Circuit will test endurance

This year’s only South African 24-hour motor race will take place at the Laserfiche Kart circuit at the Vereeniging showgrounds on Saturday and Sunday.

The Prokart 24-hour race will see 23 teams of up to eight drivers tackle the marathon event.

They will all drive identical 390cc fourstroke engined karts on identical MG tyres.

They face 24 compulsory pit stops and driver changes, using in the region of 115 litres of petrol.

Each team will be allowed to use three sets of tyres, comprising of two hard-compound sets and one soft-compound set. How and when the tyres are used is up to the teams.

The winning team is expected to complete around 1 350 laps of the tight and twisty 1.1 kilometre circuit.

The night racing will take place under floodlights, and the karts will also be fitted with lights.

The competitors are mostly expected to arrive on Friday afternoon, with those from out of Gauteng encouraged to camp at the circuit.

Official qualifying will take place from 10am on Saturday, with the race to run from noon through to 12pm on Sunday.

Spectators can visit the event free of charge throughout the weekend, with the circuit’s restaurant and licensed bar to be open from beginning to end.

Even at this late stage, teams can still enter.

You can split the costs between eight drivers, all who will get at least three hours of seat time.

To find out more, go to prokartsss.co.za and click on the Prokart 24-hour link.

Or contact graeme@4strokeworkshop. co.za for a hire kart and race preparation package.

The whole event will be broadcast live by local motorsport’s “voice of choice” Greg Maloney and his team.

It will also be filmed and streamed live, with advertising packages available to sponsors at specific times. Interested parties can send an email to 24hour@ prokartsss.co.za.

Prokart has been going in South Africa since 1998 and used to run with twin 200cc four-stroke engines.

The discipline now uses single Honda 390cc four-stroke powerplants, tuned to produce the same power.

The winners will get, as part of their prize, free entry to next year’s British Karting 24-hour race. The prize also includes a kart, fuel, mechanics and accommodation for four people.

There will also be various spot prizes, including for the best turned-out kart and best team spirit.