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New South African built cars, one class of racing (450 kw / 600 hp)
instead of two and a record field of 25 V8 Supercars, including 8
South African motor sport champions, have registered to race in the
2007 WesBank V8 Supercar Championship. A further innovation will be
a new race format, with a partly inverted starting grid when they line
up for the second of their rolling starts. A night race is also on
the cards.
Rumour has it that 2007 V8 Champion, Hennie Groenewald, will be racing
a brand new Karel Pienaar / Fynie Swart Chev built Lumina later in the
season to replace the Jaguar / Ford he raced in 2006. These Luminas
are somewhat similar to the Holdens you see racing in Australian V8
racing. His big opposition comes from 2005 champion, Grant van
Schalkwyk with his Hi-Q Jaguar, who unusually had a few troubles
during 2006. Into the reckoning comes another champion, Terry
Wilford, who won the 412 kw GT2 Class in 2006 racing his father,
Larry’s, Fuchs Titan Mustang. A South African Formula GTI Champion,
Gordon Connelly, (Dezzi Cowan Signs Jaguar) is going to be a threat as
well as he showed in the second part of the season where he had a run
of 13 races in the points, and he is fast.
A South African two-wheel off-road champion, Jade Gudzeit, (Dezzi/Cowan
Signs Ford Mustang), who is also a multiple winner of the Roof of
Africa in Lesotho, is expected to add to the successes in this class
of racing as he achieved in the GT2 class last year.
Another GT2 champion, Zane Pearce, (Hi-Q Jaguar) is hoping for a
better year than last season, as is Roelf du Plessis (Venter Motors
Lumina), the motor racing star of Randfontein, who won the WesBank V8
Championship overall in 2000.
Double Volkswagen Polo Champion, Robert Briggs, also from the West
Rand, has decided to swap from the hurly burly of small sedan racing
to the fastest and most powerful cars in the country. His weapon in
the deep end of WesBank V8’s, is the 2007 Championship-winning Jaguar
of Hennie Groenewald.
Whether you are a champion or not matters not to the likes of veteran
V8 man, Willie Hepburn, now back in a Chev Corvette. The Auby
brothers, Jimmy and Marc, (Bosal Jaguars) are also neck and neck, and
despite their young age, have shown they can handle these cars that
lap our circuits faster than any other vehicle in the country.
A flyer since he first entered V8 racing is Mackie Adlem (Fuchs Titan
Mustang), who was 3rd in the GT1 Class for 450 kw cars
last year and is still the outright lap record holder at our fastest
circuit in the country in East London.
Another youngster with a new Lumina under build is East London star
and Chevvy man, 19 year old Wade van Zummeren (Border Towing Camaro).
The Correia brothers, Jaco and Danie from Welkom, in a pair of Omega
Spares Corvettes, are hoping for high placings in their lighter 1175kg
muscle cars this year.
If Steve Smith (Cool Cat Carriers Jaguar) gets to every meeting and
has a reliable vehicle, he will be up with the leading bunch.
Another long time WesBank runner, Franco di Matteo, (Deltec Battery
Jaguar) after breaking his duck and getting two great wins in 2006,
and finishing 3rd in the GT2 Championship, now he has a car
that can do 300 kmh can challenge for overall wins.
Johnnie Eekhout brought his good looking Johnspeed Astra to the line
at the end of the season, Porsche 956 man Francois Pretorius is
meaning to be in the line-up, as is Steve Herbst in a new Chev
Corvette built by himself. Paul Regberger in an ex-Vernon Bricknell
car, is making a regular return to this class of super-fast
competition.
With other new cars are Vernon Bricknell (Nationwide Jaguar) who is
the boss-man of Nationwide Airlines, Ian Young in a Mustang, and ex-karter
Richard Pinnard (Jaguar). Deon Auby will be updating his Chev Lumina
to the latest spec body by mid season but will in the meantime be
campaigning his 2006 Lumina.
It is going to be anybody’s race come the start of the season at
Kyalami on 3rd March, when these WesBank V8 Supercars,
which hold overall lap records on all our circuits, come under
starters orders. |
