The Pretoria-based Retirement Fund Solutions off road racing team of Hannes Grobler and Christiaan du Plooy are relishing the prospect of taking on their English-speaking rivals in what is being billed as a re-run of the Anglo-Boer War in the hills around the historic battlefields area of Dundee in KwaZulu-Natal on May 19 and 20.
The occasion is the running of the third round of the Absa South African Off Road Car Championship, the Atlas Copco 400, and the roar of powerful V6- and V8-engined off road machines will replace the crash of cannons and rifle shots as the leading contenders in the production vehicle category battle it out not far from the famous battlefield sites of Isandlwana, Rorke’s Drift and Blood River.
The Pretoria-based RFS team’s weapons will again be their two uniquely South African BMW X3s competing in the Super Production class. The experienced combination of multiple former champion Grobler and experienced co-driver Hennie ter Stege, second in last year’s championship, won the opening battle in the Western Cape in March, when they gave the BMW its second victory in only its fifth outing, but their championship title challenge faltered when they failed to finish the Toyota Dealer 400 in Mpumalanga six weeks ago.
“We were lying a comfortable second when we hit a rock hidden in the grass about 100 km from the finish,” reported Grobler. “These things happen in off road racing, but ‘more is nog ‘n dag’ and Hennie and I are all fired up to give it another go this weekend. The diesel-engined BMW is getting better with each outing and we’re confident we can give the boys a good run for their money. It’s the boers against the English again and you know who really won last time,” he joked.
Young Christiaan du Plooy and co-driver Henk Janse van Vuuren will be giving the new V8 petrol-engined RFS BMW X3 its second outing in the Atlas Copco 400. The striking orange and black South African developed and built machine made an impressive debut in Mpumalanga six weeks ago, but was troubled by teething problems that included an electrical problem that kept them out of the main race.
“The Toyota Dealer 400 was always going to be a shake-down outing for the new BMW, but we were disappointed we didn’t have more time on the road,” said Du Plooy. “The lengthy break between events has given us the chance to do a lot more work on the car and we’re confident we can give a good account of ourselves this weekend.”
Race headquarters, the start/finish and designated service point (DSP) for the Atlas Copco 400 will all be located at the Battlefields Country Lodge outside Dundee. The Donaldson Prologue to determine grid position for the race will start at 12.00 on Friday, May 20 with the start of the race at 08.30 on Saturday, May 21.
STORY COURTESY OF PETER BURROUGHES
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