Start and finish banner returned to Botswana for the first time since 2019.
The 2023 edition of the Toyota Gazoo Racing 1000 Desert Race in Botswana at the end of June lived-up to its reputation as an event of mixed emotions.
On the one hand, the third round of the South African Rally-Raid Championship was jubilation for Ford, who finally managed to get one over arch-rivals, Toyota, by taking a 1-2 finish after the Japanese marque’s runaway success in the first two rounds of this year’s series.
ALSO READ: Drought over as Ford clinches 1-2 in Botswana desert
Understandably, the festivities weren’t shared by Toyota, who still secured a third-place finish courtesy of Guy Botterill and co-driver Simon Vacy-Lyle, and victory in the second-tier T1 class for the works-supported Team Hilux Rally-Raid outfit of Eben Basson/Leander Pienaar, but who were still despondent at losing the event it later attributed as being down to the curse of being an event sponsor.
The biggest winners though were the spectators. One of the biggest sporting events in Botswana since taking place for the first time in 1980, 2023 saw the Desert Race return to the southern African nation for the first time since 2019 as a result of the pandemic that followed.
Hosted in the town of Jwaneng located some 150 km from the capital Gaborone, the race’s return attracted, seemingly, the whole of Botswana’s population, even being opened by President Mokgweetsi Masisi on the Friday that heralded the start of the qualifying race that determines the starting order for the two-day 1 000 km event the following day.
The significance of this year’s event, besides its influence on the championship and welcome homecoming, was also more poignant as back in 1995, it became the first off-road racing uhmm… event witnessed, on television, by a four-year already car-crazy boy from a small town in the Eastern Cape. Me.
Watched over and over on VHS tape recorded by my grandfather, which subsequently led to most of the scenes and commentary being permanently imprinted into my mind till this day, the thought of seeing an event close-up after 28 years send the emotions crazy.
In fact, the invitation from Toyota as part of the media contingent had me transported back to that event in 1995, incidentally relived following its discovery on YouTube.
Back then, Toyota had arguably one of the strongest line-ups in national off-roading racing; multiple rally and off-road winner Kassie Coetzee in a custom-made turbocharged Hilux, and the late Apie Reyneke in an almost standard Land Cruiser bakkie.
Although teammates in theory as both competed in Class D, the equivalent of today’s FIA T1+ class, both raced separately; Coetzee and his navigator Richard Leeke under the Castrol banner and Reyneke with co-pilot Robin Houghton running with Bankfin sponsorship.
Ironically, one of the biggest challengers back then was Neil Woolridge, who today runs the Ford operation for his sons Lance and Gareth.
It was at the wheel of a turbocharged Nissan Sani the elder Wooldridge was campaigning with at the time, which, ultimately went to Reyneke/Houghton and not the more fancied Coetzee/Leeke who had to retire due to chronic gearbox problems on the first day.
Childhood memories aside, the more pressing issue was getting up early as our trek to Jwaneng would be by road from Toyota’s head office in Sandton, an undertaken that made more sense than flying and came with no objections from my colleagues and I as a result of the border being a four-hour drive away.
While this meant missing the qualifying race, the centrepiece would be the traditional early morning start from the Jwaneng showgrounds on Saturday and then tracking the competitors throughout the first 450 km split into two loops of 225 km each.
The second day was to be the most punishing over two loops of 275 km in order to make-up the full 1 000 km through the Botswana bush.
While the early morning rise, road trip, and crossing the border into Botswana before arriving in Jwaneng came with little hassle, the real action was to take place the following day.
As it turned out, it was more than just an early start as our hosts had prepared something unexpected. But more about that later.
It was walking through the starting line-up in the warm early dawn that the magic of the Botswana 1000 became apparent.
Besides the packed stands adjacent to the starting line, there was the small matter of the competitors of themselves, who prepare for the event probably harder than any other on the calendar.
The ticking down of the starting clock, sounds of revving turbocharged V6’s engines, and dropped clutches from the Toyota and Ford crews setting off two minutes apart to alleviate dust concerns, predictably send the crowd into mass hysteria in addition to also coating them in a film of earth.
For yours truly, the experience was surreal and, it has to be said, tinged with some emotion as memories of staring at the screen from ’95 came flooding back.
No sooner had it all started, it was anything but “in the cars and off into stage” at one of the many spectator points.
Instead, myself and two colleagues were escorted to the Jwaneng golf course behind the showgrounds that served as the designated service point (DSP).
The reason? A Safari Rally-style view from above inside a helicopter. Truth be told, neither of us had it expected this, but once inserted into the Robinson R44, the spectacle, scale, and scenes of the Desert 1000 hit hard.
High above the Botswana floor as we tracked a BAT Spec 4 competing in the Special Vehicles class, a whole new angle to the Desert Race is presented, along with its massive based on how many cars are scattered not only at the spectator points but in the bush itself as a result of some having opted to camp rather than staying in a hotel or guesthouse.
Similar to seeing the field set off, the 30 minutes or so spent in the air was something special and a different type of appreciation for the event.
Once back on terra firma, it was into the stage to experience the “vibe” for ourselves, which it turned out, raised a few eyebrows brought on by the spectators.
In scenes reminiscent of those during the Group B era of the World Rally Championship (WRC), onlookers risked getting run over by the competitors as a result of waiting to the last second before getting out of the way.
Others risked their luck further by driving onto the designated route in order to get to a better vantage point, while the most common risk involved smartphones being placed onto the track milliseconds before a car came passed.
The sheer lunacy was something else and although Botswana police were present, mostly at crossing points where the route intersected the main tar roads, the competing tracks were still ‘open’ similar to what the Safari Rally in Kenya once was.
In fact, we realised this with some shock as in order to get to a different viewpoint, while trying to avoid the clogged-up tar roads, we had to resort to going through the bush, which at some point saw us finding ourselves on the event route.
Fortunately, we didn’t interfere with the event and once back at the DSP, after the first day, had time to reflect on what had been a mesmerising experience unlike the cars, who returned to their teams minus almost all of their bodywork after encounters with the local flora.
The final day promised the same but with the traditional “sting-in-tail” over the final 550 km. In this instance though, that sting involved us driving the wrong way to a spectator point hidden deep within the Botswana bush.
With locals helping us though, we were back on course soon after and while waiting for the cars to pass by, setting up an impromptu brunch stop at a packed spectator point quickly attracted a different type of attention. Us.
It was while chatting with the locals that the essence of Botswana showed itself. Besides the friendliness of the population, their love for motorsport is intoxicating and, arguably, more so than South Africans’.
Its return, it has to be said, seemed to have invigorated a nation long renowned as being an untapped jewel of southern Africa.
Back at the DSP after the event, which lived up to its car-wrecking reputation, the scale of what happened out on the course became apparent.
Besides yet more missing or destroyed body panels, third-place finishers Botterill and Vacy-Lyle had to peer through a badly smashed windscreen for most of the second leg after hitting a vulture almost at the very beginning.
If the massacre out on the route wasn’t enough, tragedy almost also ensued after a massive fire broke out following what reportedly had been a makeshift vending stand or braai dropping a hot coal onto the dry grass.
What followed was a massive bush fire far from the DSP that wiped out a reported 49 spectator cars, fortunately with no loss of life.
Despite the event’s eventual outcome, the main winners were without doubt the crazy spectators and the competitors, who continue to relish the challenge of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Kalahari 1000 Desert Race.
Now very much the proverbial wounded animal, revenge for Toyota also beckons for the 2024 edition as it will no doubt be keener than ever to rewrite history by taking the spoils from its arch-rivals in less than twelve months’ time.
In all, it had been an experience and privilege second to none and one that strongly resonated with this writer more than ever after that moment 28 years ago.
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