Rallying in Style By David Pearson

In his message to competitors and rally followers in the programme, Francis Tucker of the organising SCC warned that this rally would be “the most demanding South African event that rally crews have ever faced… all those who finish will enjoy a feeling of great achievement”. By David Pearson Images by Roger Swan from the www.motoprint.co.za collection

The initial idea came from Wynn’s, who wanted an event for show room-spec cars that would demonstrate the quality and strength of South Africanproduced vehicles. When deciding into which class a car fell, the organisers were guided by ‘the public’s acceptance of a car as being large, medium or small, and its price and capacity. Special performance versions of medium and small saloons have been uprated to a higher class at the discretion of the Organisers’ – with a capital ‘O’. Simpler times.

Class A:
Performance cars and V8 commercials

Class B:
Family saloons and 6-cylinder commercials

Class C:
Medium saloons and light commercials

Class D:
Small saloons and small-capacity commercials

Prizes and awards were nothing less than driving to-die-for:

First overall:
To both driver and navigator – two air tickets
on BOAC (the parent of what is now British
Airways) plus R500 spending money.

Class winners:
For both driver and navigator plus wives – two
weeks at a Southern Sun hotel in South Africa.

While the class winners were rather primly restricted to taking their wives on holiday, this did not apply to the overall winners, who seemed free to share with whomsoever they wished. There were also trophies and cash awards for second to fifth overall, and trophies for the winning club and manufacturer.

All competitors enjoyed five nights’ complimentary, world-class accommodation and 80 gallons of free petrol (ironically just six months before a fuel crisis brought all SA motorsport to a halt!) in addition to a chance of winning the lavish prizes on offer.
The ral ly compr ised about 3000km of daylight driving from Cape Town to Johannesburg, almost all on gravel, with overnight stops at Southern Sun’s finest. 

The final entry list comprised 67 cars, with a healthy manufacturer interest and the cream of rally drivers taking part, with big names such as Giv Piazza-Musso (Alfa), Elbie Odendaal
(Fairmont GT), Louis Cloete (Chevrolet SS), the Fekken brothers Harry, Roelof and Lambert,
Jan Hettema (Chevrolet) and Jannie Kuun (Volvo), backed up by most of rallying’s top
regulars. From motor racing came luminaries such as Eddie Keizan navigated by Harvey
Thomas of The Star, John Love in a Fiat 128 with John Christopher from East London’ Daily Dispatch, Jackie Pretorius and Basil van Rooyen.

A good proportion of the entry was made up of club rallyists, and even included some total newcomers. Scrutiny, documentation and a special test took place in Cape Town on Wednesday 16 May, with accommodation for all competitors at the President Hotel. The rally started the next morning and took competitors to Plettenberg Bay, with the route covering a number of the legendary passes along the way. The day’s rallying ended at the Beacon Isle Hotel in Plett.

Regulations allowed crews to only work on their cars for 15 minutes at the end of
each day and for 10 minutes before leaving in the morning. That evening in the bar, rally types gleefully listened to their racing counterparts’ baptism of fire into the rough stuff. Dick Crosbie, navigating for Bernie Marriner, head of the Ford Rally squad, and himself part of that team, recalls: “John Love reckoned he had never had to drive so hard, and for so long, and with such intensity, ever.” Jackie Pretorius, navigated by his buddie Bobbie Badenhorst in a 1300 Escort, put it in his inimitable way, “I would rather die in front of 30 000 people at Kyalami than in front of six or seven baboons on a mountain pass.”

This writer has a treasure trove of photos from the event but has searched in vain for information on the precise route and full results and therefore has relied on a few comments on a Facebook post on the rally. Commenting on a photo of a BMW 2000 SA, Wim Verhagen posted: “Ook my eerste standaard rally kar. BMW 2004. Die agtervenster was geneig om uit te val. Die bakwerk was seker nie gemaak vir daai hammerings nie.” (Also my first standard rally car. BMW 2004. The back window was
inclined to fall out. The body was definitely not made for these hammerings).

Norman Clark, now living in Australia, squeezed into the event from the reserve entry list, and navigated by his friend Alan de Kock, drove his very new Alfa on its – and his – very
first rally. The second night’s stop was at the New Elizabeth Hotel on the beachfront in Port Elizabeth and the next day’s route went into some really tough parts of the Eastern
Cape. It was close to Naude’s Nek that one of the most experienced crews, Louis Cloete navigated by Geoff Mortimer in a Chev SS, came unstuck. Leon Joubert, also now living in Oz, and navigating for his old friend Andre Liebenberg in a Valiant, remembers when they arrived on the scene. “Geoff looked a little rough around the edges. Not a situation he was used to dealing with. This was on Naude’s Nek. Hilarious. We tried to pivot the Chev on its roof to allow enough room to pass, and asked Geoff and Louis to please pivot it back and therefore block the next car... no luck.”

The rally finally ended at the Sunnyside Park Hotel in Johannesburg on Sunday 20 May, with the results and prize giving that evening. Lambert Fekken, with his national rally par tner Johan Borman, took top honours in a Cortina 2000 LDV.

Any further information regarding this event, such as the route followed, full results or any anecdotes that would add to the full history of this rally would be appreciated.

Please write to The Editor, Classic Car Africa
or email the author at davidp@wol.co.za.