Magazine Archive

The Pro Tour Management Team in association with our host, the Western Province Motor Club (WPMC) extend a warm welcome to all race fans, officials, competitors and sponsors.

The resounding success of Pro Tour in 2007 led to expanding the reach of the tour to include events hosted in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth thus totalling 10 rounds in the 2008 Pro Tour. Round 4 of the 2008 Pro Tour Racing Series takes place for the first time here at the beautiful and historic Killarney race track in Cape Town, and it is with great pleasure that every Pro Tour competitor will seize this opportunity to race at Killarney as part of the national calendar of circuit racing in South Africa.

Every championship contest is still wide open and the competitors are all eagerly lining up every opportunity to stake an early claim to the various championship titles.

This Pro Tour Race Day is set to provide unprecedented action as National, National Challenge, Regional and Club championships are hotly contested by a field of eager to win competitors. A special welcome to our locally based competitors from the Powerflow GTi Challenge and the Indy Oil Clubmans who share this special first visit to Killarney with the Pro Tour contingent from around the country.

In a relaxed but competitive atmosphere of fun and excitement, Pro Tour has solidly entrenched the principles of recognition, equality, co-operation, and good sportsmanship into our race day recipe.


This has resulted in the 2008 season already yielding many highlights, with unbelievably good racing and unprecedented dedication to “making things work” from everybody concerned - the nett result being an awesome day of racing for all.

Our highly rated, comprehensive and hugely popular website www.pro-tour.co.za features some of the best photographic galleries of motorsport related images available and must be visited.

The next Pro Tour event takes place at Zwartkops Raceway, west of Pretoria on the 21st of June and Pro Tour then returns to the coast for the East London round of the tour on the 12th of July. Please be sure to diarise these dates and join us for an action packed day’s racing if you possibly can.

Our sincere thanks are extended to WPMC’s management, officials, medics and marshals for hosting today’s event and to the category sponsors of Execuline Shelby Can Am, Investchem Formula Ford, Altech Porsche Challenge, Altech Kawasaki ZX10 Masters Cup, Formula Vee’s, Geyser Attorneys, Rigidek, Lasersprint, Office Direct and BJ Pro Welding, Powerflow GTi Challenge and indy Oil Clubmans.

The Pro Tour management and officials wish all of our drivers and riders a successful and competitive race day whilst providing the action for our audience.

~ Pro Tour Management Team ~ Neil Lobb, Lindsay Steyn, Allen Meyer, Ken Rolfe, Francois Pretorius, Trevor Elske, Louis van Bergen, Jannie Geyser, Kevin Jenkins, Waldie Meintjes, Andre ten Napel, Sena Liguori, Andrew Eva, Jimi Smith.

After three races this year’s Execuline Shelby Can-Am championship there’s no clear-cut title favourite.

It’s been over a year since the series visited Cape Town’s Killarney circuit so there’s a number of drivers who’ve never sampled the track which adds ad a bit of uncertainty to the event.

Plettenberg Bay’s Chris Hart (Hi-Q Plett) enjoys an 11-point lead in the points log, but with 20-points on offer for a win, he knows its not a secure, or comfortable gap. He’s young and hungry and also determined to get good finish in order to build on his championship lead.

Rui Campos (Hugo Boss) has been surprisingly fast and neat this year which makes him one of the championship favourites. He’s currently second in the championship standings but has Brian Algar and Alan Eve breathing down his neck.

Algar (Firedart) and Eve (Hugo Boss) are tied on 81 points, only three behind Campos. “I can’t let Campos get away, but Alan’s a wily old fox and has over 20 years of racing experience behind him so he’ll also be a tough cookie,” said Algar.


Another driver capable of upsetting the applecart is Dave Beattie (DURA). He’s raced single seaters in Europe and is a cool customer who handles pressure well’

The only lady in the line-up, Jennifer Murray (Execuline) has driven superbly this year considering a recent dyno test confirmed that her motor was down on power. She’s looking forward to racing with full power and has the benefit of already having raced at Killarney this year so expect her to be a pace setter from the word go.

Championship Standings

1 Chris Hart 95 points
2 Rui Campos 84 points
3 Brian Algar 81 points
3 Alan Eve 81 points
5 Dave Beattie 75 points
6 Jennifer Murray 63 points

Hovering just outside the top six is KZN based Guy Botterill (Fragram Tools) who has opened eyes since he joined the series at round 2 in Port Elizabeth. The former Engen Polo Cup racer has consistently been in the lead battle and it’s only a matter of time before he claims a win.

Sean Greve (Vulcania Reinforcing) is another driver who had improved greatly this year. He’ll run comfortably in the top six and it can’t be long before he also joins the winners circle.

Newcomer Bertil Hoffman (IOU Music) had an impressive debut at Kyalami last month and proved that he’s got the pace to worry the front-runners. The Dutch born driver moved to Cape Town a few years ago and although he hasn’t done much racing in South Africa he has a wealth of experience in Europe and he does know Killarney quite well.

Craig Shorter (Execuline) was on form last time out and the likes of Colin Frost (Strocam) are also capable of good results as is former Porsche racer Thomas Reib (Intertrans). Richard Wood is mr Consistency and perhaps the country’s biggest supporter of sports car racing.

Kwa-Zulu Natal drivers Bryant van der Merwe (Chemspec) and Sun Moodley (Big Foot Express) also joined the series this year and have adapted well to the rigours of these physically demanding cars. Hanno Pengilly is also a newcomer to the class but business commitments have severely limited his testing opportunities.

Execuline Shelby Can-Am Racing is supported by Hollard, Spanjaard Ltd, Carrera eye wear, British International and Goodyear.

Competitors Listing

The 10th May 2008 marks another milestone in the Altech Porsche Challenge Series. It will be the first time that the series has competed in a championship scoring race meeting at Killarney since the early 1990’s.

The series consists of two categories both offering different formats of racing.

Altech Porsche 924

The Altech Porsche 924 series runs on a handicap format for 2008 as it has since 2003.
It is the only category that runs on this format on the Pro-Tour and adds a very different angle and approach to racing. The handicap format works on the following concept. The grid is inverted taking the slowest car as the pole car and then as cars lap times come down (cars go faster) these cars start further and further back till you get to the scratch driver/fastest car. The race starts with the cars spread out (Handicap Calculation). As the race develops it becomes closer and closer as the faster cars catch the cars ahead. A traffic jam of 4 or 5 cars competing for the same piece of tar into the last corner of the race is a common occurrence in this series.

The series only runs Porsche 924 racing cars on Dunlop R-rated rubber and involves racing drivers having to nominate a lap time they believe they will not go faster than prior to the first heat and nominating a second time prior to their second heat. If they drive within this nominated time (not faster) they finish the race and qualify in the results. Should the driver go faster than his nominated time he is disqualified from the race and results for that heat.

This season has seen the introduction of many new faces that have chosen to enter this highly spirited and closely raced series. There will be varying levels of experience from the rookies to the seasoned professionals in the series who have learnt and mastered the art of the handicap racing format, let’s see who comes out tops in 2008.

Altech Porsche Unlimited

The 2008 season promises to provide the spectator in the stands and on television a series with a difference. We have reduced the number of time based classes from 6 to 5 and have introduced a 924-only class. The 924-only class will race in the first heat of the day and provide some close action packed racing which will become even more chaotic as the faster Class A and Class B cars catch and try pass them in the later stages of the race.

The Class A cars are capable of doing similar or times close to that of Wesbank Modified Saloon Cars. Classes B & C do very competitive lap times too that would put them at the sharp-end of most race categories in South Africa.

Imagine LMP1/LMP2 and GT-Type cars running in the same race and you have the spectacle created when you see the combined Altech Porsche Challenge and Execuline Shelby Can-Am series race. The two categories run their second race of the day as a combined race which increases the number of cars in the race to anywhere from 35 to 45 or more. The lead cars will be going through corner one at most race tracks as the tail of the field is still coming out of the last corner to start the race. The sounds range from the flat six drone of Porsche, to the scream of the Ferrari’s and the very distinct Shelby Can-Am pitch. Close your eyes for a moment and you might think you are at one of the famous endurance races overseas.

Altech Porsche Unlimited Challenge


Cape Town’s motorsport fans will be treated to the rare sight of thoroughbred racing Porsches when the Altech Porsche Unlimited Challenge visits Killarney for the first time on Saturday 10 May.

With two events already completed the championship leader is non-other than Porsche Centre South Africa boss Toby Venter in his well sorted and ultra reliable 911 GT2R. This car is the fastest production based racing car in the country and lap times of around 1 minute 12 seconds are predicted.

Just two points adrift is Barry Nel who drives an extremely well sorted Porsche 944 Turbo Cup with great verve and determination. This is one of the cars that delighted spectators 20 years ago when the LSM Porsche Turbo Cup series attracted the likes of Venter, Sarel van der Merwe, Mike Briggs, Chris Aberdeen and even Motorsport South Africa Chairman Roger Pearce.

Third in the point standings is Rolf Schlub in a Porsche 964 RS Club Sport which is, for all intents and purposes, a factory built racing car that was thinly disguised as a road car in order so Porsche could sell it as a road car!

Theo du Toit is itching for a good result and his Porsche 993 RSR is deceptively fast. Also fighting near the front could be John Greve who races an earlier model 911 RSR. Former Porsche 924 racer Lindsay Robertson, Nicky Dicks, Bert Scheepers and Peter Wharton-Hood will be at the wheel of more modern 996 GT3 Cup versions.

A unique feature of the Altech Porsche Challenge is that it is open to other exotic marques and the fleet of Ferrari F360 Challenge cars from the Forza Racing stable provides great entertainment. In fact, there aren’t many countries in the world where spectators are able to watch the rare sight of Porsches pitted against Ferraris.

TV personality Oscar de Oliveira is usually at the head of the Ferrari train but the final driver line-up hadn’t been release by the time we went to press.

Charl Joubert will be in action in the dinky looking, but very effective and powerful supercharged Lotus Exige that weighs in at less than 1000 kg which makes it quite capable of challenging its bigger engined rivals.

There’s also a strong possibility that several Cape based Porsches will join the field.

Altech Porsche 924 Challenge


Launched in the mid 70s the Porsche 924 was the sports car for the masses, the entry level Porsche that is reputed to have saved the company from bankruptcy.

It may be over 30 years old now, but it still enjoys a huge cult following and has become an extremely popular race car. “In standard road going specification it was a superb handling car which made it very popular as a ‘track day’ car that could also be used every day of the week,” explained Porsche enthusiast John Abbott.

Today’s entry-level Porsche is a used Porsche and the Altech Porsche 924 Challenge is the entry Porsche racing. Running to a simple handicap system which sees the fastest cars start first and theoretically a huge bunch of cars crosses the line together at the end. It is a lot more exciting than it seems.

Dave Parratt heads the title race but has Marius Wait and Johan Grobler breathing down his neck. Another driver to watch is former Sports 2000 racer Piet Nortje in a well sorted car that scored its first win in June 2001 at the official re-opening of Zwartkops in the hands of motoring journalist Steve Wicks.

Watch this race carefully …. It gets quite hectic on the last lap.

Former Formula Ford champion Robert Wolk returned to the Investchem Formula Ford championship for round three at Kyalami and went home safe in the knowledge that he will be a contender for the title.

Driving the Chemical Logistics Mygale the 2005 champion scored two dominant wins and is looking to do the same in Cape Town.

Nicholas van Weely in the Magnificent Paints Van Diemen currently holds a narrow eight point championship lead having won 3 of the six races held to date, but a non-finish when leading in Port Elizabeth cost him ten valuable points.

Driving the Chemical Logistics Mygale the 2005 champion scored two dominant wins and is looking to do the same in Cape Town.

Championship Standings

Nicholas van Weely 34 points
Gerard Peters 30 points
Pieter Norval 25 points
Werner Scholtz 24 points
Francois vd Merwe 16 points
Matthew Merton 12 points

Nicholas van Weely in the Magnificent Paints Van Diemen currently holds a narrow eight point championship lead having won 3 of the six races held to date, but a non-finish when leading in Port Elizabeth cost him ten valuable points.

Zimbabwean Gerard Peters (Petro-Oil Zim Mygale) lies second and has been impressive in what is only his second season of circuit racing. He’s proved that he’s got the pace to win but this will be his first visit to Killarney.

Driving the Brett Mayberry run Motorvia Van Diemen Werner Scholtz scored a brilliant win at the Port Elizabeth and lies third just one point clear of Bloemfontein’s Pieter Norval in the Investchem Mygale. Norval’s battled to find a set-up he’s happy with but has shown he’s got the pace to run at the front when he’s happy with the car.

After his impressive Kyalami outing Wolk holds fifth in the championship race, one point ahead of Mathew Merton (Matsam Supplies Mygale). A spin here and there and a mechanical problem have hampered Merton’s chances, but the East Rand driver hasn’t lost any determination and would like nothing more than a win in Cape Town.

Throwing a spanner in the works is Jody Robertson who will be out in the P&P Mygale. He joined the series at the last Kyalami race and put in an impressive performance.

FP Aldrich makes a welcome return to the series having missed the first three races. Like Norval, he travels from Bloemfontein which makes Welkom is his nearest testing facility. There’s also possibility that current Formula GTI champion Francois vd Merwe might be in action in the Bravo Holdings Mygale.

The Zetec Challenge is for cars on harder compound tyres and British Formula Ford legend Rick Morris (Investchem Mygale) leads from Allen Meyer (Les Donnees Mygale) with Andreas Petrou (Chemical Logistics Mygale) in third ahead of Paul Schultz (P&P Van Diemen) who won last time out at Kyalami.

For decades Formula Ford racing has produced champions of the future and the crop of drivers racing today are tomorrow’s stars.