BYTHE NUMBERS
992 DISTANCE DRIVEN (km) 64 TOTAL CYLINDERS 17 TOTAL TURBOS 3300 TOTAL POWER (kw) TOTAL 5089 TORQUE (N.m) 13946525 TOTAL VALUE OF CARS EXCL. YARIS GRMN (R)
promise of cold beers always seems to blur that last stretch towards Saldanha, interspersed with regular tailbacks behind trucks lumbering towards Cape Town. Entering Saldanha under waning light is oddly eerie. The industrial town scars the largely unspoilt West Coast with coal dust and mill towers which are haphazardly studded with shimmering lights and beckons our convoy.
Before stretching limbs and quaffing beverages at our overnight stop, there’s the small matter of the magazine cover shoot. There is a flurry of twilight activity as cars line up at Saldanha Airfield. Journalists and photographers feverishly rub at the bug-splat Jackson Pollock pieces that adorn the noses of the cars, shivering in the quickening wind. Then it’s the ballet of tight-formation driving; an ecstasy of craned necks and constant throttle balancing. The photographer is perched on the support vehicle in search of the perfect snap as the rain begins to leak in from the coast.
With frozen fingers, stiff necks and that cold beer crying for our attention, we turn in for the night with thoughts of tomorrow’s stint on the drag strip on the other side of a decent night’s sleep.