Yvonne “Snowy” Hlongwane stole the spotlight at the Street Wars drag racing event held at the Nitro Raceway, in Brakpan, when she set a personal best on Sunday, July 2.
Hlongwane, who recently became the first South African black woman to drag race, clocked a quartermile time of 12 seconds dead with a top speed of 195km/h in her manager’s Nissan Skyline GT-R.
A quarter mile is equivalent to 400m.
Her manager, Isabel Greyvensteyn who races in the same class as Snowy, finished second, in 11.1 and 210km/h, behind Ernest Roberts who blew the track in 9.9 seconds at a top speed of 226km/h.
Hlongwane and Greyvensteyn’s relationship goes beyond the racing track.
The former has been the latter’s domestic helper since 2009, before being asked to help with some of Nitro Raceway’s big events.
Greyvensteyn is also the Nitro Raceway promoter.
Snowy grew interested in learning the sport soon after witnessing her manager in action several times.
In May, Snowy was told that she would race in the Nissan Skyline GT-R and, although she was understandably nervous at first, she quickly learned how the timing of the race lights worked and she was off on her own.
Hlongwane is from Lakefield, Benoni.
The raceway will next host an event on August 6.
• AWC 6 CYL Class results: 1 Ernest Roberts (9.9 seconds/226km/h), 2 Isabel Greyvensteyn (11.1 seconds/210km/h), 3 Casper Walker (11.3 seconds/201km/h), 4 Yvonne Hlongwane (12 seconds/195km/h).
