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News24 Motoring contributor Reuben Van Niekerk's first visit to Killarney was spent learning this iconic circuit and figuring out how racy is racy enough as a driver in the Toyota GR86 Cup.
The second round of the Toyota GR86 Cup saw us head down to Killarney as we joined the National Extreme Series.
After a Friday practice session that saw all drivers show a good pace at some point in the day, we arrived ready to qualify on Saturday morning in a light drizzle that had left Killarney rather wet.
The wet conditions turned things on their head as we tried to figure out how much grip Killarney offered in the wet.
It turns out there was plenty in some places and almost none in others, but at the end of the session, all six of us media drivers were within 0.5 seconds of each other, with myself posting the fourth quickest time.
The weather soon improved, and by the time we went racing, the track was completely dry.
From fourth, I got up to second place within the first lap or so, and then the chaos started.
Due to our topsy-turvy qualifying and my ability to gain two places in the first laps, I was ahead of some drivers who clearly had quicker dry race pace than me. I tried my best to defend, much to the dismay of the other drivers.
Having grown up racing everything from inline speed skating and mountain bikes to BMXs, I was accustomed to the pressure cooker of a racing format, albeit in a different medium.
Racing is racing, right?
But the four hungry drivers behind me don't seem to share the same competitive experience and ability to stay cool in the heat of battle. The chaos of my defence pushed up their blood pressure and caused them to do anything to get past me.I spent the next six laps with more of my attention on my rear-view mirror than on finding the apex.
I defended as hard as I was attacked, but after six laps or so, I succumbed to the pressure and ran wide and slightly onto the grass, which saw me lose three places into fifth position.
Pulling into parc ferme revealed an interesting atmosphere. The other drivers felt I had been too racy in my approach to defend my position, and my levels of defence were deemed inappropriate for their offence levels.
With time to cool down, handshakes and a pep talk from Toyota, the second race was a much more sedate affair.
Fortunately, I could get up to pace as the flag dropped and gain a position on the sleeping Brendon Staniforth during the first lap again, but by that time, the other four drivers had pulled a small gap.
This gap was difficult to close in identical cars, and while doing my best to stay ahead of a hard-charging Staniforth who was unhappy with another sixth place. In the end, that is how we crossed the finish line.With two races under the belt, the Toyota GR86 Cup has been an incredible learning experience so far.
Motorsport is much more about getting in a car and being fast.
In a one-make series like this, we are looking for tenths, and you really need to be focused on trying and figuring out what works, what doesn't and what you need to improve on.
In addition, most of us are relatively inexperienced when it comes to door handle-to-door handle racing, and we are still refining our race craft.
This all needs to be done while keeping the cars in one piece and abiding by the rules governing national circuit racing.
ALSO READ | Riding with Reubs: The Toyota GR86 Cup heads to Killarney
The old-school layout of Killarney suited the Toyota GR86 and its traditional sports coupe layout of rear-wheel drive and the engine up front perfectly.
Being down at sea level allowed me to extract every last kilowatt out of its normally aspirated 2.4-litre boxer engine. This made for a memorable learning and driving experience.
With a seven-week break until our next race back at Zwartkops Raceway, I will be using this downtime to mentally prepare and be ready to focus on trying to find a balance between outright pace and consistent pace in a racing format while battling for position against equally eager competitors.
