It’s the end of our first full day with the cast of our January 2011 performance issue shootout, and even though the team is thoroughly exhausted from a night with fans and readers at FTV Cedar Square, and an arduous day at Pilanesburg International – the fun’s just begun.
On Tuesday evening, the regulars of Cedar Square’s cafes and trendy lounges were surprised by the sudden orchestra of engine and exhaust noise, as the CAR team drove through the mall and descended on FTV with our 2011 shootout competitors.
For the faithful, this was something that they’d anticipated for quite some time and the eagerness to meet both fresh and seasoned members of staff (as well as the machinery we arrived in) was a given, but the generally-favourable expressions and comments we got from the other patrons was a pleasant surprise.
After an evening of getting to know some of our readers a bit better, we said au revoir in order to make the early schedule the next morning. Right enough, we met at 06h00 on Wednesday morning and set out north on the R55, to eventually make our way to the R556 in the direction of Sun City.
Just from the journey there, and back it seems, there a few favourites amongst the team, including a custom-look German, with an exhaust system that couldn’t even remotely be touted as being subtle, a bewinged wonder that proves itself the more time we spend with it…
The battle for hot hatch supremacy took a whole new turn today, as our reigning benckmark, the Ford Focus RS, went head to head with two other boy racer supremos – the Renault Megane RS Cup and Subaru WRX STI (yes, the new booted model) – with surprising straight line results, but the outcome here will be decided today…
Of course, you’re welcome to join us at Zwartkops Raceway on Thursday afternoon from 13h00 to see Sabine “Speedbee” Schmitz put in her hot laps with the heavy metal of this year’s shootout.