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THE third annual Kalahari Speed Week near Mier will this year see
three tracks scraped clean over the infamous Hakskeenpan.
Over these tracks, two blokes from PMB aim to set at least one
record — in a Daewoo Matis.
I’m one of those blokes and suspect the record will be for
screaming more like a girl than even Pistorius said he did.
“We will have a track for cars doing over 200 [km/h], one for cars
doing under 200 and one where the drivers can do their testing,” project manager
Jandre Els said when I confirmed the historic entry from KZN.
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This means more sand for the Daewoo to plough through, but at least
the underside will be cleaner.
Such was the demand for the third annual Kalahari Speedweek, Els
said they had to extend the bookings to September 7 to accommodate all the
late-comers, but all entries are now firmly closed.
The other bloke that Witness Wheels has press-ganged
to make this ultimate road trip is owner of Denks motors, Jens Denks.
The Kalahari Speed Week is best compared with the Speed Week on the
Bonnievale salt pans in Utah.
But while the pampered American petrolheads sleep in campers at
Bonnievale, the Sefrican blokes who make the annual pilgrimage to the pan —
which is 50 km from Namibia’s border — crash in a little tent town. Between the
expected Lamborghinis, superbikes, assorted hot-rods and even the odd solar car,
our Made-in-PMB Daewoo Matis hybrid 4x4 must go set a world record.
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| Hakskeenpan's Kalahari Speed Week 2014 (Photo: Tyrone) |
“We are not sure yet what this record will be, but as we will have
the world’s only hybrid 4x4 Matis, we are sure to qualify for something,” said
Denks.
As we said on this page during the first anniversary edition of Wheels, there is another agenda behind this pilgrimage to the other
side of South Africa.
With fuel these days costing drivers well over a rand a kilometre
even in a small car, our aim is to show car owners they do not have to bend over
the oil barrel to be shafted by every passing sheik and his uncle Sam.
For people who commute less than 80 km a day, off-the-shelf
technology — like hub wheels and deep cycle batteries, can cheaply be fitted to
make hybrid drives. Follw us on @aforaway
