SA Car Fan teammates Justin Jacobs and Carri-Anne Kelly travelled to Kondowe Reserve near Tzaneen in Limpopo Province to get a taste of the 2013 Spirit of Africa 4×4 challenge.
The Spirit of Africa Trophy is touted as the ultimate test of 4X4 skills. The event is the brainchild of legendary racing driver Sarel van der Merwe and gives competitors a chance to try their hand at the wheel of the offical event vehicle, the Volkswagen Amarok, on a course designed by Sarel.
The annual event is designed to challenge a driver’s own skills against tough African conditions, as well as other serious 4×4 teams. Kondowe Reserve hosted the 2013 elimination rounds, whose finalists will compete at Aussenkehr, Southern Namibia later this month.
Beginning at Volkswagen’s head offices in Sandton, Carri-Anne and I hit the road to Tzaneen in a convoy of the latest Volkswagen Amarok 2.0 TDI double-cab models. Volkswagen has given the 2013 Amarok Trendline double-cab a power increase from 90 to 103 kW and the journey along the N1 gave us an opportunity to experience the Amarok’s newfound power and impeccable comfort levels. The Amarok does not feel like a traditional bakkie and, in my opinion, it offers a much more sophisticated driving experience than what is currently on offer from competitors.
Having left the N1 we soon found ourselves meandering along endless gravel roads, heading deeper and deeper into the Africa bush before arriving at Kondowe. Our mini Spirit of Africa media challenge would begin the following morning, so with our party sitting around the camp fire that night, the galaxy lighting up the evening sky with a billion stars and an icy chill in the air, we were all discussing the different stages that lay ahead. We tried to get as much information as we could out of Sarel and my good friend, Gugu Zulu, another one of VW’s champion rally drivers.
The next morning, we hit the highly technical stages in a fleet of Volkswagen Amarok 90 kW single cabs. In order for Carri-Anne and I to stand the slightest chance in not coming last, we agreed she should negotiate the technical stages, as I most definitely did not have the patience to idle around the flag poles. It didn’t take her long to get into a groove and at one point she completed an entire stage without clipping a single pole.
The high-speed stages came later that day and it was my turn to continue to good form that Carri-Anne had begun with. Getting into the groove took longer than expected. The sprint stages were short, yet meandered through thick bush, littered with flag pole markers, which left little room for error and favoured the brave. After a while though my times started to drop and I found myself 2 or 3 seconds off the recommended times set by Sarel. At the end of it all, Carri-Anne and myself managed to accomplish our goal of not finishing last among our media cohorts.
Having had a taste of what the Spirit is all about, it’s not difficult to see why the event is in its eighth year. An adrenaline buzz of inclines and descents, twists and turns, precision low- and high-speed driving, the competition has it all spread over 20 stages.
A special thank you must to Volkswagen South Africa and the Spirit of Africa team for an incredible experience. Take a look at our highlights video below.
