Page 28 - Car South Africa (February 2020)

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LOCAL NINE-HOUR
INSTAGRAM INTERACTIONS

A FINE LINE 16 260 2 107 1 613

PORSCHE AUDI BMW
Motor companies must get behind international SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH AFRICA

motorsport in South Africa At our print deadline. Audi SA's figure excludes Instagram stories.

O n the weekend of 22 never been seen or raced in teams. Carmakers often claim their heritage

and products are the result of countless rac-
and
November
South Africa; for instance, the
23
Kyalami

2019,
the
Nine-hour endurance race Nine-hour was the rst time a ing victories over the decades; that their en-
current-generation NSX had
gineers apply their racing knowledge to the
returned to South Africa. It By: Wilhelm Lutjeharms touched local tarmac. continuous development of their road cars.
formed part of the Interconti- WilhelmL_CARmag Porsche South Africa made The truth is, that’s rarely the case … except
nental GT Challenge, a motor- a huge fuss about the event. with these three brands, it’s true.

sport series held in ve coun- Almost born in the back Its CEO, Toby Venter, is the Why, then, is there little interest on the
tries during 2019. All of these of a Volkswagen Kombi, owner of Kyalami Grand Prix part of the manufacturers to share the news
races are endurance events Wilhelm has been Circuit and he and his team with their followers when these machines
ranging from the Liqui-Moly fascinated by cars all his worked round the clock in are raced locally? The beauty of social media
life. He dreams of one
Bathurst 12-hour in February preparation. Let’s not forget is you know most of the people who follow
day owning a Lotus Exige
to the Total 24 Hours of Spa but for now he’s content that Kyalami went on auction you are interested in the content you post.
and the Suzuka 10 Hours in in 2014 and that national-level There’s no doubt they would like to know
with the key card to a
Japan. Such occasions and Renault Clio RS R27. motorsport in South Africa more about these special cars and the driv-
others like the 24 Hours of Le might have disappeared had ers who pilot them. Social media is also one
Mans vividly illustrate what Venter not bought and up- of the easiest, most cost-effective and vis-
automotive engineers, alongside the driv- graded the facility. There is also the small ually engaging ways of sharing and promot-
ers and teams, are really capable of achiev- matter of the impact an event such as the ing content. In this speci c case, content of

ing. They also highlight which companies Nine-hour and others has on the local com- cars that will appeal to young and old.

develop the best performance machines, munity in terms of job creation and the - Sure, there might be internal politics/
both in terms of prowess and, crucially, re- nancial gain to a wide range of suppliers. policies involved. But, honestly, who cares?;
liability (the latter being especially applica- It’s therefore no surprise some manu- these are factory cars, old and new, racing
ble during an endurance race). facturers took the event seriously. Several in our backyard. In most cases, the track is
In the Intercontinental GT Challenge, the brands featured posts and videos on social mere kilometres from most local OEM head-
cars are GT3 racers. These are road-based media about these winged cars and their quarters. It is the same track at which these
racing cars such as the Honda NSX, BMW teams. BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Bent- carmakers host track days or other local
M6, Porsche GT3, Ferrari 488, Mercedes- ley, Porsche and Audi, for example, ran won- events for their current or potential clients.
AMG GT, Bentley Continental GT, Audi R8, derful social media campaigns on the week- It leaves a sour taste, illustrating as it does
Lamborghini Huracán, Nissan GT-R Nismo end, clearly proud of their teams and drivers the lack of interest in local motorsport. Man-
and Aston Martin Vantage AMR. There are (several being South African). For many of ufacturers often complain racing is dead in
many reasons I nd this form of racing more the manufacturers, this is the pinnacle of our country but when a world-class event is

appealing than Formula One. These vehicles their global motorsport efforts as they don’t staged at the best circuit in the country, they
are similar to those you can buy from deal- participate in F1. Some teams also offered turn their backs. I honestly wonder why.
erships, and factory and non-factory teams us interviews with drivers. This was the inaugural event of the Nine-
feed information back to their respective However, I discovered certain brands, in- hour race and the contract will run for sev-
manufacturers. Enthusiasts can relate to cluding Ferrari, Nissan and Aston Martin, eral years. Hopefully, these brands will sit

them. In their speci cation, most of these did very little – or nothing at all – to promote up and take notice, and actually attend and
international-level GT3 racing cars have this event and drum up support for their promote the 2020 race.

26 CAR FEBRUARY 2020 CARmag.co.za