Gauteng, South Africa – A1GP World Cup of Motorsport gave its drivers the opportunity to take in some of the rainbow cultures including a guided tour around Soweto this morning ahead of Go-GP.Org A1GP Gauteng, South Africa this coming weekend.
Covering 120 square-kilometres, Soweto consists of between 50 -60 townships with approximately 2 million people living there speaking between them 11 official languages. The area has a real entrepreneurial spirit with many locals choosing to start their own businesses in their backyards in order to look after themselves and their families. The streets are lined with colourful displays of items on sale from carved animals and beaded jewellery to clothes and pottery.
The first stop for the drivers was the iconic Apartheid Museum and the Nelson Mandela Exhibition where they learned more about the system of legal racial segregation enforced by the National Party government of South Africa between 1948 and 1994.
They then moved on to visit the site of the Soccer City Stadium being built in preparation for the 2010 Fifa World Cup. The stadium is designed to mirror a traditional Zulu bracelet – similar to the ones the drivers were presented with by their tour guide, Jimmy who has been doing this for 35 years.
The drivers then visited the Hector Peterson Monument, one of the cornerstones of Soweto which has the iconic image of 12-year-old Hector Peterson being carried by his friend to the place where he died.
Soweto came to the world's attention on June 16, 1976 with the Soweto Uprising, when mass protests erupted over the government's policy to enforce education in Afrikaans rather than English. Police opened fire on about 10 000 students marching from Naledi High School to Orlando Stadium, with Hector being one of the first students killed after being hit with a rubber bullet at close range. The place where Hector died is commemorated with the monument and the A1GP drivers all paid their respects this morning by placing a white rose each at the site. Despite the tragedy the riots continued for a further ten years.
The drivers continued down the famous Vilakazi Street, the only street in the world with the homes of two recipients of the Nobel Prize - Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
The final stop was the Don Mattera School for children with special education needs. The warmth of the welcome by the children as they sang a South African song to the A1GP group brought both smiles and a few tears to the eye. The A1GP drivers were then addressed by Principal Bachelor who also presented each driver with a ‘message in a bottle’ made especially for them by the school children. The messages were prayers of thanks for coming to visit them in their school.
While at the school the drivers took part in some traditional African games with the youngsters. In Soweto, the children cannot afford karts or cars so they get hold of the closest thing to them that they can, in this case, tyres. The children had great fun racing their colourfully painted tyres and wire cars against the A1GP racers in their playground – this is their form of motorsport. Current championship leader Adam Carroll and South African Adrian Zaugg were among the drivers who were all out-raced by the children before finally they all gathered for the reading of a poem ‘when rubber meets the road’ by local poet Mr Donovan Mitchell, who was also mentored by Don Materra.
A1 Team South Africa’s Adrian Zaugg said: “It’s very interesting for everyone today especially the experience with the kids; they all looked pretty happy about us being there and it was exciting to see all the games they play here. It’s also been something special for me I have never spent much time in Johannesburg so some of the sites were new to me.
Looking to the weekend ahead he continued: “It’s always great to race on home soil and have all the people cheering for you I just hope to do them proud and have a good race.”
A1 Team Netherlands’ Jeroen Bleekemolen said: “It was good to see a bit of Johannesburg and hear some of the history of South Africa. It was difficult racing against the children at the school as they are really good but they have had a bit more training. We grew up with Playstations and they grow up doing this but they have as much fun as we did which is great to see.”
A1GP heads to Kayalami motor racing circuit for round five of the 2008/09 season this weekend, 20 – 22 February 2009.
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