The Retirement Fund Solutions Racing Team has its tail up as it heads for the Free State this weekend for the inaugural Human Auto 400, the penultimate round of the 2010 Absa Off Road Championship.
Fresh from their stunning performance in the production vehicle category of the recent Toyota Kalahari Botswana 1000 Desert Race, Hannes Grobler and Hennie ter Stege (RFS BMW X3) will be keen to take the development of the diesel-powered BMW to the next level after Grobler equalled Apie Reyneke’s record of six Desert Race wins in his 33rd year in motor sport. The genial Grobler, one of South Africa’s most popular and successful all-round motor sportsmen, first won the championship’s longest off road race in 1986 and followed this up with victories in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006.
His 2010 success was also the first by a BMW in local off road racing and was a credit to the entire privateer RFS team, who designed and built the BMW in the RFS motor sport workshop in Pretoria. It is powered by a production Gp N three-litre, six-cylinder, twin-turbo diesel engine.
This weekend’s event in the Bloemfontein area is only the BMW’s fifth race and the fourth time that former national off road champions Grobler and Ter Stege have been at the controls. The car was initially given a shakedown in the Atlas Copco Sugarbelt 400 in May by team principal and RFS founder and chief executive Chris du Plooy, Grobler and ter Stege had their first outing in the Sun City 400 in August. They followed this up with third place in the 4×4 Mega World 400 at Carnival City in August before rocking the off road establishment in Botswana last month.
Grobler was brought into the team following Nissan’s withdrawal from off road racing at the end of 2009 (he had been a Nissan off road works driver since 2001 and won three championships for the company) and has played an influential role in the development of the first BMW to contest the national championship.
“We’re still very much in a development phase with the X3,” said Grobler. “We were looking for a podium finish in the Desert Race, but we didn’t expect to win. We knew after our third place in the Mega World 400 (that preceded the Botswana three-day marathon) that we had got the car to a point where we might challenge for the overall lead.”
Grobler is now lying third in the championship, a single point behind last year’s champion Duncan Vos in a factory Toyota Hilux and only 12 in arrears of privateer Chris Visser (in an RFS-supported Toyota Hilux). With 25 points for a win and two rounds remaining there’s every chance Grobler can increase his record of national off road championships to five.
A second BMW is in the pipeline for the 2011 season for Christiaan du Plooy, who is currently campaigning an RFS Toyota Hilux in the premier SP class alongside Grobler. Du Plooy Jnr and co-driver Henk Janse van Vuuren are currently 10th in the championship despite two non-finishes in the previous six rounds and will be looking to improve their position in the remaining two rounds. Only 20 points cover fourth to 10th.
The Human Auto 400 will be based at Bloemfontein’s Windmill Casino complex, which will be the venue for the start and finish for both Friday’s Donaldson prologue (start at 12.00) and Saturday’s race (start at 08.30) and will accommodate the designated service point.
– Credit: Peter Burroughes Communications.