A number of prominent East Rand based competitors feature in the line up for the Carnival City Casino 400, the final round of the SA Off Road Car Racing Championship…presented by Absa, on November 14 and 15.
Primrose based businessman Giel Nel is a former Class B champion and is in line to win the Special Vehicle and Class B Drivers championships in the Luk Africa Truggy. Nel has been locked in a season long see-saw battle for the overall championship lead with Gerald Mundell and Billy Bond in the more powerful Class A Prolong BAT and will have his work cut out if he hopes to claim the championship crown.
Apart from Mundell there are a number of other drivers that will be out to unseat the veteran driver with the biggest threat coming from reigning Class B champion Marcus Taylor, Queen Motor Spares Tarka 400 and Sun City 400 winner Gary Bertholdt and Clint Gibson who finished second on the recent Toyota Dealer 400.
Brakpan born Cliff Barker and Vic Campher will be in action in the privately entered MGM Motors Land Rover and could spring a surprise win over the fancied factory Nissan, Ford and Toyota teams in the Production Vehicle category. The pair are out of the running in the championship so will be going all out to show up the likes of Hannes Grobler, Giniel de Villiers, Duncan Vos, Apie Reyneke and 2001 Carnival City Casino 400 winner Neil Woolridge.
Hendrik Fourie from Germiston recently launched his locally designed and constructed Zarco, which competes in Class B, and will be keen to take on the established crews in Class B and none more so than Henry Kirstein and Renier Jooste in the locally developed Atlas Copco BAT in which Clint Gibson has had three successive Class B wins this season.
The Carnival City Casino 400 will be a spectator friendly event and a popular “bring ‘n braai” area will again be in operation, providing a friendly atmosphere for friends and enthusiasts to get together in convivial surroundings.
Spectators at Carnival City Casino will also have access to fast food outlets, a beer tent and toilet facilities. The section of the route that passes through the Carnival City complex has also been revamped and now includes additional high-speed ramps to increase the spectacle.
This will provide enthusiasts with spectacular views of the action. Spectators will be able to see the cars three times from one vantage point within the complex, and will also be within close proximity of spectator points within a few kilometres of Carnival City Casino.
The weekend’s action will get underway with the prologue, to determine grid positions, at 12:00 on Friday, November 14. This should provide plenty of action and will set the tone for what looks like developing into a highly dramatic weekend of world class off-road racing. The main event gets underway at 08:00 on Saturday, November 15.
