Some of those fortunate or unfortunate enough to have passed the 50 year mark will remember that we have sung about the wonderful country we live in, the one we (albeit an almost whites only thing) were willing to die for. Please note: The last remark was a tongue in the cheek remark – before […]
Part 2 THE START OF A NEW ERA As mentioned in the previous delivery, secret notes and practising of stages by certain drivers and teams, made things on the rally scene very unfair and another even more important aspect was that navigators did not really form part of the team – let me rather […]
This is a series I will write for the subscribers to the Rallystar website – it will cover the development and progress (in most cases) of the art of navigating over the past 12 or so years up to the end of 2014 when a new system was introduced in South Africa and my involvement […]
We did not know it then, but Saturday morning when the new day kicked in it would become the day South Africa as a rugby nation, was going to make rugby history by losing its opening game in the World rugby cup to the men from the land of the rising sun and a few […]
An analysis of the doings and drivings on day One of the Brave Hearts down there in the Cape – by Leon Botha Mark Cronje with new navigator Gerhard Snyman predictably opened up the Toyota sponsored Cape Rally with a win in his Ford Fiesta beating Leeroy Poulter by a solid 6,2s Perfect start for […]
WHO WILL WIN AND WHO IS BEST? This coming weekend Cape rally enthusiasts will enjoy the penultimate rally of the 2015 season and to make it more interesting this and the last rally of the year will decide the championship. The two drivers competing for honours are Toyota’s Leeroy Poulter – pound for pound the […]
I forgot the name of the reality show – if I remember correctly most of it was made in Spain – where people actually died or were badly injured in cases got away with whatever they did. This was a show about rally accidents, bull fights going north, people doing very silly things and so on. […]
TO WEIGH OR NOT TO WEIGH Many moons, suns and years ago I visited “old man” Giovanni Piazza-Musso and watched him drill small holes in the bonnet hinges of a rally car to reduce the weight of the car. I asked him if it would not be easier if he himself had one plate of […]
Well, there you go. We took the step to try and give subscribers even better value, albeit for a little bit of money! Obviously we will be very sorry to lose any of our regular readers but we had no choice but to request a small subscription fee from all. I think those of you […]
They – whoever “they” are say that “all is fair in love and war!” That my dear friend do not apply to rallying and even more so to boxing. To participate in the latter you have to get up early every morning like Rocky, run up and down the steps of the Union building, turn […]
I had an uncle who always said when things went the way he predicted, “Well, well, what can I say?” This is about what I can say after day one of the Imperial Rally that took place in the vicinity of Pretoria – if I may use the Toyota PR way of describing where a […]
ROAD TEST ON A WORTHWHILE VEHICLE. A large number of readers will agree that there is better use for printing ink and paper than filling four and more pages of a newspaper or magazine with the retail prices of every single model car, bakkie, SUV and Super car available in South Africa. Every time I […]
There is not one single activity – except maybe – … well no, thinking of it, I cannot think of any activity these days that does not need to be jacked up to tipping point to survive in a mainstream offering everything just short of snuff movies*. If you have the right contacts you can […]
As a few of you will by now have heard, Rallystar will stop its operations at the well-known Rallystar venue end September 2015 due to the fact that we have sold the property. With this news behind the back, I can inform you that we are currently involved in negotiations to relocate to a more […]
Most of us have the habit to analyse a win – especially if we lose – to see if it was “deserved” or a “fluke”. No matter how you look at the win achieved during the Volkswagen Rally last week by Leeroy Poulter and Elvene Coetzee in the Toyota Yaris – it was well-deserved after […]
This has always been one of my favourite rallies – firstly because of the magic stages, where even heavy rain do not influence things too much, but dry weather or traction on the roads always created a high-speed spectacle of note. Except for my own adventures on these roads and especially a rally where I […]
Sweden’s Mattias Ekstrom has become the fifth different winner in this year’s FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy after clinching the victory at the Volkswagen World RX of Sweden in an exhilarating final race. Timmy Hansen was declared the initial winner but his victory was later revoked after a stewards’ enquiry confirmed the […]
MIKOLAJKI (Poland): After posting fastest time during shakedown today, the French duo of Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia also set the quickest time on the opening 2.5km super special stage of LOTOS 72nd Rally Poland at Mikolajki Arena on Thursday evening. They headed into the overnight halt with a lead of just half a second […]
“He thinks because he is the son of Prada (founder Miuccia Prada) this changes everything.” Now just picture this scene. Little Lorenzo Bertelli crashes his diamond studded Ford in Special (very special) Stage 10 of the Portuguese Rally. He bumps his expensive head which is inside the best helmet money and fragrance can buy, against […]
UITDAGEND MAAR SUINING. Die horlosie tik weereens aan na die jaarlikse RFS MOTORFIETSBESPARINGSRIT waartydens intens gesoek gaan word na die motorfietsryer wat weet hoe om elke druppel brandstof te laat tel. Die inskrywings vir hierdie jaar se byeenkoms open op Maandag 1 Junie en wanneer die ren op 28 en 29 Augustus 2015 deur die […]
The highpoint of this event was the return of Hergen Fekken to the rally scene where he had not yet completely played out his role. “This was where he belonged – for another few years” was my feeling. That was unfortunately also where emotion stopped for me. The rally would be held in the Secunda […]
RallyCross The latest update Rallycross – coming closer and closer. Although we are busy doing a little bit more than our best to get the RallyCross series going in South Africa, there are many factors behind the scenes playing a role and we have our fair share of ups and downs. We are however […]
The heading belonged to the original article I wrote as a review of the Sasol Rally. As many of you know I placed a video clip sent to me of the van Niekerk/Lategan incident during the Sasol Rally the week after the event and it was amazing how many reactions we received on this incident. What we […]
Day Two – 2015 Sasol Rally In plantations surrounding the Sabie area Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton took advantage of the fact that they worked very hard over the past few seasons to get their pace notes fine-tuned, while those who did not expect the change on the rally scene to be as drastic as […]
This is the first Sasol Rally I have missed in many, many years but I have to admit that I did not miss the Sasol as much as I thought I would. When my phone range early this morning and I spoke to a few competitors who were a bit upset about the “competitors decisions” taken […]
New Porsche 911 GT3 RS unveiled: the definitive track car for everyday use The new Porsche 911 GT3 RS, which is announced today, once again blurs the boundary between road-going sports cars and race cars. It is equipped with the maximum degree of motorsport technology currently possible in a street-legal 911, yet retains supreme suitability […]
BMW ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE – AN “ON-CALLED-FOR” STORY! At some stage in life, you will walk around in a showroom admiring a car imagining yourself driving it. The salesperson will talk non-stop, assuring you that what you are looking at, is the best ever, but the final push over the buying-edge will probably be the […]
WE ARE ALIVE AND WELL Thank you to all the readers who are a bit worried about the fact that we did not do much writing and publishing on the Rallystar.net website this weekend. It is truly nice to know that so many people read what we publish and I suppose also appreciate our work. […]
“GOOD MORNING SIR, HOW ARE YOU….” The question “Good morning sir, how are you” is quite common in South Africa and irritates the hell out of me, but after many hours at the psychologist, the local preacher and my barman I am coming to terms with having to give a financial and health report […]
EARLY SURPRISE – IF YOU WERE NOT ON TOP OF THE GAME When I read a whazzamatter tweet or whatever you call it that said “I see Loeb killed Ogier” it did it for me! I thought there was a gunfight before the rally! Yes, Loëb beat Ogier and for that matter everyone in SS1 […]
One evening at some or other do, the late Ove Anderson and I had a little talk about F1 racing compared to Rallying and the reasons why F1 was more popular than the latter. He took the Monaco GP as an example, simply because I think it was the best possible example he could use […]
After a hectic first day of the so-called Marathon Stage the Toyota team was ready to attack all comers today. Giniel and Al-Rajhi mixed it from the first section with early leader Al-Attiyah, The Quatari led up to the 4th waypoint when Giniel took over the lead and drove like a true champion. Giniel actually […]
DAKAR 2015 The 2015 Dakar Rally officially got underway with the ceremonial start in the Plaza de Mayo in front of the Casa Rosada in central Buenos Aires on Saturday evening 3rd January 2015. A capacity entry of 161 bikes, 137 cars, 45 quads and 63 trucks and a total of 720 competitors from 53 […]
“A challenge for those who go and a dream for those who stay behind.” – Thierry Sabine When writing about the Dakar you tend to get carried away – nostalgia, passion, love, respect and joy all kick in at the same time and if you do not handle that with care – it could end […]
THE BELA HAS BURST I suppose this is a fitting end to year most of us will want to forget. This has nothing to do with the fact that Hans Weijs pulled of a great win for Volkswagen on this event, but I can now understand the frustration Andries van der Walt had while I […]
As you know, I am not attending the Bela Bela rally and this was the first chance in more than 9 years that I had to sit waiting for news on the action to get to me. I suppose it you have family or friends competing you will be able to find out more […]
OH LORD ITS HARD TO BE ……. We have once again reached the end of another rally season. When talking to the public in general – something that happens almost daily at Rallystar it becomes clear that they have no idea about the progress or situation in the sport. Sadly – when […]
With the 2014 championship already in the bag, Ogier was willing to take up any challenge bright eyed and bushy tailed teammate Latvala threw at him during the 2014 Rally Britain. Unfortunately for us, this challenge came to naught when Latvala slid off the road in SS1 and lost three minutes in the over eager […]