Opel Club Cape Town

With the guys at Porsche SA showing local housing and construction companies that their money is no good when it comes to racetracks for sale, it’s given motoring enthusiasts a new found passion for all things automotive. This means that we should be seeing more and more club track days taking place, and since the guys at Porsche actually took ownership of the track, the VW Club of SA were the first to have some fun on the tarmac.

Now you can imagine that a track day hosted by the VW Cklub would attract all things VAG, and it did, but there was an apprearance from many different car clubs and fans of other marques. It’s great to see the clubs supporting each other at events like this, it means more money is made by the clubs and so they can carry on giving their members bigger and better events. The Renault and Opel guys in particular made a great show on the day.

While shredding tyres and killing your brakes and clutch is fun for many, there’s also those who prefer to rather make their cars look pretty and those who like to fill them with ICE, and those who like to combine both looks and sound. For this part, the VW Club enlisted the help of Heenan from Nitro Crew to run a sound-off and a show & shine competition. From the entries seen on the day, it was just as successful as what happened on track. For results of what happened there, you’ll need to contact Nitro Crew.

On track, the guys were having a great time, some were getting in laps just because they could, others were timing themselves and trying to beat personal bests. While the event was official as it should be with marshalls and medics and everything you need, it wasn’t a timed event. When timing happens at a track, then it’s classified as a competition, and when competition happens then governing bodies need to get involved. This takes the cost of playing on track higher and puts many people off, the downside being that they will get their speed fix on public roads. So there’s no results for you, but rest assured some cars were going flatout, the one I saw being pushed the hardest was an older Renault Clio. I’m pretty sure it’s in for a brake and tyre change this week.

The guys were well-behaved, which is always a good thing. There were no VAG-related incidents on the day besides Harry going farming in his Jetta, but it was purely a kitty litter incident. The only accident I saw involved a non-VAG car, a Subaru lost it at Sunset and kissed the barriers. It was hard enough to send the car home on a flatbed but luckily there were no injuries, although I suspect both ego and bank account may take a knock. It’s never good when you can’t dribve your car home from an event.

All in all it was a pretty damn good event. Everything went off without a hitch and everyone I spoke to was happy with the organisation and effort put in by the club. That said, the VW Club are old hands at organising great events, so that’s no surprise. We’ll keep you posted on upcoming VAG-related events around SA, and yeah, we’re looking forward to the next one. Big thanks to the VW Club of SA for a great day out.

That said, the VW Club are old hands at organising great events, so that’s no surprise.