THE most recent rallies saw two crashes that proved again roll cages and five point harnesses work much better than air bags to keep drivers alive.
The “finish it to win it” approach of Dean Redelinghuis and navigator Amon Meyiwa paid off with a win in their CTH Transport Sharpline Polo.
In Secunda KZN’s Guy Botterill and Simon Vacy-Lyle had electric and gearbox issues with their Class R2N Toyota Etios on the prologue on Friday, leaving them to chase the VW Polo of points rival
AC Potgieter on Saturday.
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| Bruising from the five point harnass and broken toes for the broken toes from the floor impact was the only injuries after a 6-metre plunge. |
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| We hit the bank at the same spot". |
The Hillcrest-registered riders managed to claw back 22 seconds on Saturday, but then it all went wrong on Stage 10, when they did a second run through the section known as Tjorrie, with a lead of 2,2 seconds over Potgieter. “We’re not entirely sure what happened,” said Botterill afterwards. “We hit the bank in exactly the same spot as before, but this time it kicked the car up violently and we rolled over, ending our race.” They emerged unscathed from the car and the damage to the Toyota Etios was cosmetic.
In KZN at a regional rally BMW driver Trevor Graham and navigator Kevin Cunningham were lucky to escape with severe bruising and abrasions (and broken toes in Graham’s case) after driving off a six-metre bank to land hard on the vehicle’s nose.
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| CTH rally codriver Amon Meyiwa waits as the gazebo crew jerry rig a repair on a worn belt tensioner. |
Tony Ball won he off road car section and Daniel Botes was fastest on the quads.
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| The race went on, with this wheel nut in place of the worn belt tensioner. It held. |
Tribute rally
THE Natal Motorcycle and Car Club (NMCC) will be hosting a regional motor rally on October 27 with racers affiliated to either Motorsport South Africa (MSA), or the World of Motorsport ZA (Womza) competing together for the first time.
The rally will be staged in the Dalton area, with eight stages totalling 100 km through cane fields and plantations, thanks to the patronage of the Dalton farmers. A one-kilometre fun stage has also been prepared for Reach For A Dream children, who will be whisked around by two experienced rally drivers.
This tribute rally is in recognition of Zane Rencken, a greatly respected rally racer who died in a work related incident earlier this year.
