High-Octane Action at Sidewayz Show

 

The event was hosted by the twelve-year-old club. Event co-organiser Michael Chetty emphasized that this year’s installment of the annual competition was the best by far.

 

Chetty went on to say that the primary aim of these annual events is to promote and develop motorsport in South Africa and in KwaZulu-Natal, which is fast becoming a drift hotspot in South Africa. One of the future goals of the club is to host a professional drifting league in which professional, high-speed, precision drifters can compete against local drifters, who pack just as much of a punch as the big boys from the SupaDrift Series.

 

At the weekend-long event, one could find many teams representing various parts of South Africa. Lionel Jordaan and his team represented Cape Town, while Hamoo Kuber represented Team Spinworld from Limpopo. Team KZN Drift also attended the event, a day after participating in the National SupaDrift X Series in Port Shepstone. Strongly representing PMB was Team SKN, a father-son team comprising of the youngest driver in the competition, Kameel Moodley, just 17 years of age, who proved that age is merely a number in this game. Other famous PMB drifters included Dennis Moodley, Andries Graaf, Bruce Swartley, Mothi Bhikshu, and Marcel Swartz. Holding up the fort for the Dundee region was Preshu Singh, who represented the 360 Boys. Durban-based club Wenties Spinners also made an appearance, giving the crowds even more to scream at as they competed competitively in their respective classes.

 

The event started off with a bang on Saturday, 27 July, seeing the likes of KwaZulu-Natal’s gymkhana specialist Jeff Subramoney chase down the record for the highest number of donuts in a minute.

 

The Durban-based spinner managed a feat of 18 donuts in the allocated time, falling short of the current record of 22. Limpopo-based spinner and stuntman Hamoo Kuber wowed crowds as he performed electric stunts in his BMW. Hamoo was seen jumping in and out of his car while it screeched around the track, destroying its rear tyres and dumping volumes of smoke into the atmosphere surrounding the loading bays of the market.

 

Representing the Cape was Lionel Jordaan, who had travelled the furthest of all the drivers and gave one of the best performances ever seen at the Sidewayz Show and any other spinning show in South Africa. Lionel, along with his crew of stuntmen, performed little skits around a high-revving, smoking BMW as it spun endlessly with no driver behind the wheel. Overall, Lionel Jordaan took the title of King of Spin at the end of the weekend-long event.

 

The event, as always, was held under the watchful eye of the Motorsport of South Africa (MSA) officials. Sidewayz is committed to providing an event that is entertaining, fun, and most importantly, legal and safe. Sidewayz challenged local street racers to put their skills into action against the top racers the event played host to, in a bid to reduce the large amount of street racing occurring in Pietermaritzburg and Durban.

 

Chetty commented that the Sidewayz Show differs from the rest as it is one of the only shows that allow spectators, nestled in the loading bays of the market, to be almost on top of the action unfolding just a few metres in front of them. Chetty exclaimed that, “There is no better feeling than the vibrations running through your body from the high-revving machines that are tearing up the tarmac a few metres from where you seated.”