A VIDEO of a KZN driver veering his old red Hilux to balance at an
almost 50-degrees on two wheels before landing back on four wheels is flashing
around the world as Hilux’s owners show their bakkie can swerve — with the right
driver.
The video was taken at the KZN 4x4 Challenge, held at Shakaskraal
on Saturday. A marked pause between landing and the next movement shows the
daredevil swerve may not have been intentional.
Wheels phoned the
driver, KZN drifting legend and all round car tuner Reece Williamson, to ask if
that landing was planned, or just blind luck.
Williamson’s said it was not at all planned, but neither was it
just luck. as he credits 15 years experience as a drifter for not rolling the
bakkie.
“As we took the corner, my wheeled dipped into a small ditch, and I
felt the car going onto an angle. At that angle, my son, who was my co-driver,
then obviously leaned over, which tilted the weight even more, so what I did
without thinking was to countersteer and accelerate.
“The bakkie landed and yes, there was that pause, during which we
realised the colour of adrenalin is brown!
“We all had a good laugh afterwards, but had I not been doing
drifting for the past 15 years, I would have actually rolled.
“I am still very grateful we did not,” Williamson said.
The video is meanwhile garnering thousands of views on his Facebook
page for Keith’s Panelshop Customs in Springfield Park, Durban.
Organiser of the event, Andrew Karrim, who also shot the video, is
confident the footage will go viral as Hilux drivers use it to prove their
bakkies can swerve, even with a full lift modified suspension and a Chev V8
under the hood.
Karrim said the next KZN 4x4 Challenge will be held at Shakaskraal
on March 19, but he assures aspiring contestants that they need not show such
daring skills to win.
