August 31, 2017
Witness
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Toyota’s world endurance championship hybrid team is chasing its third victory in Mexico City on Saturday. MORE RACING ON PAGE 4
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Uber checks cash passengers App now has link to social media to verify ID UBER is rolling out a new feature on its ridehailing app that will require cash payers to verify their identity via a Facebook page. Uber said in a statement this is to improve the safety of the company’s “driverpartners”. The new feature is called So cial Connect, and requires cash riders to link to Facebook or an other socialmedia page to verify their identity. This after two Uber drivers suffered burn wounds after re cent attacks by passengers who stole their cars. The crimes come after the launch of Uber’s Cash Indicator, which allows drivers to choose whether they’d like to ac cept a cash trip or not. Drivers campaigned for years before Uber allow cash trips in South Africa, where most clients prefer to pay cash. Alon Lits, general manager,
Uber Sub Saharan Africa, said in a statement that reducing ano nymity is a real deterrent to crime and one of the key safety benefits of Uber. Social Connect will now re quire riders to link their requests to a socialmedia page so that drivers can verify their identity before accepting a passenger. Lits said that while drivers share the company’s concern re garding the safety of cash trips, cash remains the dominant pay ment method in South Africa. “We look forward to applying this additional layer of safety to verify rider identity and further strengthen the rider authentica tion process,” Lits said. Verification for Social Con nect will request cash riders with out a valid credit card on file to confirm their identity by linking to their Facebook account.
The variables that are verified are the number of friends, veri fied profile and phone number. Uber will only use the link to Fa cebook to verify a user and check for a legitimate Facebook profile. Lits assured that Uber will not post to Facebook on a user’s be half. Not all new riders will see the Social Connect request immedi ately, as Uber will roll out Social Connect in September. Uber is also piloting Share My Trip on the driver’s app in Johan nesburg and Pretoria. Drivers who feel insecure in a certain area or a time of day will be able to use the Share my Trip feature, which sends a location to family, colleagues or one of the security companies that Uber has contracted across South Africa, to provide quicker response times to drivers in need. — WR.
Cape Town’s Dave Perel (right) and U.S. driver David Earle clinched the Blancpain GT Sprint AM Championship for Kessel Ferrari with one round to spare, after winning at the fourth round of the series in Budapest at the weekend. Capetonian Perel is now close to taking the overall Blancpain GT AM title, following an exceptional year in both the overseas Endurance and Sprint championships. PHOTO: KESSEL RACING
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WitnessWheels MOTORING
August 31, 2017
NEW ISUZU MANAGERS ANNOUNCED
For gentlemen racers
ISUZU Motors South Africa last week announced a num ber of key leadership appoint ments in support of the pur chase of the Isuzurelated as sets from General Motors South Africa, effective Janu ary 2018 and subject to vari ous regulatory approvals: Haruyasu Tanishige, in ad dition to his current role of senior executive officer for the sales division of Isuzu Motors in Japan, will be ap pointed to the position of chairperson of Isuzu Motors South Africa. Michael Sacke, currently CFO for GM South Africa, will be appointed as chief op erations officer and CFO to assume responsibility for the transition of GM South Afri ca’s operations to Isuzu Mo tors by yearend. He will also ensure the integration of the Isuzu truck and light com mercial businesses. Current Isuzu Trucks South Africa MD Hiroaki Sugawara becomes executive vice president of strategy and business planning. The current Isuzu Trucks South Africa chief operations officer, Craig Uren, will be ap pointed to the position execu tive officer, sales, service and marketing; And from Isuzu Motors Ja pan, Mitsuteru Yageta will be appointed as Group CFO. — WR.
Two very different Ferarris promise to give their owners equal driving pleasure ALWYN VILJOEN TWO very different Ferrari cars made the news this week. The main attraction is the 2018 Portofino, Ferarri’s latest convertible, which will make its public debut at next month’s Frankfurt Auto Show, selling for $200 000 (over R2,6 million). Ferarri said the 591horsepow er Portofino uses new pistons, conrods, intake, exhaust designs and twin turbos to wring a bit more power out of the Califor nia’s turbocharged V8. The 0 100 km/h run gets done in 3,5 seconds and the top speed is “over 320 km/h”. The other Ferarri that made the news is the oneofakind 1950 Uovo, which sold for $4,5 million (over R58,7 million) at the Monterey Auction in mid August. Specially designed by Franco Reggiani for Count Giannino Marzotto, the oneoff race car was highly competitive in both Europe and North America. Seldom exhibited in public, the car was accompanied by a personal report from Ferrari his torian Marcel Massini. He recounted how the four Marzotto brothers, all very tal ented drivers in their own right, invested large chunks of their family’s textile fortunes to be come the best gentleman racers
EAST COAST
The 2018 Portofino (left) is Ferrari’s new ‘entrylevel’ cabrio to replace the California. Its price of some R2,6 million seems a veritable snip, compared to the R58 million the unique 1950 Ferarri Uovo (right) fetched on auction last week. PHOTOS: FERARRI, MONTEREY AUCTION in Italy. He explained the Marzot to brothers were arguably the Scuderia’s most important cus tomers in Ferrari’s earliest days. “They not only kept the com pany on its feet by owning multi ple Ferraris between themselves, but they also earned Ferrari great fame through their success on the race track.” Massini said the Uovo is “the living expression of one of the greatest personalities of the Ital ian early fifties racing world”. Count Giannino Marzotto won particular fame as one of the few racing drivers to win the Mil le Miglia twice — a feat that im mediately catapulted him among
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the likes of Tazio Nuvolari. Winning his first Mille Miglia in 1950 wearing a doublebreast ed brown suit, Giannino’s spirit captured the hearts of Italian fans everywhere. Conceived and executed by Giannino from start to finish, the Uovo is the epitome of a car en visaged by a racing driver with out limitation of imagination and financial means. Several crashes also led to several re builds, each lighter and faster. Completed by the factory on February 2, 1950 and delivered to brother Umberto Marzotto, chassis number 024 MB’s first outing was in the Targa Florio,
where a clutch problem unfortu nately sidelined the car. The car’s next outing was at the Mille Miglia with Umberto and codriver Franco Cristaldi. It was crashed heavily and was fully rebuilt by Ferarri. After the Mille Miglia, the Marzottos were looking for even better results in 1951. Rather than fit the car with traditional coachwork from Touring, Fontana of Padova and the soontobe famous sculptor Franco Reggiani were commis sioned to create a streamlined body, with maximum efficiency and performance in mind. The result, lovingly nicknamed “Uo vo” (“egg” in Italian), was an au
tomotive design like no other. Heavily inspired by Reggiani’s previous aeronautical training, the Uovo took the shape of a jet, minus the wings. The windshield was made from crystal. Massini said the opportunities that the Uovo provides its next owner with were limitless. “Having competed in the Mil le Miglia in period, it is of course welcome to return to that event as well as a number of other his toric races,” he wrote. “As it has never been shown at any concours event, it would surely be welcome at the most ex clusive concours around the globe,” he concluded.
Huge skills shortage of trained mechanics INDEPENDENT workshop owners report a huge skills shortage and called on school leavers to train to become me chanics. Pieter Niemand, director of the Motor Industry Work shop Association (Miwa), said it’s a challenge for work shop owners to find skilled staff and head hunting has be come the norm. He said mechanics are now expected to be service engi neers with the ability to oper ate at complex, technical lev els, as vehicles have become increasingly more complex over the years with the addi tion of highly advanced elec tronic components. “We believe auto workshop owners will need to shift their focus from merely retaining customers to offering a multi skilled expert that can advise on and service vehicles across
Experienced mechanic Tinos Mandonye is in demand as independent workshops report a huge skills shortage. PHOTO: ALWYN VILJOEN the board,” said Niemand. He said Miwa offers a Mas ter Technician Course through the American train ing company Delmar. Miwa has also partnered with the AA Technical College to provide a threeweek practi cal followed by a twoday trade test aimed at automotive elec
tricians, diesel mechanics and motor mechanics. “The trade test is designed to allow experienced work shop staff to attain a qualifica tion even though they did not attend formal training,” he said. “The minister of Higher Education and Training has
announced changes to the ARPL (Artisan Recognition of Prior Learning) process, the first of which are for mo tor and diesel mechanics. These changes will come into effect on October 19, so the AA is offering Miwa mem bers a 50% discount on stan dard rates for ARPL candi dates before this date.” As the biggest association in the Retail Motor Industry (RMI), Miwa has taken on the responsibility of encouraging artisan training by linking with one of the largest provid ers, Bidvest McCarthy. “We have a major unem ployment problem in South Africa and there is much op portunity in the aftermarket motor industry. The time has come to put aside mispercep tion and encourage young people to consider training in this industry,” Niemand said.
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MERCEDESBENZ South Af rica (MBSA), the LaunchLab and Startup Autobahn offer students, professionals and startups a chance to become a Daimler supplier. The MercedesBenz South Africa Innovation Challenge will target two streams. It will ask interested students and professionals (as a first stream) and existing startups (as a second stream) to pitch their innovative ideas around a set of challenges, tailor made to advanced manufac turing and benchmark sales and marketing topics, as iden tified by MercedesBenz
South Africa. The successful participants from the first stream can win incubation support for their ideas. Startup companies in the second stream can win their share of R600 000 for suppli er development, international exposure and the possibility to become a Daimler supplier. Interested parties must reg ister for an information semi nar, to be hosted on August 31 from 11 am. The link to the information seminar will also be available on mb4.me/MBSAInnova tionChallenge. — WR.
WEIRD WHEELS OF THE WEEK The Anthouse is a sixwheeled robot that plays with dogs, even throwing balls for dogs that return the balls to the slot. It can be controlled from a cellphone and is currently raising funds on Kickstarter.
MOTORING WitnessWheels
August 31, 2017
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Electric Jaguars for SA Allelectric and hybrid models coming to South Africa from 2019 PRETORIA — Jaguar Land Rover South Africa confirmed this week the group is committed to an electrified future, with its first allelectric and hybrid models arriving in South Afri ca from 2019. This forms part of the brand’s global goal of reducing emissions, as well as working towards its timetable of offering autonomous, connected electric vehicles. The announcement was made by Dr Ralf Speth, Jaguar Land Rover Global CEO, at the new Jaguar Land Rover Waterford retailer in northern Johannesburg. Speth said Jaguar’s electrification has started in Formula E motorsport, where it is the first premium manu facturer to join the allelectric racing series. Speth said with an extraordinary research and development budget of £4,5 billion (over R75,7 billion) in 2017, the company was making rapid progress towards a future of electri fied models. The Jaguar IPACE will be the company’s first allelectric vehicle. Speth confirmed it will be intro duced in South Africa in 2019. As the British brand’s first allelec tric vehicle, it will retain Jaguar’s sports car DNA while offering con sumers a practical fiveseater SUV package with a usable range of up to 500 km on a single charge. It is not the end for the howling petrol and powerful diesels from Jag uar Land Rover, however, as the com pany’s global strategy includes con tinued development of its efficient, environmentally friendly Ingenium petrol and diesel engines. But these may very well be hybrids, as the company plans for every new
vehicle line to have some degree of electrification, from 2020. These electrified models will be considered for the South African market based on customer demand and market conditions. Jaguar Land Rover has existing hybrid options in select international markets and hy brid drivetrain options will be intro duced in South Africa by 2018. Presently, only a small portion of new vehicle sales are hybrid models, while electric vehicle (EV) sales rep resent a fraction of one percent. By 2019 all local retailers will boast the brand’s global identity and be ful ly prepared to sell and service electric vehicles. Jaguar Land Rover South Africa al so intends to cooperate with the Electric Vehicle Industry Associa tion (Evia), which represents local vehicle manufacturers focusing on electrification. Through this industry body, Jag uar Land Rover will engage with gov ernment on measures to aid the adoption of EVs, including advising on charging standards and opportu nities to develop infrastructure. Richard Gouverneur, managing director of Jaguar Land Rover South Africa and subSahara Africa, said: “Our rollout plan for IPACE in cludes installing electric infrastruc ture at all our dealers and ensuring our retail network can support these products in every way. “At the moment, there are no in centives for EVs, and we are in full support of the motor industry’s push for lower taxes on these vehicles. “We will work with Evia on this, as well as its efforts to have shared charging infrastructure in public are as.” — WR.
Land Rover took a team of husky dogs in need of training ahead of winter championships to the Vesileppis Ski Tunnel in Finland. Setting off in opposite directions in the tunnel, the dogs had a straightforward task. Once they had negotiated the first incline they were able to pick up and maintain speed — typically around 35 km/h. In contrast, the Discovery Sport’s path was blocked by a set of ice blocks, which put its wheel articulation and traction control systems to the test, on one of its laps. Despite the obstacles, the Disco won by a dogs’ hair after two laps around the tunnel. PHOTO: QUICKPIC
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WitnessWheels MOTORING BIKING
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August 31, 2017
SUPER JUNIORS
Seller smokes it Yamaha rider opens a gap on the crashers to reclaim the SuperGP title Blaze Baker leads the chasing pack in the Super 600 race at Phakisa Freeway near Welkom. PHOTO: MOTORPRESS CLINT Seller (MiWay Yamaha Racing R1) claimed his fifth South African national motor cycle championship when he won both premier class races at the seventh round of the 2017 DEOD SuperGP Champions Trophy, held at Phakisa Freeway on Saturday, August 26. Seller, who had a 47point lead at the start of the weekend, claimed victory over Greg Gild enhuys (Autohaus Towing/ Transport.co.za Kawasaki ZX10R) in the day’s two heats to reclaim the title he last won in 2015, with one round left. In Friday afternoon’s qualify ing session, Seller emerged on top, 0,783 seconds quicker than Gildenhuys, but the Kawasaki rider was confident that he would have pace in the latter sta ges of the races, which would al low him to challenge Seller on Saturday. They were joined on the front row by Garrick Vlok (Diamond Core Drilling/Shop #74 Yamaha R1) with Lance Isaacs (Supabets/ Sandton BMW Motorrad S1000RR) getting the better of David McFadden (Sandton Auto / BMW Motorrad S1000RR) to head the second row of the grid. Brandon Goode (Linex Yamaha R1) completed the second row. As he has done so often in the past, Seller opened up a substan tial gap in the early stages of the
first race. Isaacs, with Gilden huys close behind, was closing the gap until he tucked the front going into turn three. While the veteran was unhurt, his bike was in no state to contin ue. This left Gildenhuys to con tinue the chase on his own. He did catch Seller a couple of laps before the end, but was unable to find a way through and had to settle for second. Michael White (Consortium Shipping Yamaha R1), in a great deal of pain after an accident on Friday, was able to hang on to third ahead of McFadden. Goode and AJ Venter (Lekka Racing Team Hygenica Yamaha R1) rounded out the top six. Seller had things a bit easier in the second race. He again opened up an early gap but Gildenhuys had prob lems with the electronics on his bike and wasn’t able to close the gap at the front this time. Seller went on to win the race, and the title. Gildenhuys man aged to hold off McFadden to take another second place on the day. White ended a slightly lonely fourth ahead of Adolf Boshoff, who made his premier class de but on a MiWay Yamaha Racing R1 after a long injury layoff. AJ Venter took another sixth place.
Final round for MotoX HUSQVARNA South Africa motocross star Richie van der Westhuizen heads to Harri smith’s final round for the 2017 South African motocross cham pionship keen to go one better on winning three out of the four motos last time out. Van der Westhuizen was the star of July’s slippery Thunder Valley MX Nationals in Pieter maritzburg, winning both MX1 races and a MX2 moto, while Caleb Tennant took second in the first heat of MX2 riding as substitute to the injured Maddy Malan. “I can’t wait for Harrismith,” Van der Westhuizen said. “I had an amazing day at a gnarly Pietermaritzburg and I’m looking to carry on where I left off at Harrismith.”
Teammate Caleb Tennant is looking forward to keep pro gressing as he substitutes for the injured Husqvarna lead rider Maddy Malan in MX2. “I have two targets this week end — I want to have more con sistent top three results and I would really like to go one better on my second position last time out on this wonderful factory Husqvarna,” Tennant said. Husqvarna Motorcycles brand manager Fred Fensham is also keen to see his charges rac ing in the Free State. “Husqvarna Racing is on a roll,” he confirmed. “Richie won three out of four last time out and I know he is amped to make it fourup in Har ismith — the 717 is ready. “Caleb is learning fast and
Clint Seller smokes his tyres at Phakisa. SuperMasters Interprovincial While the SuperGP title has been decided, the same cannot be said for the SuperMasters championship. Beau Levey (Motos Blu Cru Yamaha R1) took both race wins from Heinrich Rheeder (BMW Motorrad/Rheeder Racing S1000RR) and Johnny Krieger (Lekka Racing Team Hygenica Yamaha R1). This leaves the trio with just two points between them head ing into the final round at Red Star Raceway at the end of Sep tember.
Super 600 Former champion Steven Od endaal (Petra Yamaha R6) com pletely dominated the Su per600 proceedings. His quali fying time on Friday afternoon was over two seconds quicker than closest rival Hayden Jonas (MiWay Yamaha R6) with Aid en Liebenberg (Fercor Con struction/Shop #74 Kawasaki ZX6) next up another four tenths back. The Uncle Andy Racing Suzuki GXSR600 pair ing of Blaze Baker and William Friend were fourth and fifth with Byron Bester (HiTech Ele ments/Grange Workwear Ka wasaki ZX6) rounding out the top six. In the opening race, Oden daal did exactly what was ex pected, opening up a huge lead and leaving the rest to fight over second place. This battle was a fiveway af fair for much of the race with var ious riders at the front. Towards the end it spread out slightly with Jonas taking the runnerup spot from Liebenberg with Malcolm Rudman (Mont clair Motorcycles Kawasaki ZX6) less than a bike length be hind in fourth. Friend and Baker rounded out the top six. Race two was more of the same, with Odendaal out front and a battle for the minor plac
250 Cup In the 250 Cup Luca Balona (HiTech Racing /Grange Work wear Kawasaki) held off Deegan Claasens (Team Hygenica Ka wasaki) and Ricardo Otto (Otto Racing/Inex Construction Ka wasaki) to take the first race win but he crashed on the opening lap of the second race. While he was able to remount, he finished off the podium. Claasens took the win from Otto with Ryno Pretorious (Pretorious Blomme Kawasaki) completing the podi um. — Gas Sports. • Red Star Raceway, outside Delmas, will host the final round of the 2017 DOED SuperGP Champions Trophy on Saturday, September 23.
Taric van der Merwe leads Ricardo Otto at Phakisa last weekend. PHOTO: MOTORPRESS
Events • September 9: 100s, KZN’s friendliest bike club, will host a park and show at the VSCC in Ori bi, PMB. Free entry. • October 8: KZN XCountry, the Roseleigh Rumble at Eston.
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Richard van der Westhuizen in action in PMB. PHOTO: MOTOR PRESS
benefiting [from] being part of the factory setup and he will be back and strong in round six and let’s see if little Neil van der Vyfer can make it 12 out of 12 on his Husqvarna TC 50.” The final round will be hosted at Holeshot Harrys near Harri smith on Saturday. — WR.
ings going on behind him al though some of the protagonists had changed. Rudman crashed out through the fast sweep at the end of the back straight, while Liebenberg couldn’t match the pace he showed in the opening race. Jonas again took second, this time from Baker who had made some major improvements to the handling of his Suzuki be tween races. Jesse Boshoff (Phoenix Payroll Systems Kawa saki ZX6) ended in fourth ahead of Bester and Friend.
RICARDO Otto (Otto Racing/ Inex Construction KTM390) and Taric van der Merwe (Evolve Nutrition KTM390) were the quickest of the Super Junior con tingent around Phakisa Freeway on Saturday, with Otto slightly quicker in qualifying. Tyreece Robert (Uncle Andy Racing KTM390) and Luca Coc cioni (KTM390) were next up with Chase Hulscher (KTM390), making a welcome return to racing after a huge prac tice accident earlier in the year, in fifth. Otto and Van der Merwe fought it out at the head of the field in the first race, swapping positions on a regular basis. Otto was in front when it counted, taking the flag by just 0,053”. Behind the leading duo, Coccioni and Robert were in volved in a racelong struggle for the final podium spot that even tually went the way of Coccioni. Hulscher came home in fifth. Race two was similar to the first in that Otto and Van der Merwe were in a fight for the win, with Coccioni and Robert again in a tussle for third. This time it was Van der Mer we who took the flag from Otto with Coccioni in third. Robert and Hulscher were fourth and fifth respectively. In the support categories Shaun Jubber (KTM) and Jade Gutzeit (Ducati) shared the BOTTS wins, with Antionio Ioz zo (Ducati) taking third in both races. Augustin Ntwari took two vic tories in the Brunch Run catego ry, which gave him an unassaila ble lead in the 2017 champion ship. — Gas Sports.
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