The winds of change will blow through this year’s Sun City 400, round five of the Absa Off Road Championship, in the Pilanesberg on July 29 and 30.
The event will be run over roads never before used on the Sun City 400. The organisers, Off Road SA, have found 200 kilometres of new roads which will add to the challenge of what is traditionally one of the toughest events on the Absa calendar.
“We felt it was time to come up with something different,” said race director Adri Roets. “A lot of hard work and man hours went into finding new roads, but it has been worth it.
“The Sun City 400 has always been a tough event. This year will be no exception but we think the route will be a fair test.”
The 60 kilometre Donaldson Prologue on Friday, July 29 to determine the race grid will be run in the Bakubung area to the west of Sun City. Bakubung means “hippo” in English but at this time of the year competitors are unlikely to find much water along the route.
The race on Saturday, July 30 will be run over two loops of 200 kilometres each. The first 30 kilometres of each loop will follow the prolong route before traversing koppies at Mahobieskraal.
The route then swings further west toward Bapong and Tweelaagte before swinging north to Makgope. Competitors will then head south to Witrandtjies and back to Sun City via Mahobieskraal.
As with previous Sun City 400 events the route will be spectator friendly. Access to spectator areas along the route will be free of charge.
Race headquarters, the designated service park and the start/finish will all be located at Sun City, and spectator access to these areas is also free of charge. The Donaldson Prologue will start at 12:30 on Friday, 29 July and the race at 08:30 on Saturday, 30 July.