Front cover article in Handbrakes & Hairpins!

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!

Now on Twitter!

http://twitter.com/CloxShox



Celeste & Christoff up & running on Twitter! It's about time! It's also Rally Time!! Let us treat u to a tweet at the SASOL Rally :-)

Tangerine Dreamz

After five exhilarating years of consistent progress, the team bowed out of the Northern Regions Championship as winners of Class S2 in 2010. From 2011 onwards, they will be pushing their limits and their parents’ stress levels in the South African National Rally Championship.

The team upgraded from their Northern Regions-spec’d Class S2 1600 Volkswagen CitiGolf in 2010 to a South African Rally Championship Super1600 Volkswagen Polo for the 2011 season. The car, previously owned by Stevan Wilken, is a proven Class A6 (forerunner to Super1600) rally winner.

Christoff showed that he quickly adapted to the sweet-clicking sequential gears of his new machine. Celesté added an extra touch of style and fun with her colour-coded fingernails and cute Italian OMP racing shoes!

Their debut season in the SA National Rally Championship kicked off exceptionally well with a podium finish in the Total Tour Natal Rally (25 - 26 March, 2011) – third-placed Super1600 and 14th overall. Not too bad considering there were nine S1600 and eighteen S2000 entrants.

They improved their stage times in every single repeat stage. More seat-time and experience behind the steering wheel of this Volkswagen Polo will only see them set quicker and quicker stages and move ever closer to the front of the highly-competitive Super1600 field.

The team has just about depleted their savings, Dad’s retirement fund and the education funds of their unborn children with the purchase of their “Tangerine Dream” and a new service vehicle. So see this as a friendly invitation to tell any and every potential sponsor about our fabulousness. In fact, this is in essence an invitation to come alive again! To get out of your air-conditioned office, away from the flickering florescent lights into the open, wild and winding roads our beautiful country has to offer and feel the sun on your skin. But wait, there’s more. It is also an opportunity to experience depth of emotion like you haven’t had in years! Those who have a vested interest in the Rally teams will testify that the stage by stage excitement builds up to the thrill and elation of your very first kiss when there is victory, which at a turn of events could of course plummet to the gutter of despair and disappointment only understood by those who’ve been rejected by their first true love. Yes, it is an invitation to experience the action, drama, fun and full aliveness that being part of this extreme team can bring! Seriously. 7de Laan, Survivor and Oprah’s got nothing on us.

The next round of ups and downs (and I’m talking about my pre-event nervous tummy) happens in Nelspruit/Sabie/Witrivier at the SASOL Rally 15-16 April 2011. Be there or be boring.

2010 Northern Region Class S2 Champs!

SUBARU & Rallystar Sprint Review

Subaru Bruma Belfast Rally in Bronkhorstspruit (5 June, 2010)... typing that name took longer than our innings in that rally... We had to retire with two broken sideshafts in stage 2. I thought I had cursed us with the name of this blog.

Fortunately the Rallystar Sprint (19 June, 2010) was there to redeem ourselves. Rad. Sprints at Rallystar rate right up there with the world's best rollercoasters, full throttle on the bike on a Sunday morning on Jozi's newly tarred 4-lane freeways (if Dad is reading this, I never do more than 120) and melted Lindt chocolate crepes when you're on a diet.

We had minor trouble with their clocks and our one shock, but finished with sideshafts firmly in tact. 2nd in Class B and 4th overall. Yayness!

We had a blast! Friends came to spectate - and went for a drive with Christoff afterwards on the special stage! Hahaha... their incredulous facial expressions... priceless! CharLee, Annie, Daniel & Oom Kobus - dankie vir julle ondersteuning! :-)

HUGE thank you to Leon Botha and everyone who made our Saturday so much fun!

Diary of a Rookie Nav

Subaru Bruma Belfast Rally 2008

Facts:


• Car: 1600 VW Citi Golf


• Driver: Christoff Snyders


• Navigator: Celesté Snyders


• Winners of Class S2; 11th overall at the Belfast Rally. Woohoo!


• Christoff and Celesté are siblings (who still really like each other after their first rally)


• Christoff and Celesté are both single, but very hard to please

Lying in bed Saturday night, post-Belfast, in that zone just before losing consciousness, I was pondering one of those deep and life-altering questions that can keep philosophers and intellectuals busy ‘till Kingdom come…

“Can this much fun be legal?!”

Christoff and I had such a blast on our first rally together! Reading all the post-mortem’s, makes our Rally look as smooth and easy like a Sunday morning.

 

A major contributor to the relatively stress-free run has to be our awesome service crew! At Execuracing Development & Service Centre you are not just another customer my friend… your car becomes the object of their affection. If only some marriages had this kind of commitment! Whilst you were all bronzing your buns on the beach over the festive season, these guys were rebuilding our Golf. When you came back from holiday and bored all your friends with your happy snappies… we were doing the exact same thing… only we had an album with before and after shots of all sorts of fascinating things like pistons, crankshafts and splash plates… they made us our own personal file can you believe it?! THANK YOU x infinity + 2 to Jan, Dewald, Ralph, Nico and the team for your service excellence and for making the car purr like a kitten on catnip!

For the first time in Christoff’s rally history, his car was ready 2 weeks before the event. Just enough time to take his sister for a spin to test her ability to keep her breakfast down. This little experiment happened at the Greg Godrich Rally Navigator School. What an awesome way to get into the swing of things! Greg, you did forget to mention a few very, very important things though… 1. That I will not be able to sleep… at all… the night before the Rally, 2. That I’ll suddenly develop TB (tiny bladder) and 3.To always, always wear a sport-bra!

So there I was on the morning of The Rally, not exactly a picture of tranquility… everything I’ve learnt about handling all the admin so that the Driver can relax flew out the window the moment I got my shaky little claws on the roadbook & routenotes. Grinning now and then for the paparazzi (alias PapaChristo), nervously going through the amendments in the roadbook and comparing them with the pacenotes. I noticed we had to go to documentation after stage 4 for them to capture our times on the system. Now, this is good thinking guys! It speeds up the process at the end of the day. We should make this a general rule. (They didn’t give me a sweetie or any bonus points for being a good navi and reading my instructions, but those warm smiles of appreciation made it all worth while!)

 

Christoff took it easy in the first 3 stages (as easy as a boy can take winding roads littered with wicked rocks and permission to break every speed limit where he possibly can). Helping me to keep up with his pace with the occasional “next”, “wait” or “ugh” (when we hit that double caution dip 5mins before I tell him about it). We also scored a few seconds after I told him to “put foot boet, flying finish coming up” and almost realized too late that I skipped a few instructions and we were heading for a TL9! Saint Christoff saw this coming and calmly just asked me to “just gimme that instruction again?”. Gotta love da Brova!

 

We think we got groovy much sooner than expected and doing the repeat stages, knocked 42sec, 41sec and 48sec respectively off our original stage times. Just when we were really getting into it, the rally was over and much to our parents’ utter relief; we were home safe in parc ferme. Waves of gratitude washed over me as I passed all the battered & bruised metal bodies. We busted a few rims and a petrol pipe, but this time, this glorious time, we finished a rally without major damage… on those rocky roads an absolute miracle.

So herewith the acceptance speech I spared you all at the event.

 

Belfast, you will always hold a special place in my heart. Thanks to all the organizers and sponsors and marshals – bless your sainted hearts for standing in that heat and doing it with such great spirit! Speaking of which – the vibe amongst the competitors was awesome! It was great to see all those who participated in Navi School again – Dylan thanks so much for driving all that way just to come and spectate! Meeting all the legends whom I always just cheered on from the sidelines was such an honour – Pierre and Natie, you rawk! Johan you’re a biscuit! Greg, thank you for teaching us the tricks of the trade and for your fabulous support. Schalk, thanks so much for letting me borrow your skanky helmet… that alone gives me motivation to beg for sponsorship. Megan, thanks for your friendly encouragement and the full body massages of the future. Oom Jannie, thanks for your pacenotes – I’ll do them justice as we go on. Dave Ledbitter – thanks for the cool pics! (Thank goodness we didn’t have to push through that water, I would not have wanted to ruin my brand-new-blue-suede-Puma’s!) HUGE thank you to our sponsors: Prosperity, Sabertek and Limestone – may your businesses flourish! Thanks to Mom and Dad for always being our biggest fans.

 

I love you all and all I want is world-peace!

 

Catch ya at Carletonville!

 

Greetings, CS Rallyteam