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Burning rubber gets recognition

The homegrown motorsport of spinning has gained solid traction over the past decades in Cape Town. Now, although that might be a contradiction in terms (spin is about losing traction after all) it is testament to the popularity of a motorsport that started out in abandoned parking lots and has risen to being Mzansi’s fastest-growing sport.

Dating back to the 1980s, spinning has deep roots in South African culture, and has brought together people from different races and backgrounds to celebrate their love for adrenalin-fueled manouevres in overpowered cars. The BMW 325i, better known as the Gusheshe, being the car of choice in the early days.

 Cape Town, however, had a legacy of trailing the other provinces in creating dedicated spin pitches until the new pitch at Killarney was opened some two years ago. 

Now, defining the art of spinning is a poetic endeavour to say the least, but we could go for ‘controlled chaos’ as a start. Throwing a car around a pitch with barely a nod to traction might seem like chaos, but from inside the car it feels something like a ballet, calm and considered. It takes control, skill, and talent.

This year, and through the efforts of various organisations over many years, spinning has finally reached that place where the big boys are paying attention. Gayton McKenzie, the recently appointed Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, has thrown his weight behind it.

When McKenzie visited Cape Town this year, he met up with Johnny Schaffers and Shahiem Bell from Supporting People In Need (SPIN), a community outreach NGO that leverages the popularity of spin to give young people an exciting alternative to gangsterism and drugs.

McKenzie proposed to stage an event in each province, nine in all, with SPIN finding the promoters in each area to make it work. Enter the new Spin series, colourfully titled Wie’s die Hond se Baas. Bell says: “The idea has been to show that there is an appetite for the sport right across the country, so the minister can take this to departmental budget considerations. Our best hopes are for spinning to reach official recognition as a sponsored motorsport.” 

The sixth instalment of Wie’s die Hond se Baas was attended by about 5,000 keen fans, and took place this month at the Killarney International Racetrack. McKenzie was in attendance, and with arts in his ministerial portfolio, was able to pull in the likes of a klopse crew as well as the Spine road High School drill squad, upping the ante for all-round entertainment at these events.

 The event criteria is based on technical spin­ning by earning points when successfully executing expected criteria per obsta­cle, while doing so simulta­neously with your opponent on track. This makes it even more exciting for spectators.

Bell says: “Our intention with this format is to try and preserve the spirit of spinning as it was in the original days of the Strand Pavilion. We want to keep that culture and at one point the freestylers had up to eight cars on the pitch simultaneously. But that’s not all, our event presented something for everyone who’s into motorsport, so we had a gymkhana, drift, drags, a sound-off as well as a show ‘n shine. All the motorsport codes to fill up the day.”

As such, the event staged a technical as well as freestyle section. Chadwin ‘Boksie’ Hadjie took top honours in technical, and now has claim to being the Western Cape Hond se Baas against a field of 40 drivers. Driver of the day in freestyle went to Wafiek Oliver.

Bell concludes: “We would like to thank Killarney for hosting the event. And thank you to the crowds, the attendance was insane.”