February 16, 2017
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Call to nominate top drivers Hall of Fame for responsible truckers SAMANTHA GREATHEAD ARE your drivers worthy of Hall of Fame honour? There’s R20 000 to be won by the commercial vehicle driver judged to be South Africa’s best. Road safety is an integral part of trans port operations and, with this in mind, MasterDrive — in association with TruckX 2017 — launched a Hall of Fame
initiative to honour the country’s top commercial truck drivers. Eugene Herbert, managing director of MasterDrive, one of South Africa’s top driving academies, says driver behaviour significantly influences risk manage ment. Traffic accidents cost South Afri ca about R300 billion annually. “By working to elevate levels of road safety and encouraging drivers to set good examples to others, accident rates
KZN’s Bert Koning of BK Driver Training, Paulus Mkhize, top driver at Willowton Logistics, and Cornelius Koekemoer, top 2016 Fleetboard diesel mechanic at Andersons Trucking depot in Pietermaritzburg, are all good candidates for the new trucking Hall of Fame. PHOTO: ALWYN VILJOEN could be significantly reduced,” he says. The aim of the Hall of Fame is to rec ognise and reward drivers who adhere to traffic regulations; who drive respon sibly and safely; and set good examples for their peers and other road users.
“It’s up to employers at transport companies to nominate them,” says Her bert. “They know who their best drivers are — the men and women who they can rely on to always drive safely, courteously and responsibly. We want to recognise
and reward those heroes.” Drivers inducted will be awarded cer tificates at the TruckX 2017 Conference and Expo to be held on July 12 and 13 at Kyalami Race Track, in Johannesburg, with the driver judged the best in terms of an assessment by MasterDrive win ning R20 000. Bert Koning, founder of BK driver training, told Wheels welcomed the Hall of Fame initiaitve, saying any recogni tion and reward for good truck driving was welcome in South Africa. Driver trainer at Clover in KZN, Wel come Ndlovu, also welcomed the Hall of Fame for truck drivers, and said he would nominate several of his drivers from Clover’s pool of drivers, such as Al fred Ngilo, who last year represented South Africa against other UD drivers in Japan. Rowlands Peters, head of the Daimler FleetBoard, said this telematics pro gramme supports fleet operators to manage their vehicles more economical ly. In practice, this translates into fuel savings of up to 15% and optimised vehi cle and trip utilisation, and provides an ideal platform for fleet operators to nominate top drivers for the Hall of Fame. • To nominate the drivers you think are worthy of TruckX Hall of Fame status, click on www.truckx.co.za. • Call 086 110 0618 for more.
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WitnessWheels MOTORING
February 16, 2017
So you want a 4x4 bakkie? Among more than a dozen bakkie brands on sale in SA, only four have power to sell really well R468 R468 000 000 (110kW/400Nm) Warranty: three three years or 100 000 km. Service plan: plan: five years or 90 000 km
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The Toyota Hilux and Paris Hilton have this in common, both are famous for being famous. But the Hilux won’t blow a seal in the Richtersveld and its 2,4 diesel makes more than enough power at 400 Nm to get you there and back. Fleet owners like the high resale values of the Hilux the most, but the insurance rates… not so much. PHOTOS: QUICKPIC
ALWYN VILJOEN SOUTH Africans bought over 7 800 bakkies in December, many of them the top of the range double cab 4x4 models, and while there is no logic behind bakkies in suburbia, I totally get why. It is all about escape. Sure, a panel van is always bet ter for lugging loads and an SUV always more comfortable for the whole family, but these fine vehi cles are limited by their roofline. On the back of a double cab, the sky is the limit and it does not matter how many bags the teenagers insist on taking with
Are you a family man who likes to take the children or mates to places at the end of long gravel roads with really good security at home? • Yes..............................................................................................................No
…but they tried to steal my old Hilux once already… With 320 Nm, the Isuzu KB is not the strongest of SA’s top threebest selling bakkies, but as anyone who ever got stuck in mud knows, this is still too much power in the wet. At Wheels we contend the only reason why the KB is SA’s thirdtop selling bakkie is fashion. And that is just how farmers in the know like it. For fewer sales also means dealers try harder with startling discounts on that eye watering high price as well as good tradeins, the queues are always shorter when it comes to the 15 000 km services and best of all, the car part theft syndicates see no percentage in your Isuzu. PHOTO: ALWYN VILJOEN
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them, there is always space to lash on some more luggage. Of those 7 800 sales, Toyota and Ford are the two most popu lar bakkies in South Africa right now. Toyota dealers sold 3 074 bakkies, followed by Ford at 2 665. Far down in third place were Isuzu, with 912 KB models sold, followed in fourth place by the Nissan NP300 Hardbody, with 717 units moved off the showroom floor and in sixth place, the VW Amarok, with 308 models sold. Follow the arrows to find your ideal suburban escape or even work vehicle from SA’s four best selling 4x4 doublecab brands.
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R405 000 R405 000 (118 (118 kW/385 kW/385 Nm) Nm) Warranty: Warranty: four four years years or or 120 000 km 120 000 km Service Service plan: plan: five five years years of of 100 000 km 100 000 km
2 Wheels recommends the 2.2 automatic Ranger as the Ford bakkie to buy. It does not generate gearbox issues like the 470 Nm from the 3,2litre, sips fuel, needs servicing every 20 000 km, and car part theft syndicates are not putting out orders for it — yet. This was the result three times in a row during an informal drag race, with the 2,2 Ranger automatic, winning three love, loaded with canopy and towbar to match the weight of Isuzu 3litre 4x4. PHOTO: JOHAN FINISH VAN DER MERWE
Are you a businessman who needs to transport heavy loads and staff to muddy sites in a bakkie you can work to death? Yes................................................................................................................................................................ No The Nissan NP300 Hardbody is getting long in the tooth and the new Navara is sure to take sales from this reliable bakkie. What helped to sell over 700 units in December is its excellent sixyear warranty and a range of optional service plans at fair prices on top of its recommended price tag. Its age means the Hardbody is languishing a bit in SA, but there is good reason why both Mercedes Benz and Renault is using the Nissan’s NP300 Navara bakkie to underpin “their” bakkies. These reasons form the DNA of the NP300, and only Isuzu dealers compete with Nissan dealers when it comes to tradeins and discounts. PHOTO: NISSAN
R389 R389 000 000 (105 kW/205 (105 kW/205 Nm) Nm) Warranty: Warranty: six six years years or or 150 000 km. 150 000 km. Service Service plan: plan: optional. optional.
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Mazda trims and tucks the BT50 bakkie MAZDA has given the BT50 a facelift, aiming the Ford Ranger badgeengineered bakkie to “recreational buyers who enjoy both the outdoor and urban lifestyle”. New on the outside are re designed side steps, rear com bination lamps and 17inch aluminum wheels. The cabin now sees the Blu etooth audio system, multi function steering wheel and cruise control from the SLX model while the SLE model has a rearview camera, an au to dimming mirror and elec trical driver seat adjustment. Two new derivatives are added to the line, a 2.2L 4x2 6MT SLX and a 2.2L 4x2 6AT SLE. Maximum power from the 2,2 engine is 110 kW at 3 700 rpm and 375 Nm be tween 1 500 and 2 500 rpm, just a little under that of the Ford Ranger. Fuel consump tion listed at 7,6/100 km. The 3,2 engine makes 147kW at 3 000 rpm and
Mazda has given the BT50 bakkie a facelift, with most of the changes in the cabin. PHOTO: QUICKPIC 470 Nm between 1 750 and 2 500 rpm, the same as the Ranger. Fuel consumption for the manual is listed at 9,3l/100 km while the auto matic transmission gets a claimed 9,7l/100 km. All the BT50 bakkies are imported from Thailand and dealers offer seven exterior colour options. The BT50
bakkie also gets Mazda Care, the same as all Mazda passen ger vehicles,. with a threeyear unlimited kilometre factory warranty, a threeyear service plan and three years’ roadside assistance. A Customer Service Guar antee on prearranged repairs is also included. Pricing for the model line
up starts at R441 600 for the BT50 2.2L DE SLX 6MT 4X2 and tops out at R555,700 for the BT50L 3.2L DE SLE 6speed auto. 4X4, which comes with all the trimmings plus load adaptive control, trailer Sway Mitigation, roll over mitigation, hill launch as sist and hill descent control. — Witness Reporter.
MOTORING WitnessWheels
February 16, 2017
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THE NEW LUXURY 4X4 STANDARD THE NEW LUXURY 4X4 STANDARD
First the bad news: Magna Styer will build only 99 of the MercedesMaybach G 650 Landaulet, and only for lefthand drive countries. The good news is that 4x4 fans now have a new benchmark in luxury offroading in this opentop G Class, the first offroader from the MercedesMaybach subbrand. Up front a V12 engine powers both portal axles, an electric fabric top opens to the sun and the exclusive equipment specification in the rear, which includes massaging seats and video screens, makes the first class seats in the nose of a plane look Spartan. The opentop fourseater makes its world premiere at the Geneva Motor Show in March, where Wheels correspondent Sibonelo Meyeni will do his best not to hug it for too long. PHOTOS: QUICKPIC
Dyna is now a bakkie Driving schools expected to make a switch after reclassification THE Toyota Dyna has been reclassified as a light commercial vehicle — what South Africans call a bakkie — instead of being in the medium commercial cat egory as has been the case since its intro duction to the SA market in 1965. Being categorised as a light commer cial vehicle means the many driving schools that use Dyna in their fleets can now only qualify drivers for a Code B driver’s licence in these sturdy little trucks. While it is expected that the thou sands of Dynas deployed daily to teach people how to drive will remain in use for many years, driving schools are ex pected to phase out the little trucks in favour of cars, as adverts on the likes of
Driving schools’ trusted Dyna truck is now officially a bakkie and on sale on everywhere, as learners are increasingly asking to be taught how to drive in small cars, which are easier to park. PHOTO: GUMTREE Gumtree already show. For driving schools who keep using their Dynas, the good news is that as bak kies, these trucks no longer have to un
dergo annual certificate of fitness test ing. To qualify the Dyna as a bakkie, Toyo ta at Prospecton shaved 50 kg off the
chassis to give the Dyna a GVM of 3 500 kg — the maximum weight of LCVs in SA. Ernie Trautmann, vicepresident of
Hino South Africa, says this change in category for the Dyna came about be cause its oldtech, normally aspirated threelitre diesel engine is not electroni cally controlled and cannot be fitted with a tamperproof speed limiter as re quired by new government regulations for all medium, heavy and extraheavy commercial vehicles. “The alternative to changing the Dy na’s category would have been to with draw it from our range, which we did not want to do as it is a popular model for a wide variety of operations,” he said. He said the factory also took the rede velopment opportunity to upgrade the Dyna in several important aspects. It now has antilock braking system as well as a narrow cab used for certain Hino 300Series models. The front pan el is now one piece instead of three and incorporates new designs for the grille and bumper, while the headlamps are halogen with multi reflectors. Inside the cab a restyled dashboard even has cup holders for the driver and front passenger. — WR.
Less tilt, more objectivity I REFER: Witness Wheels February 9, 2017 entitled “Comparing SA’s third bestselling 4x4 bakkie.” The photo of an Isuzu bakkie on the front page at an almost roll over angle caught my atten tion. At first I was par ticularly im pressed with the tyres
Even with the photo tilted upright, the angle is no less seatgripping. PHOTO: FILE
which were supporting such a weight at that angle with no sign of side distortion or separating from the rim. At second glance I realised why this was so; the pho tographer used more than a fair share of artistic licence when framing the photo. On this planet of ours, grass, weeds and trees tend to grow up vertically at around 90 degrees to level ground. Even if the ground is not level, most grass at the length de picted under the Isuzu’s number plate grows upright. The weeds to the right of the bumper also show neat uniformity all pointing towards the heavens. However, they do so at an angle of around 60 degrees in the photo! To check this out, take a protractor and place its horizontal axis on the pho to’s horizontal baseline and take a meas
It is always good to get an erudite letter to Wheels. You are quite right, the camera angle was severely angled as the camera carrier rushed to snap a photo of the KB seesawing over a deep axle bender without sliding down The Slope herself. To avoid all the empty corners above, we placed the photo at the angle it was snapped, catching the attention of many more readers than did this photo of Reece Williamson tilting his Hilux at the KZN 4x4 Challenge in December. While lighter than 3000kg, the lifted Hilux shows the lateral tilting abilities of modern bakkies. Alwyn Viljoen urement along the bottom of the bump er. You should attain a figure in the region of 60 degrees. Given a bit of vehicle body flexing, that figure would still be in the region of 55 degrees at least. Now comes the interesting part. Tak ing the grass under the number plate and the straight wattle behind the bakkie into consideration, a 90 degree set square will show the true angle of pitch. According to my calculations using the bumper again as a reference, this is no more than 20 degrees lateral tilt.
In reality it appears that the right wheel is lifted up due to the left back wheel dropping into a deep rut in the for estry track. As a photographer myself, and a great fan of the tough 80s Isuzu range, I was inclined to look the other way on this seemingly trivial matter; however, I pre fer objective reporting and hope that members of the public realise that the vehicle in question was not being driven close to the nearly 60 degree lateral tilt angle depicted. This is not to say that the vehicle was not travelling up a very steep incline; it
probably was. What I am referring to is the sideways roll, which is exacerbated by camera an gle in the published photo. Since many modern vehicles tend to be designed a bit on the topheavy side, it would be interesting to know this vehi cle’s true ability at around 60 degrees lat eral tilt with a declared weight in excess of three tons. Maybe the journalist could be more empowered to check camera angle in fu ture? ERICH DEDEKIND Pietermaritzburg
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WitnessWheels VETERANS MOTORING
February 16, 2017
Taxi art entries judged SA Taxi Foundation Art Award gives artists a chance to shine ENTRIES for the SA Taxi Foun dation Art Award closed on Feb ruary 13, and semifinalists this year can expect to have their work exhibited at Lizamore & As sociates gallery in the SA Taxi Foundation Art Award Exhibi tion and will be included in a cat alogue produced to document the project. This year the main award is worth an impressive R700 000 and includes a cash amount of R50 000, while the top five final ists will each receive an award to the value of R660 000 including a R10 000 cash prize. The prizes include production of the artists’ designs as decals, each to be carried by 10 taxis on national routes for a period of six months, as well as an extensive publicity campaign aimed at cre ating national awareness of their work to kickstart their profes sional careers. The SA Taxi Foundation Art Award therefore adds significant momentum for emerging artists trying to build a sustainable ca reer. Won by Tshepo Mosopa in 2015 and Audrey Anderson in 2016, the award has seen the work of 12 finalists grace 120 taxis that transport hundreds of thou sands of South Africans to and from work daily. As a result, the work has been viewed by millions of South Africans, whether as taxi commuters or other road us ers, causing a buzz wherever it is spotted. Fine Art consultant and indus try professional, Taryn Cohn, said the art award provides a great stepping stone for artists as they are tested in a number of ways. In 2016, the project garnered a Business and Art South Africa (Basa) award in the First Time Sponsor category. As the only longterm marriage of art, de sign, and the taxi industry, it is cited as one of the most innova tive projects to emerge from the art sector in some time. Newly appointed director for the SA Taxi Foundation and sen ior manager, transformation for SA Taxi, Lishani Letchmiah, said the SA Taxi Foundation Art
Award is unique in its combina tion of fine and graphic art, will continue to be the Foundation’s single biggest individual project, looking to further important goals of diversity, multicultural ism, and the empowerment of small business. Teresa Lizamore, director of Lizamore & Associates Gallery that is managing the award, said the gallery has just hosted a solo exhibition of 2015 winner Tshe po Mosopa, while the 2016 win ner, Audrey Anderson, has suc cessfully participated in a num ber of industry projects, exhibitions, and competitions. “Many of the artists go on to be accepted and supported by the contemporary fine art industry, which is a great pat on the back for the SA Taxi Foundation and shows the industry’s support for this unique art award.” The entries will be judged by Ernestine White, the curator of Contemporary Art at Iziko’s South African National Gallery in Cape Town. Her experience within the arts and culture sector spans a period of 15 years. White spent a decade living in the United States and in 2001 re turned to South Africa to com plete her studies at the University of Cape Town. White holds a Bachelors de gree in Fine Art, an Honours de gree in Curatorship, a Master Printer degree in Fine Art Lithog raphy as well as a Masters degree in Fine Art. — WR.
‘Many of the artists go on to be accepted and supported by the contemporary fine art industry, which is a great pat on the back for the SA Taxi Foundation …’ Selftaught artist Wandile Mashaba (27), a finalist in the 2016 Taxi art award, said his artwork represents the complexity of daily life. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
Old Beetles fetch high prices at auctions While local sellers struggle to get R30 000 for their 1970s Beetles, this 1952 Volkswagen Type 1 Beetle sold for R827 777 at last weekend’s RMSotheby auction in Paris. The value of mintcondition vintage VW Beetles is climbing rapidly, with Beetles that sell for over R660 000 now the new normal. The two Beetles that starred as ‘Herbie’ even fetched over R1,3 million. The 1952 Beetle has over 77 000 km on the odo, all of them driven by one owner. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
A new world record with each passing mile JOHANNESBURG — Irvin “Irv” Gordon (76) was recently in South Africa to film a video about the special relationships that people have with their cars. While there, he took the op portunity to speak to locals about how to care for their cars and keep them running for longer. Irv is certainly an expert in this area; the retired science teacher from New York is the current world record holder for the most miles driven by a single owner of a noncommercial ve hicle. Along with his 1966 Volvo P1800S, Gordon has driven well over three million miles. When he purchased his new Volvo in 1966 it arrived filled with Castrol motor oil. Irv has used the same oil ever since. His Volvo, which still has the original engine and gearbox, has driven a remarkable distance that’s equivalent to 127 laps around the world, or six round trips to the Moon and back!
Irv Gordon (76) and his 5,1 million km 1966 Volvo P1800S. PHOTO: SUPPLIED And he’s still going strong, setting a new world record with each passing mile. “Irv has reached some incred ible milestones using Castrol products,” said David Bouet, Castrol Africa managing direct or. “Castrol GTX aims to extend engine life and in Irv’s case, the
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product has absolutely deliv ered on its promise. “Irv has been a great support er of our brand and we look for ward to continuing the journey together.” “I have thoroughly enjoyed driving around the world in this car over the past 50 years, during
which time Castrol has been with me for every curve in the road. It’s terrific stuff,” said Gor don. Gordon is a big advocate for car maintenance and using the best quality products. In his re cent film he speaks to likemind ed South Africans to find out what maintenance and car care mean to them. “I’ve had a great time in South Africa. It has been won derful talking to people who love and take special care of their cars because they want to keep them for longer,” said Gordon. Over the past 50 years Gor don has racked up more than a few stories from the road. He’s used over 427 330 litres of petrol, 3 290 litres of Castrol oil and performed 907 oil changes. He has driven more than 170 000 km per year since retiring in 1996, his Volvo’s odometer currently stands at 3 175 995 miles (5 111 268 km) and he has no intention of slow ing down. — Supplied. KZN’s Manana Nhlanhla and husband Dr Albert Nhlanhla pose after winning the Show and Shine category with their 1958 MercedesBenz 190 SL. at Concours South Africa 2016, held recently at Sun City in the North West Province. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
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