for the first time this year. I have not raced these cars at the track for 2.5 years, but i look forward to getting up to speed and attempting to seal a memorable 2009 championship!

Till then, see you on track!

Hi,
My name is Darryn Lobb. I am the son of Neil Lobb, twice South African Shelby Can-Am Champion. Motor racing has been my favourite past time for as long as I can remember. My father used to race bikes from before I could walk. I started off with motor-cross at a tender age and finally took up car racing in 2001. In 2007 I won the South African Shelby Can-Am championship. In 2008 I raced a Nissan 350z in the South African Production Car championship.

This year, I am once again contesting the South African Shelby Can-Am championship with a new team. So far this year, I have won 7 out of 8 races. I am currently leading the South African championship, and hope to take my 2nd national championship crown.

Away from the track, I enjoy racing a simulator called Live for Speed. This helps keep my “eye in” for race meetings. I am also the chairman of the GT Challenge currently participating as a regional championship in South Africa. I look forward to keep you updated with future blogs.

See ya then,

Darryn Lobb #99