What Inland Championship Preview
Where Zwartkops Raceway, Pretoria
When Saturday 19 August 2023
Community Gauteng Regional
A great day of racing is expected at the Pretoria Raceway
Zwartkops Raceway will celebrate the imminent arrival of springtime with a cracking fourth round Inland Championship meeting on Saturday 19 August. This Historics-rich festival has a bit of everything for the race fan, from the sleek Pre-’74 International Sports Prototypes, Pre-‘68 Le Mans Sports & GT racing with Trans-Am, to the thundering Marlboro Crane Hire Pre-’66 Legends of the 9 Hour with the Little Giants and U2s snapping at their heels.
Add the ever-entertaining International Race Supplies & Roofsure Midvaal Historics, while a little more contemporary, perhaps, the rapid Lotus Challenge bridges the gap to the On Track Magazine Clubmans and National Sportscars. Two of Zwartkops’ favourite racing categories, SuperHatch and Silver Cup 2.0 are also on the program, with all those classes racing twice on the day. There will also be a triple dose of the wieldy INEX Legends on track.
Peter Bailey’s glorious Porsche 917 and Mark du Toit and Larry Wilford’s rumbling V8 Lola T70s will evoke memories of the Le Mans 24, Kyalami 9 Hour, and the Springbok Series of the 1960s and ‘70s. They must fend Jonathan du Toit and Allen Meyer’s Chevron B8s off, as well as James Temple’s Shelby Daytona Coupe and Warren Lombard’s Shelby Cobra in the flagship International Sports Prototype and Le Mans Sports & GT races. Hennie Groenewald’s Chevrolet Camaro will be the fly in the Ford Trans Am ointment behind them as Ben Morgenrood and Seef Fourie Jr’s Mustangs grapple with Jonathan Needham’s Cortina and Deon Schwabsky in his Escort.
It’s a case of V8 rolling thunder versus classic four-cylinder giant killers in Marlboro Crane Hire Legends of the 9 Hour, Little Giants and U2. Ben Morgenrood leads the big, bad Yankee charge in his Ford Mustang. He will have brothers Jonathan’s Chevy Nova and Mark du Toit in a Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt, and little Paige Lindenberg in her monster Ford Fairlane to deal with. Behind them, European 4 cylinders will make life difficult, with Marc Miller and Francesco Lombardi’s Alfa Romeo Sprint GTs up against Warren Lombard in his BMW 2000ti and Djurk Venter’s Escort. Add a little local content in Ishmael Baloyi and Andre de Kock’s Dart Alfas and John Ten Doeschate’s Protea Fords.
It’s something of Ford versus the Axis in the International Race Supplies & Roofsure Midvaal Historics races. Ford men Deon Schwabsky’s Escort and Chris and Richard Williams sharing their Anglia are up against Italian car trio Sean Fandam’s Fiat 124 Sport Coupe, Lourens van Zyl’s Alfa Romeo Berlina and Gerrit Murray in an Alfa Romeo GTV. Germany is represented by Martin and JJ Venter Jr.’s Volkswagen Jettas. Datsun 1200 trio, Johan Coetzer, Carel Vos and Wesley Rautenbach will fly the Japanese flag.
Championship leader Thomas Falkiner drives the only Taylon among a swarm of Birkin Sevens in the top class of the Lotus Challenge. So he can expect some stiff competition from the likes of Rudi Barnard, Mackie Adlem, John Kruger JP, Nortje, Tinus Botes, Philip Vermeulen, Jeff Gable, and Brett van Rensburg. The second Lotus class is just as exciting. The cars they race there has a name that says it all! The hard fought Locost grid includes Sean Hepburn, Miles Downard, Davide Favo, Andre du Plessis, Nick Hodgson, Paul Vollmer, Andrew Fulton, and Wesley Maxwell, as well as Barry Dunford, Juan du Toit and Charl Marais.
It’s tin-tops versus sports cars in the On Track Magazine Clubmans and National Sportscars. The NSC field comprises a couple of Nash MV3s for Paul Sullivan and Jaco Pienaar, 7 duo Adriaan Le Roux’s Caterham and Ismail Peck in a Lotus 7, A’ron Harmse in a VSP Sports 2000, and halfway man Dumisane Mazibuko’s Nissan Tigra Spaceframe. Johan Labuschagne leads the Clubmans charge in his Subaru Impreza GT, with Anton Bitzer’s Mazda RX7, Honda Ballade duo Rodney Kruis and Dirk Lawrence , and Volkswagen four, Wayne Lebotschy and Wayne Pereira’s Golf 1s, and Polo Jonathan Visser and Kobus Brits’ Polos all in play.
There’s an interesting development in SuperHatch, where Mark du Toit will break that category’s front wheel drive tradition with his new rear-wheel drive BMW 318i. Will that be enough to unsettle stalwarts Karel Stolts’ Toyota Etios and Francis Aldrich in his Opel Corsa. Quintus Viljoen’s VW Polo, and Honda Civic trio, Seten Naidoo, Ishmael Baloyi and Francois Henning? Time will tell, but also watch for a Class B spat between Jonathan du Toit’s Honda Civic and George Aldrich in his Peugeot 206 and newcomer Steve Mearns in a Golf.
Silver Cup 2.0 has drawn a huge entry. Karel Stols and Giulio Airaga’s Mazda spaceframes take on Marius Jacobs and Riaan Draper’s similar Opel and Toyota, and BMW duo Shaun Lamprecht and Riaan Lubbe in Class A+. It’s Dewald Pretorius and Anton Bitzer’s Mazda RX7s in Cass At, and Fred Kruger’s Honda is the outlier in Class A, where the rest of the cars are Volkswagens. Spaceframe duo Chris Cronje and Terence Otto race in B+, Freek Blignaut’s Mazda takes on Nic Martin’s Peugeot and Wayne Pereira’s Golf in B, and Michael Kernick’s Nash has an army of VWs to fight in the smaller classes.
Last but not least, the young lions of the INEX Legends, those little 1940s bodied machines with hot modern motorcycle engines under the bonnet, have three bites of the Zwartkops apple on Saturday. Veterans Devin Robertson, Richard van Heerde, Sebastian Lanzetti and Johann van de Venter will be up against young rivals, Polo Cup lass Tyler Robinson and fellow karting kids Jayden Goosen and Berlin Robinson, as well as Christian Padayachee, Dawie Deetlefs and Cyril Jacobs Junior with three races on the day.
As always. There’s far more than just racing at Zwartkops’ 19 August Inland Championship races. Visitors can pore over exotic car displays, there’s kids entertainment, and a cool variety of food and drink stalls. Entry is R100 per adult, R80 for students, and free for kids under 12.
Contact 012 384 2299 or log on to www.zwartkops.co.za for more details.
Issued on behalf of Zwartkops Raceway
Photography by: Colin Windell
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