MILD-AS-MILK Sarel van der Merwe and his wild-as-brandy alter ego,
“SuperVan”, were really two very good racers in one body.
The views in their biography, written by Steven Smith and published
by Zebra press, present sage advice for all modern professional athletes in any
sport.
This one-page extract from his biography, shows his calibre and
commitment as an athlete. SuperVan explains how after winning the 24-hour
Daytona in the United States, he was where he wanted to be all along: “... at Le
Mans, with the big boys, in a serious racing car. It was 10.30 pm, June 15,
1984 ... and I was doing 385 kilometres per hour. Not only had I never gone that
fast before, but I was hurtling around an unfamiliar track, in an unfamiliar
car. And it was dark too. This wasn’t just any race track either. This was Le
Mans. I was scared. Easily, the second most scared I’d ever been. And there are
three reasons for this.”
The third reason was because he was doing 385 kilometres per hour
down “the testicle-shrinking” seven-kilometre Mulsanne Straight, in the middle
of which, “those French idiots” had put a chicane, and at the end of which was a
blind, 90-degree right hander.
He had to drive flat out through the kink, and then brake heavily
90 seconds before the turn.
“And here’s the tricky part, it’s not that easy to know where
exactly you are ... the Kink, or the 90 degree-er?
“Out of the blackness, I could vaguely make out a set of chevrons
... we hadn’t yet had a chance to set up the car lights. and they were all over
the show. Were these the chevrons for the Kink, or the 90-degree corner? If I
had somehow already gone through the Kink and this was the end of the straight,
I needed to brake very quickly or it would all be over. And I don’t mean over as
in the end of the race. I mean over in more a dead kind of way.
“There was another reason I couldn’t afford to get it wrong. My
career was … riding on this lap.”
Going balls to the wall in his usual style, SuperVan qualified that
night as he did all other nights.
The remainder of the 256 pages are as honest and interesting,
especially regarding his plans for South African motor racing.
