The Flag Drops
By the time this issue hits the shelves, all the major motorsport formulae will be nicely up to speed – both locally and abroad. Yes, it’s definitely the time of year when true petrolheads start blocking off entire weekends on their calendars and making arrangements with similarly minded folk. If your passion is Formula One, then this issue has some treats in store for you, including our popular annual F1 booklet. Furthermore, our F1 expert, Maurice Hamilton, highlights the ten things he thinks you should be looking out for this season, starting on page 107.
But what about local motorsport? A few months ago, local commentator Roger McCleery set the tongues wagging by penning a controversial article for us, titled, “What’s wrong with SA motorsport?” It’s a question on many a local enthusiasts’ lips, and there’s no easy answer. Mentioned in the article was also the predicament facing the local media – how do you cover a sport that has dwindling support at the track, and even more so in the pages of a magazine? We’ve pondered this for the past few months, and have decided on the following strategy. You will find no more motorsport results and event reports in CAR. Due to print lead times, the results are outdated by the time the magazine reaches its readers and hardly make for entertaining reading. If you are looking for results, you will be able to find those on our revamped website (www.carmag.co.za) which is being revamped right now. In the magazine you will find us attending and covering types of motorsport you may not have expected (drag racing in this issue, page 102) and speaking to the people that make it happen (see an interview with rising local track racing star Andrea Bate next month). We hope this will add colour to our motorsport offering. Let us know what you think.
More importantly, perhaps, we’ve also decided to participate in local motorsport ourselves, so to speak. Associate Editor Sudhir Matai will be campaigning an entire season of VW Polo Cup races, and reporting on the highs and lows of being an amateur racing driver throughout the season. See page 112 for a preview.
Sitting on the sidelines and complaining about the state of local motorsport is not good enough. We hope that, in our revised coverage and through direct participation, we can inject a little bit of interest back into it. South Africa has a long and proud motorsport history. We must all strive to keep it alive.