Piet Potgieter is well known for his love of both classic and exotic performance cars and bikes. He was good friends with another fearless and respected local biker, the late Brian Moldenhauer. They’ve put many an “outsider” speed bike rider to shame, beating them through our famous Route 22 – riding their BMW adventure bikes.
If memory serves me right, Brian’s record for the fastest recorded and videoed ride, on a speed bike that is, along the 22 was a blistering eight minutes, four seconds.
“Brian introduced me to track racing at a track day at Kyalami in 1997. That was it, I was hooked!
Although Brian attended many track days at the time, he did not race. I did eventually convince him to also start competing in formal racing”, said Piet.
Piet’s fearlessness and passion for racing, has seen him race bikes and cars for the past 20 years – since 1998! Often he would participate in both bike and saloon car racing on the same day.
And, his driving prowess has taken him to many international racetracks, including the Isle of Man, where he competed twice, and Imola.
He has competed in the Knysna Hill Climb and various bike categories, as well as Superbike racing over the years. He has also raced for a British team at Spa in Belgium in the Franco championships. In 2012/13 he, however, decided to race cars only in the VW Challenge.
So there are many stories to tell, and we will bring you some more on this in the not so distant future.
In May 2019, Autodealer Lowveld introduced you to Dawie van der Merwe. At the time, he was making his presence felt on the national racing grid in the VW Motormart Challenge – Class C.
He drove a VW Polo provided and prepared by Lee Thompson and his team. Although the intention was for him to move up to Class A only in 2021, his progress was such that he moved over sooner.
Dawie has now finished grade 12 and is considering various options, including studying or full-time racing. He is currently racing under the banner of Universal Health.
On October 5 this year, both Dawie and Piet, although in different classes, were competing in various sprint race categories at Phakisa.
An opportunity for various competitors to also participate in a two-hour endurance race on the day presented itself. “I had been observing Dawie the whole day and was authentically impressed with his driving skills. So, being a Nelspartan also, I decided to invite him to partner with me in the endurance race. Dawie and I are similar in stature and weight, so we would be quicker in and out during the driver change.”
“Now, because he was racing in Class A and I in 111/GT Sport and Saloons, rules dictated that I drive for 60 percent of the two hours and he the other 40 percent.
“My car is an ex-2019 Golf 7 GTi turbo and GTC prepared by Graham Nathan, so it develops significantly more power than what Dawie is used to and the chassis set-up is seriously racing spec. I qualified third on the grid. In the race though, I moved into second place even before the first corner and we were well placed by the time we needed to pit for the driver change,” said Piet.
“Endurance racing is all about pacing yourself – consistency – preserving your tyres and so forth. Phakisa is a beautiful track, but it is brutal on the left tyres. So when I pitted, we decided to fit two brand new tyres on the left. When Dawie went out, he was lapping a second faster – yes, amazing – per lap, than what I did and quickly found himself among the top three.”
“This was an amazing opportunity and I intended on not letting the team down. Changing from a Class A to this car was quite demanding,” said Dawie.
“Driving a turbo car and adapting to an endurance orientated style demands absolute focus. Clutch problems forced another pit stop and we lost a number of places as a result. I joined the race again, drove myself into first place, but two laps from the finish; I had a complete blowout on the right front.
I received instruction from the pits that I must continue though and finish the race. I had to slow down a tad and the second-placed driver managed to pass me on the third last turn before the finish.
Thus we finished second. But man, that first spot would have been really sweet. “What an amazing experience, though – can’t wait for the next one!”
“It is my intention to, once we have the race calendar for 2021, to contract Dawie as my team partner for those endurance races,” concluded Piet.
