Benoni’s Vale poised for new challenge
She is the first female driver to compete in the Supadrift national series.
Benonian Clare Vale, known as South Africa’s first lady of speed, will compete in her first off-road event after trading the tar tracks for the dirt tracks of off-road car racing.
Vale will race in the Weiveld 300 on February 20. The event, powered by 4X4 Megaworld, Farmers Meat Market and Topcar Panelbeaters, will take place at the Weiveld Farmers’ Association Hall in Parys.
Vale will race in class D with the Wynns Nissan Hardbody, an extremely sound and well-tested off-road competition machine. Class D caters for four-wheel drive production vehicles with engines limited to four litres.
The car is prepared by Red-Lined Motorsport.
Multiple South African off-road champion Buks Carolin will be on navigation duty in the Hardbody reading the roadbook and will not only make sure that Vale stays on the correct route but also give off-road driving pointers along the way.
In 2021, Class D was one of the most fiercely competitive classes in the Inland Off-Road Championship, a Motorsport South Africa sanctioned regional off-road championship open to competitors from across South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland.
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Vale will quickly need to get to grips with her new vehicle and the driving skills required to do well in off-road racing to be competitive in this year’s championship.
She will face fierce competition from 2021 champions Gerhard and Rudi Heinlein in the Sirkel-N-Landgoed / Lowveld Agrochem Toyota Hilux and their close rivals, Theuns du Toit and James O’Mahony, in the powerful N1 4X4 / Propeller Centre Toyota Land Cruiser.
Vale is no stranger to facing up to challenges in the male-dominated motorsport world starting out in circuit racing in the Shelby Can Am series as one of the only female competitors in the category.
She went on to become the first lady to compete in the WesBank V8 Supercar series in 2007, becoming the first lady to take pole in the category and the first lady to have finished on the podium in the category in 2010.
In 2012, she made the move from circuit racing to the more stylised sport of drifting and becoming the first female driver to compete in the Supadrift national series. She quickly transitioned from the raw speed and power needed to compete successfully in series such as the WesBank V8 Supercars to the smoking style show that is drifting where showmanship and not speed determines success.
Once she had mastered the drift circuit, her Ram-backed Ford Mustang was soon a firm crowd favourite. The Weiveld 300 will once again test Vale’s adaptability as a driver as she moves from tar to dirt.
Spectator entry is free and subject to Covid-19 distancing rules. For news, spectator maps and the entry list, visit www.Facebook.com/TIORCSA/
Also Read: Vale enjoys V8 Supercars return
