For the Love of Cars

Once upon a time there was a Granddad that used to lift a little boy up onto his lap and together they would spend hours leaning over the balcony of their little flat, playing a game of identifying cars as they drove by. The Boy grew up and developed a zeal for cars which he also fanned to flame in his own son’s heart. For years they undertook several missions to experience the ultimate ROAR. Then one day, they found it in Sabie, at the spectacle of the SASOL Rally. For they discovered, it is only on a Rally stage, out in the open field, that the wind rustles ahead to reveal the secret that you are about to experience a radical ROAR - as some legends have it, the ROAR that rips through your entire being and resolves in a contented sigh.

Year after year, they followed the ritual to re-experience the roar. Little did they know then, that a few years into the future, the Dad would be standing next to the road again, but this time his Son would not be there alongside him. The wind would rustle with more intensity then, because the roar that would follow would be the most riveting roar the Dad would ever experience… the ROAR of his Son, racing into first place in class at the prestigious 20th SASOL Rally. And THAT ladies and gentlemen, would become known as The ULTIMATE ROAR.

Yes folks, the fairytale ending became a reality this weekend. Christoff and I would like to dedicate this, our first SA Rally victory, to our parents, Christo and Marie Snyders. They are both sacrificing so much to make our dreams come true. My Mom’s landscaping projects have been postponed so many times and after three years, she’s had to make peace with the eco-friendly dam (previously our swimming pool) outside her bedroom window… all because the men in her life have somewhat different priorities. Dad has by some miracle acquired a contract to do business in Durban twice a week, which requires that he drives through the night back and forth. He tells us he enjoys it, because he loves driving so much, but we know that it’s due to those trips that we had eight new tyres to put on our rally car this weekend. We don’t have the words to thank you enough. We can only pray that God will bless you and protect you to live long, healthy and happy lives.

Down to business. There are two things I wish to state for the record in this article.

Firstly, after doing an analysis, I was surprised to find that according to actual stage times, we were leading Super1600 from Stage 4 right to the end. Unfortunately, I earned a penalty of 50seconds just before the last stage on Friday night, which left us battling to regain our rightful position as no.1 in the class throughout Saturday. The competition in Super1600 was so healthy, that winning stages 6, 9, and 13 was not enough and it was only after victory in stage 15 that we recovered sufficiently to make up for the penalty and regain the lead. Thereafter the fastest class time in stage 17 was a joyful bonus.

Secondly, I wish to correct those uninformed (unprofessional?) motorsport journalists who fail to do their homework before they publish articles. For the record, I am not married to my brother. The reason we have the same surname might just be because we are in fact siblings. Dude, it doesn’t matter what you’ve heard about Boksburg, that’s just not how we roll. I consider the matter settled.

We relate so well to those of you who got stranded in the stages that our hearts physically ached for your loss. May your budgets and bodies (yours and that of your cars) recover speedily. A hearty well done to every single competitor for a tremendous effort! We’ll probably all agree that this rally tested our capabilities to remain positive, to perform and stay focused to the max. My personal motivation to get through it was that some people pay good money to shake like that as a remedy for cellulite so it couldn’t be all that bad.

Thank you to everyone at SASOL who made the challenge of this event so enjoyable! My family really appreciated the big screen at the spaghetti stage and I simply adore my new navbag with all it’s zips and pockets. Seriously, your attention to detail was astounding.

We are so appreciative of the contributions of everyone involved. We are also very aware that we are blessed to be on the competitor side of the fun. May we never take for granted that although we share the same passion for the sport, for some of the spectators and rally officials, this is the closest that they’ll ever get to the ROAR and the fairytale remains just that. Thank you that you bring yourselves so wholeheartedly to the sport. We all benefit from your selfless giving.

Now, when I look around at the drivers and navigators around us, Christoff and I are facing our biggest challenge yet… hair loss. Don’t know whether it’s caused by helmets or stress, but seriously, there’s room for a glam guru in the world of rallying!