Zwartkops Raceway celebrated Heritage Week by treating Gauteng race fans to an epic day of Historic and Inland Tour racing on Saturday. Packed grids of exotic classic racing cars and great action turned Braai Weekend into something to really remember.
It was a bit of something for everyone in the Legends of the 9 Hour races, but Larry Wilford ultimately restored status quo as he fought back to a double victory in his glorious 1969 Lola T70 MK3B. Seef Fourie Jr.’s deftly steered his 1995 Opel Astra to second each time, while James Temple’s 1965 Daytona Cobra and Mark du Toit’s 1965 Lola T70 Spyder shared out the third step of the podium.
Peter Bailey’s1966 Ford GT40, Uli Sanne’s glorious new 1976 BMW 3.5 CS, Djurk Venter and Marc Miller’s 1 Daytona Cobras, George Avvakoumides’ Porsche 911 RSR, Allistair Simpson’s Capri Perana and Mustang men Ben Morgenrood and Jonathan Needham entertained in the pack.
Wildcard Hennie Groenewald’s Ford Capri disrupted the Evapco HRSA Sprint regulars, leaving Porsche 911 RSR mounted Class B and C winners, Nicky Dicks and George Avvakoumides, Willem Botha’s Mazda R100 and Reg Sutton’s Ford Escort to bicker over the scraps. Cor Kraamwinkel took Class D in his Datsun 240Z with Terence Ladner’s Volkswagen Scirocco, Travis Jensen’s Datsun 1200, Philip Pantazis in another 240Z and E winner Grant Cramer’s Scirocco in chase.
Keeping with historic saloon cars, Cor Kraamwinkel’s Datsun 240Z took Little Giants honours over Ford men Jonathan Needham’s Cortina and Carel Pienaar’s Escort, Philip Pantazis in another Datsun 240Z and Djurk Venter’s Escort. Alfa Romeo men Marc Miller’s 1965 Giulia, Francesco Lombardi’s Sprint GT, Ishmael Baloyi’s GSM Dart Alfa and Roger Houston’s Giulia Super followed from John Ten Doeschate’s GSM Dart Ford.
Moving on to the Single Seaters, Class B man Ian Schofield’s Reynard was imperious en route to double Historic victory over C man Ryan Ludik’s Titan each time. Pat Dunseith’s Merlyn and Ryan Budd shared out the third paces with James Derbyshire’s Lotus 51A, E winner Michael Hillary’s Lotus 23B and top D man Michael Kernick’s Capital Vee in chase. A little more modern, perhaps, Allen Meyer’s Formula VW kept Joss Chaikin’s Formula GTi Swift, Mikel Bezuidenhout’s Formula Ford Kent, Phillip Bellingan’s Vee and Justin Gower’s Formula M in check in the Monoposto races.
The Dunlop ATS Lotus Challenge had three bites at the apple. David Jermy beat Rudi Barnard and Clive Wilmot to Friday’s red flagged and restarted first heat before Jermy beat Mackie Adlem and Barnard in race 2 and Adlem took the final from Jermy and Barnard. Nick Hodgson won all three Locost races from Pieter van Heerden as Juan du Toit and Braam Muller shared out the third places. Devin Robertson meantime beat Tyler Posthumus and Dylan Fourie to both INEX Legends wins.
Giulio Airaga had an excellent day racing in his Mazda Tigra in the contemporary saloon car classes. First he shared the bigger Car Care Clinic SilverCup 2.0 wins with Wessel Mostert’s BMW M3 Turbo before doing Clubmans double too. Louis Cloete’s Beetle was third in the opening SilverCup race from JP Nortje’s Golf, Jonathan Visser’s Polo and Dewald Smith in a BMW 330i, while Faudo Sidique’s Civic beat Cloete, Nortje and Visser in Race 2. The smaller SilverCup 2.0 races were a Volkswagen Golf 1 benefit as Richard Potgieter beat Dane Thompson and Ronald van Rensburg in both races.
Ariaga won the opening Real Pro Clubmans, NSCC, MHCC & Trofeo race from David Jermy’s Lotus 7 with Tjaart Visser’s Ballade, Wessel Mostert’s BMW M3 Turbo, Quintin Duvenage’s Golf and Rodney Kruis’ Ballade in chase. Mostert ended second to Ariaga in the red flagged second race from Duvenage, Kruis, Victor Dias’ Balade and Gable.
Zwartkops still has two major race weekends coming up. The National Extreme Festival finale goes down on Saturday 17 October, before the Northern Regions Extreme Festival finals happen on Saturday 21 November.
