Rhino Rally’s car-fire stunt fizzles out
Teeming rain and fire stunts do not mix well.
That was proven at the 2015 Rhino Motorcycle Rally in Parys on Friday night, when the event’s traditional fire stunt slipped in the mud, brought on by the weekend’s non-stop rain. The stunt involved two caravans, a motorcycle, ridden by Enrico Schoeman, and a car driven by stunt veteran Andre de Kock.
The caravans were to burn furiously, at which point the motorcycle and car would take turns to jump through the inferno. That was the theory, but lighting the sodden caravans in the rain proved a just about impossible task.
Eventually they caught alight, and Schoeman jumped his bike through the result. Meanwhile, De Kock came roaring up the road in the stunt car, aiming at a steel pipe ramp to launch the vehicle into the air and through the caravans.
It did not happen. The ramp, sunk half a metre into the mud, broke on contact, sending the car spinning backwards through the fire it was supposed to fly through. “It was a cluster stuff-up,” De Kock said afterwards.
“We can only apologise to people who travelled to Parys to witness the event. We really tried, but some days, nothing works, and this was such a day,” he added.
The team will retain the car and motorcycle, with the aim of performing the stunt again in the future.
