This F1 wannabe, and SA 2009 champion, is the ultimate driving thrill
As is tradition in the Cars in Action Performance car of the year issue, we only test out of the ordinary machinery according to one simple rule - the cars must have just won a South African race or rally championship…
But we’d driven most of this year’s obvious championship winners already – an Audi Bridgestone Production racer and a WesBank V8 Lumina two years ago and the Sasol SA Rally Champion S2000 Polo last year. And guess what? All of those cars won their championships again in 2009, so we had to look elsewhere for fresh material...
Jayde Kruger and his red Time Freight team Motul FVW pretty much dominated the 2009 Formula Volkswagen title case – he wrapped it up at Killarney with a race to spare, much to the chagrin of his championship rivals.
Jayde spent a year or two in karting before taking a break and returning via Formula Ford to emerge as a frontrunner in this year’s wings ‘n slicks Formula Volkswagen championship that this year also crowned the SA Drivers champion.
Of course, first and foremost, you need to be a good driver to win in Formula VW and that Jayde clearly is. But you also need a good team around you to fettle and prepare your car, take your input and make it quicker than the next guy. That Jayde has and then some.
Uncle Brian Kruger is a single-seater guru – a race engineer who can build you a car from the ground up – not that it was necessary here – Volkswagen sells the hardware so all the cars are identical. But how you set a single seater racer up is vital and that’s where uncle Brian comes in.
The team is run by Jayde’s dad and while there were a few rivals out there that let’s say, came highly recommended, the Kruger team went out and did what it does best – today Jayde is the new SA driver champion and now it’s my turn to take his title-winning machine for a burn.
“The brain needs a lap or two to acclimatise to the G-forces – you take on a different perspective… ”
A single seater racer is a labour of racing love. The little FVW is in essence a mini grand prix racer and while rules limit what teams can do, going quick in one of these is an art form in itself.
