The 30th running of the annual Volkswagen Rally takes place next Friday and Saturday in and around Port Elizabeth. The popular event on the national rally calendar will see the cream of South Africa's rally fraternity in action on a combination of tar and gravel stages.
The 30th running of the annual Volkswagen Rally takes place next Friday and Saturday in and around Port Elizabeth. The popular event on the national rally calendar will see the cream of South Africa's rally fraternity in action on a combination of tar and gravel stages.
Competitors in the 2012 Volkswagen Rally will make the traditional Auto Pavilion start outside the main gate of the Volkswagen plant in Uitenhage, where the public will enjoy free entry to the museum for the day. This is also a good time for rally fans to collect autographs and have photos taken with their motorsport heroes.
“The Volkswagen Rally is one of the best rallies on the national calendar,” said Mike Rowe, head of Volkswagen Motorsport. “It is well organised by the Algoa Rally Association and route organiser Joe Fourie celebrates his 21st Volkswagen Rally with us this year.
There is a dedicated team of enthusiasts who ensure the event is as good as it could possibly be – and this shows in the organisation.” Volkswagen has sponsored the Volkswagen Rally since 1982 and rally fans turn out in high numbers to watch their favourites in action. When the flag drops for the start of the Volkswagen Rally, competitors will find themselves contesting stages in Gamtoos, the Longmore Forest, Uitenhage and the Port Elizabeth Oval Track Raceway in Greenbushes.
They will also contest the very popular Kings Beach spectator stage, which is the traditional grand finale. “This year promises to be a very good event,” says route organiser Joe Fourie. “Good rains in the area have significantly reduced the fire risk in the Longmore Forest, the roads are in good condition and there are even a couple of new stages as well. We're all anticipating the 30th running of the Volkswagen Rally is going to be one of the best we've had.”
Competitors in the Volkswagen Rally will face one of the two new stages at the start of the event, when they head to Melon in the Gamtoos area. Here Fourie has indicated the field will face a challenging, but extremely good first stage. Five stages await the Volkswagen Rally competitors on Friday, with a further seven scheduled for Saturday – of which three will be repeats of day one of the rally.
The focus for the event is on providing a challenging rally for competitors, while retaining the high level of spectator-friendliness for which the Volkswagen Rally is known.
