Zwartkops season-ender provides spectacular racing

The occasion was the final round of this year’s Extreme Racing Festival series, with eight racing categories in action.

A large crowd assembled, with their greatest drawcard a three-way shootout in the Dotsure.co.za Extreme Supercar races.

They would finally establish the identity of South Africa’s fastest club racing car – Charl Arrangies’ Motul Dodge Viper V10, Toby Venter’s works Porsche GT2R, or Lee Thompson’s Siris Engineering BMW 335i.

The opening race heat soon saw those three cars at the front, with each of them taking a turn in the race lead.

Arrangies led at the start, but his car started to chew up its tyres and he let the other two past on the fourth lap.

Thompson then led, but Venter tweaked the Porsche’s boost and sailed past, proving again there is no substitute for good old-fashioned grunt.

He crossed the line ahead of Thompson.

Then officialdom stepped in, with both Venter and Thompson penalised for lapping under the 1 min 3sec mark.

Thus Arrangies won in the Viper, leading home Jonathan du Toit (TAR Ferrari 430), Kris Budnik (Cedar Isle BMW M3 V8), Andrew Culbert (Bigfoot Express Porsche GT3) and Deon du Plessis (KTM Crossbow).

Race two saw another huge dice until Thompson went farming, scooping the BMW’s radiators full of gravel.

That left Venter to finish first again, with Arrangies second, Budnik third, Jonathan du Toit fourth and Andrew Culbert fifth.

This time Venter’s winning margin exceeded his time penalty, and his Porsche retains its unofficial title as the country’s quickest club racing car. – Special Correspondent.