“Stay out of my way”, these are the words of advice that racing legend Sarel van der Merwe has for CAR Associate Editor Sudhir Matai (among others) ahead of their on-track battle at Killarney.Volkswagen SA has gamely provided twelve slightly modified Citi Golf 1,6is for a showdown between some of Cape Town’s most noted motoring scribes and multiple national championship winners Sarel van der Merwe, Terry Moss, Chris Aberdein, Geoff Mortimer, Glyn Hall and Giniel de Villiers at Killarney racetrack on September 26 as a curtain-raiser to the final round of the WesBank Super Series in October.
The journalistic contingent will be represented by Michele Lupini (Cars in Action), Pierre Steyn (Media24) and our own Sudhir Matai. Apart from a bolt-in roll cage, racing seats, safety accoutrements and some racy decals, the cars in question will be entirely stock standard…Apparently, the journo’s plaintive requests for a trio of 1,8R Citis went unheeded!
To give you some idea of the calibre of racers the writers are up against, Aberdein has raced for the Volkswagen group in Group N, WesBank Modifieds and Touring Cars, Hall rallied for both Volkswagen and Audi, Mortimer is another tar and dirt racer noted for his exploits in Audi rally cars and Golf GTis in Group N. Van der Merwe has also netted titles in both categories and is synonymous with Volkswagen’s rally and circuit racing programmes. Moss campaigned with Volkswagen’s GTis as well as the Audi touring cars.
The South African legends will be joined at the Cape Town event by three of the BP Volkswagen rally competitors. Enzo Kuun, Guy Hodgson and Pierre Arries will share the track and the current top contenders – Hodgson has navigated for Hall – and is the navigator for Kuun. According to Hodgson, both have been warned that it is now his turn to get back at them for all they abuse they have given him. And he is not the only one with a plan…
The Cape Town outing looks set to be a titanic struggle, especially considering that there are a few grudges looking to be settled at there – Sarel van der Merwe has indicated that he owes Terry Moss for an incident at Welkom where he was driven off the road. Amongst this motoring maelstrom will be the trio of journalists, also vying for a spot up front…or perhaps ruing any choice words they may have written about their fellow competitors in the past!
Sudhir describes the excitement….and tension…he’s experiencing ahead of the big event.
