Ballito rally driver Botterill ready to make big-league step

Ballito rally driver Guy Botterill has turned his full racing focus to rally-raid with one eye on future Dakar Rally qualification.

The Toyota Gazoo racer, with navigator Simon Vacy-Lyle, has been a dominant force on the national rally scene over the past decade, racking up a series of SA Rally Championship (SARC) wins.

The duo almost grabbed another gold last season but ended up finishing second overall after being hampered with teething problems after building a new car from scratch.

“We had never built a car before, so there was naturally a huge learning curve and some issues we had to deal with,” said Botterill.

“It was a Toyota Starlet that we picked and spec-ed it out to FIA European standards, so once we got it going it was great.”

Botterill had the added demand of racing a custom Toyota Hilux in local rally-raid championships last year, as well as helping the Toyota Gazoo team with testing before this year’s Dakar Rally.

A Toyota Gazoo car would later go on to win the prestigious event.

Rally-raid is essentially off-road racing, where drivers have to find their way to a GPS location, with no roads or infrastructure assistance to speak of.

“We finished third in the rally-raid championship last year as we got used to the car and had a few individual race issues,” he said.

“In one race we were stuck in third gear for 200km. In another, we collected a car on our bonnet as we came round a blind corner where it had broken down!”

Rally-raid is not only a test of the car’s mettle, pushing every inch to breaking point, but also of those in control who need to convince themselves to hurtle around hidden obstacles and over blind rises into the unknown.

But for Botterill and Vacy-Lyle, the Dakar Rally – considered by many to be the peak of the sport – is a dream worth chasing and they will do everything in their power to clinch qualification.

Now in his mid-30s, Botterill is at the perfect age and experience level required for the most punishing events, where most drivers are in their 40s and 50s.

When not in the seat of the Hilux however, Botterill is managing a team that has taken over his car in the 2023 SARC.

This aside from his constructors business, BMT, which is currently scaling to manufacture cars for international teams in the African Rally Championship.

“We are really looking forward to being able to focus on our long-term goals this year. Hopefully we’re on our way to getting there.”

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