For someone who started race car driving relatively late in his life, André Pretorius has managed to make a name for himself and earn respect.
The 36-year-old only started racing in 2018 but has always had a love for fast cars.
“My story is not the typical one where I started as a child. No, mine started when I exposed myself to racing because I’ve had so much admiration for speed,” André said.
He added that as he attended car shows and racing events, he said to himself, “I can too, why not give it a shot?”
“I was lucky because I got a car of my own that I built and modified to perform at the desirable speed. I was proud of myself, because in the first race challenge at Randfontein Oval Raceway, I managed to get second place!” André said proudly.
However, André said before he could take on any official race, he needed a lot of time to practise and master a lot of the required techniques.
“I would say one of the first things that any beginner must learn is getting over any kind of stress and fear.”
André said racing is completely different from driving a car, and one has to learn how to control the speed and always remain calm.
“There’s always room for improvement – you can’t master everything in a short period. The idea here is that you should do it more and more, and with time you will perfect certain skills. So far, I’ve learned that one has to be able to coordinate a lot of things at once, and focus is one major aspect of it,” André said.
He added that even though he has not taken the first place in all racing events yet, he believes he has done enough so far to earn the respect of his motorsport opponents.
“The idea is to be the best I can be. The victories will come; maybe eventually I will be one of the top race drivers in South Africa,” André concluded.
