Dezzi Raceway revives track racing in KZN
The racing was terrific with a lot of giant-killing action by the smaller cars against the big 'uns.
DESMOND Gutzeit made history in more ways than one at his wonderful Dezzi Raceway last weekend.
The event brought back memories of the track racing days of the Westmead ‘Natal Grand Prix’ races in 1961 and 1962 at Pinetown and the Roy Hesketh circuit in Pietermaritzburg.
Motor racing enthusiasts from all over the country were excited and enthusiastic for the first really big event, The Historic Tour, at this new venue and they certainly were not disappointed.
Des thanked the public for the support, as well as all of the helpers who made this weekend’s races possible, including Tony Taylor, Piet Swanepoel and Peter Lindenberg, who organised the races.
There were 170 entrants plus in excess of 5000 spectators around the 2.5km circuit.
I would appeal to everyone on the South Coast to look at the big picture and do everything possible to help this venture succeed as it has numerous benefits for the sport as well as taking racing off the road and onto a properly organised venue.
It also allows manufacturers to teach and demonstrate the most important safety attributes of modern motor cars, such as skid control and ABS braking.
Even the noise factor needs to be viewed with moderation as the frequency of events is not very high and modern racing cars are quieter than they used to be.
The weekend’s events varied from short races for historic saloons, sports, GT cars and single seaters, to similar short distance races for more modern cars, and ended with a one hour endurance race for all comers.
The racing was terrific with a lot of giant-killing action by the smaller cars against the big ‘uns.
The track is of similar length to Roy Hesketh and can be classified as a relatively short circuit like Monaco, which suits the smaller, lighter, nippy machines.
The lap record was set by a Tiga sports racing car driven by Dino Scribante at one minute, 17.9 seconds.
The Chevron B19 and B8s were not much slower, followed by Porsche and Cobra sports cars.
We also had the big Chev Impalas and Ford Fairlane and Chevvy 2 Nova, all V8s, giving us great entertainment.
All of these short races were either 10 or 12 laps, Alfas and Ford Escorts did particularly well, as well as one cheeky little VW Beetle!
The highlight of the day was the one hour endurance race which, although starting half an hour late, did not deter anyone and gave us the excitement of a little night driving with head lights blazing at the end.
It was won by Colin Ellison in a Chevron B19 followed by Peter Jenkins in a similar car.
Third and fifth were two Porsches, while a VW Scirocco did extremely well to come in fourth.
An Alfa Romeo GT came home sixth with that little Beetle seventh, two Mercedes 280s eighth and ninth and a Ford Escort tenth.
There were fifteen finishers. Excellent racing.
