Porsche turns on the heat in classic rally
The first Classic Rally South Africa 2015, was held around Graskop, Pelgrim’s Rest and Sabie from January 26 to 30. The rally is the brainchild of an esteemed and experienced team which included Surinder Thatthi (owner of the Classic Rally), Willie du Plessis and Henriette Jooste
Thatthi is a champion navigator. He is also the FIA representative for Africa and serves on the FIA World Council. Palm Motors in White River hosted a small informal dinner the night before at which enthusiasts and supporters could interact with some of the teams and, of course, admire their cars.
Needless to say, all drivers and navigators were old hands at rallying and those cars – neat as pins – simplistic in terms of technology, impressed everyone. It is clear that the owners are meticulous and apply plenty of TLC to each car as far as maintenance and race preparation are concerned.
Ten cars, all of them pre-31 December 1985, lined up on the starting grid on January 26. Ahead of them lay 1 400 kilometres including 720 kilometres of special stages.
The field was dominated by Ford Escorts mostly prepared by international teams like Viking Motorsport and Dansport. Locals, Heine Sport entered a Datsun and an Escort also. An early favourite and eventual winner and, well-versed with the Mpumalanga stages, Johnny Gemmel and Elvene Coetzee in a Porsche 911, won 12 of the 17 stages despite also having some mechanical challenges.
Various deadlines prevented me from developing a close relationship with this rally. I went to stage four on day two, but is was cancelled and I returned empty-handed. On day four I went to the Hendriksdal stage to catch some of the action. Rain during the previous night offered competitors a wet stage and Gemmell was the first car to come past.
The Porsche sounded really good only to go quiet a little further into the stage.
The turn, a 90 left, where I was standing, was a little rough but the blue Escort RS of Andrew Siddall and Carl Williams managed to get the best of it. The other competitors were much more sedate. One of the international teams, Viking Motorsport, is based in the UK and entered three cars. Viking Motorsports specialises in the build and preparation of high-quality GP 4 Mark 2 Ford Escorts. Another international participant was Dansport. They specialise in the preparation and maintenance of competition cars for its owners and, on location support no matter where in the world.
Initially it was announced that Stig Blomqvist would also compete in the Classic driving a Tuthill Porsche 911 but this did not happen. Andrew Siddall and Carl Williamson represented England and Wales. He has raced in among others, Barbados and Marocco. Well-known Kenyan rally driver Lee Rose, now a resident of White River, drove an Escort RS1600 prepared by Viking Motorsport.
The Classic Rally South Africa’s timetable did not suit all the invitees to the rally but with the dates for the 2016 (February 8-12) event already finalised, the organisers expect at least 30 entries.
Results
1. Johnny Gemmell and Elvene Coetzee – Porsche 9112
2. Jorge Companc and Jose Volta – Ford Escort RS1800
3. Andrew Siddall and Carl Williamson – Ford Escort RS 1600
4. Jan Hagman and Hans Sylvan – Ford Escort RS 1800
5. Geoff Bell and Tim Challen – Ford Escort
6. Andrew Heine and Robbie Coetzee – Datsun P510 SSS
7. Lee Rose and Pierre Arries – Ford Escort
8. Bryan Heine and Gary Heine – Ford Escort
9. Lola Verlaque and Eddie Verlaque – VW Golf
10. Jose de Gouveia and Megan Verlaque – VW Golf.
