The tranquil surrounds of Steytlerville will come alive with the beat of rally cars as the Algoa Rally Club host their fifth round of their championship in and around the town this weekend.
The confirmed entry list for the rally sees an impressive list of 31 cars across five different classes.
Nick Davidson and Ashley Bezuidenhout will debut their brand new turbo-charged four-wheel drive VW Polo 270 at this event, joining the other four-wheel drive Polos of Riekus Schmidt and Marco Griesel, Jody van Zummeren and James Johnston and Wade van Zummeren and Henry Adams.
With the resurgence of the four-wheel drive cars, they will be joined by Cape Town competitors Paul van Wyk and Matt Kohler in their magnificent-sounding Audi Quattro S3, as well as the local husband and wife team of Des and Marelize Timm in their Subaru Impreza and national competitors from Mpumalanga, Johan Strauss and Elzaan van der Schyff, in their Subaru Impreza.
Adding an international flair to the rally is JJ Jutley from Kenya, who pairs up with Karel Marais and they will be competing in a VW Polo 250 in the very competitive ARC 4 class for two-wheel drive 1600cc cars.
They are joined in the class by another husband and wife team of Juan and Tarryn van Rooyen in their incredibly quick Ford Fiesta 1.6-litre, along with a pair of Toyota Etios’s of Deon Kretzmann and Jason Schreiber and rally debutant Winston “Pikkie” Marais, who will have high-flying navigator Juandré Nienaber in the navigator seat.
Leading the charge of the VW Polos in the ARC 4 class are Neels Vosloo and Rikus Fourie, who will have their hands full fending off the attack from Jeandré Marais and his fiancé Tegan Taljaard, Denron Koetaan and Lovedonia Phakula, as well as the Toyota Tazz of JP Smit and Marisa Bernhardt.
In the ARC 3 class for two-wheel drive 2-litre cars, the father and daughter team of Johan and Juane Viljoen will be hard pushed by Ross and Roxanne Bartle in their similar VW Polo 250s.
Eddie Banks is always a highlight to watch and he’ll be competing in a classic Ford Escort Mk2 with Marco van Niekerk as his navigator and Herman Bernhardt and Greg Heine will be in a 1.2-litre Turbocharged VW Polo.
Adding to the ARC 3 class are a host of East London teams will be making the trip to Steytlerville, with the classic Toyota Corolla KE70 of Oliver de Man and Ingrid Jeacocks leading the way followed by Justin and Dane Langhein in a similar Corolla, Laren and Ashley Odendaal in a Corolla E110, Wayne Malherbe and Corne Blom in a VW Polo 250 as well as Craig Step and his daughter Amy in a BMW E36.
Martin van Zummeren will have evergreen local navigator Mark Irvine reading his notes and is sure to put on another spectacular driving display in the 2.8-litre rear-wheel drive Nissan Skyline R30.
In the ARC 5 class, Francois Vermaak and Handre van Schalkwyk will want to put their woes of suspension failure at the last round behind them in their giant-killing VW Golf A1.
They will be up against the all-girl team of Chanell van Tonder and Nadia Rautenbach in their VW Polo 1.4- litre and the Daniel Pienaar team of Leander Koekemoer and Kaylin Kapp as well as Davian Koetaan and Jerome Gouws in Toyota Yaris XP90, David van der Merwe and Steph Pieterse in a VW Polo Playa and Ruan van Tonder and Marius Rautenbach in a VW Polo 250 1.4-litre.
The Steytlerville Showgrounds will not only be the headquarters for the rally but will also be the starting point, with the first car going off at 10.20am to start the first of seven stages in the 107.81km event.
Upcoming events:
October 4: Algoa Rally Club round 5 in Steytlerville
October 18: Aldo Scribante round 7 including classic Mini Challenge; Winterberg Motorcycle Enduro at Rover Motorcycle Club
October 25: Pirates Hockey Club Car Show & music festival in Mill Park; Motocross, club championship round 3 at Rover Motorcycle Club; Dirt Oval Racing at PE Ovaltrack Raceway in Greenbushes.
The Herald