Rubber will burn at Zwartkops
PASSION FOR SPEED: 300 ENTRIES EXPECTED FOR RACEWAY’S SEASON OPENER IN JANUARY Impossible to tell if international drivers will be on the circuit due to ever-changing travel restrictions.
The effects of Covid-19 will not interfere with next year’s Passion for Speed motorsport extravaganza at the Zwartkops Raceway near Pretoria. The meeting, traditionally South Africa’s season-opening circuit racing event, will be held on 29, 30 and 31 January.
It will cater for both historic and temporary racing categories, with the organisers expecting more than 300 entries.
Whether their numbers will include overseas visitors is impossible to predict at this stage, with international Covid-19 travel restrictions changing almost every day.
The event traditionally revolves
around historic car competition and that will again be the case, with the official premier
race a 45-minute Tourist Trophy race for pre-1968 Le Mans Sports and GT cars.
Competing cars should include Ford GT40s, Lola T70s, Chevrons, Shelby Daytonas, Lotus 23s and Ford Cobras.
The greatest attention-grabber of the weekend should be two sprint races for SKF pre-1966 Legend Saloon Cars, with V8-engined production cars like Ford Galaxies, Mustangs, Chevrolet Novas, Ford Fairlanes and a Mercury Comet on the grid.
As is tradition, maestro Sarel van der Merwe will join the fray in a Ford Galaxie.
Other historic car categories on the bill will include races for pre-1966 Under 2.0-litre and Little Giant cars, pre-1974 International Sports Racing Prototypes, pre-1980 Historic Saloon Cars, Midvaal Historic Saloon Cars and Historic Single-seaters.
Topping the modern side of the
programme will be two races for G&H Transport Extreme SuperCars, with Porsches, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, plus a variety of wild BMW and Audi derivatives to face the starter.
There will also be races for Mobil1 V8 Supercars, the BMW Car Club category, the Lotus Challenge and the Charlies Super Spar Pursuit Series.
At this stage it is not possible to predict whether spectators will be allowed at the event.
“It is far too early to predict that,” says Zwartkops circuit owner Peter du Toit.
“Obviously we would love to have spectators who share our passion for speed at the circuit’s biggest event of the year, but the decision is ultimately not ours.”
The event will be live-streamed every day.