It is somehow fitting to see the second oldest motor club in South Africa organise the opening round of the Western Cape Rally Championship.
The first round of the 2019 Western Cape Rally Championship takes competitors in the strongest regional rally championship back to the Darling district on Saturday 2 March.
The town of darling is 168 years old this year and as the opening round of the championship (instead of the fourth round as in 2018) the entire character of this event has changed as the wet conditions will now be replaced by dust and sand.
Darling Clerk of the Course, Billy Thorpe, used to fill the Suicide Seat next to Shaun Jones in another classic rally car, the ex-factory VW Golf 4×4 2.0 and though this car is currently being painstakingly restored it will be Jason, Billy’s 26-year-old son, who will be making his debut as navigator. The 4×4 entries strong in the wet and they should also enjoy quite an advantage in the dry, sandy, conditions which await the crews in 2019.
Other teams who will be taking part in this year’s rally include father and daughter duo, Cobus and Reyanah Edas, of Malmesbury, who are really looking forward to a great event in their ex-Chris de Wit 464 CCMCC S3 Toyota Corolla RXi 1.6.
John and Weston Peiser, father and son defending Western Cape Rally Champions will be driving the Sweep vehicle on this occasion instead of the Speed Pro Cycling Components 425 WPMC Subaru Impreza 4×4 Turbo.
Ettiene du Toit and Patrick Vermaak forced into a season sabbatical after Ettiene suffered an unfortunate injury to his spine. Ironically the Team 467 S3 Toyota Corolla RXi 1.6i completely rebuilt for 2019.
Unfortunately many teams could not get their cars prepared in time for Darling but the prospect of Oswaldo Mendes, Llewellyn Jones, Lourens van Rensburg, Charl Strydom, Darren van Greunen, Andy Haigh-Smith, Shaheen Amlay, Faizel Davids, Tariq Khatib and Theodore Croy joining the fray has the 2019 season starting off in a very positive manner.
The valued support of Polyplastix, A&A Powder Coaters, CEJ Plant Hire and Imperial Toyota have made the 2nd Darling Rally possible.
The Darling Rally is scheduled to start at 09:30 and finish at 16:00 at the popular Darling Gholf Club with really accessible spectator points in close proximity to the Club.
