Nico Kleyn and Pieter van Niekerk won a closely-contested third round of the TOTAL-sponsored Blind Navigators’ Rally Championship in Gauteng on Sunday. Driving a Volkswagen Touran, Kleyn, with Van Niekerk reading the braille notes, finished the 200-km event with just 37 seconds’ penalties.
Second were last year’s winning driver Jerry Paice and Diana Craig in an Alfa Romeo Giulietta with 42 seconds penalties. Ernst Mee and Zarina Kahn improved on their fourth place last year to take third position in a Volkswagen Golf VR6, 22 seconds behind the winners. Fourth were Derek Rowbotham and Neville Dutton in a Toyota Supra (+59 sec), fifth was the Toyota Avanza of Julie and Robert Vernon (+203 sec) and sixth were Patrick Mills and Jessica Green in a Toyota Corolla (+213 sec).
Seventeen of the 24 starters completed the event, which was organised by the Lotus Club on behalf of the South African Regularity Rally Association (SARRA).
The event, part of a unique series that enables unsighted motor sport enthusiasts to compete in a form of rallying that relies less on speed and more on accurate route finding and timing, ran in conjunction with SARRA’s Lotus Regularity Rally, a round of the SARRA series. Overall winners were Syd Brett and Adri van den Berg in a Jaguar XJ6 with 19 seconds penalties. Kleyn and Van Niekerk were fifth overall.
Classic regularity rallying is modelled on the rallies of earlier times where a driver and navigator needed to keep their rally car on the route and on time. It is a sport of precision and accuracy, rather than an all-out quest for speed like modern rally stages.
“We are very pleased with the large entry of 24 blind navigators in Sunday’s event, which means that with TOTAL’s support we are growing the series,” said clerk of the course and chairman of SARRA Steve Crook. “The Lotus Club provided extra drivers for the blind navigators (Ken Goodenough and his Lotus Exige was one, partnering on the day with Bianca Rooi and finishing ninth), which enabled us to achieve such a good entry.
The start and finish venue was Cesco’s Pub and Restaurant in Kelvin, who laid on an excellent breakfast and Fathers’ Day lunch for the competitors when they returned from the rally. The route took the cars past Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit on the R55, then on to the N14 to Magaliesberg via the Cradle of Mankind. After a short rest break at the Auto Cradle for coffee and cake, the competitors returned via the same route.
TOTAL South Africa has been associated with blind navigators’ rallies for many years and has been sponsoring the series organised by SARRA for several years. “It is an important part of our corporate social investment programme,” said Ms Nadia Vosloo, TOTAL South Africa’s brand and communications manager.