Summarize

The Killarney International Raceway is preparing to host the second round of the 2018 Extreme Festival national championship circuit racing roadshow Saturday 21 April — an event that Cape racer fans would be advised to diarise well in advance. Featuring four national championship classes and a couple of regional and club races apiece, the highlight of the day is however likely to be the national challenge G&H Transport Extreme Supercars, which promise an epic North versus South spectacle.

Several Cape entries will be hell-bent on stopping Charl Arangies’ dominant romp of late aboard his super-quick Aston Martin Vantage and while that car’s first foray to the Cape is awaited with great interest, two questions remain: Can that combination match the recent achievement of breaking the Killarney car lap record shortly after the two wheel mark was recently reset; and will the locals really allow Arangies and his Aston to get away with it? 

So the likes of Dawie Joubert’s wild Lotus-Honda, Johan Engelbrecht’s Porsche 911 GT2, Marcel Angel’s Ferrari 458 GT3 and Craig Jarvis’ stunning new Viper, among other Cape GT regulars are working to ensure that local honour will be retained, while local Extreme regulars Andrew Culbert and Nicky Dicks will be keen to impress at home. They will all have their work cut out with quick upcountry visitors other than Arangies in a variety of machinery from the du Toit brothers’ Ferraris and Greg Patron’s Lamborghini to a swathe of mad BMWs from Sav Gualitieri and Darren Winterboer’s M3s to fast 3 series and even a mad Merc.

Also expect close national racing in the new Engen Volkswagen Polo Cup, which will thrill as always with dices between a grid full of upcountry drivers in all-new Polo GTIs, but local fans will have something to shout for with several local drivers among a grid of Investchem Formula 1600 single-seaters, while the Hankook Formula Vees should be joined by a good few local Formula Libre regulars to cheer about.

One class with a point to prove is Sasol GTC, which suffered only one car reaching the finish line at the recent Kyalami season opener. The class that claims premier status in South African motorsport has however impressed at Killarney before and the likes of Michael Stephen, Gennaro Bonafede and Cape local hero Johan Fourie will want to wow the Killarney faithful with another cracking performance under Table Mountain. A little further back, local fans will be watching Dayne Angel chasing his first GTC2 win among a wild pack of Minis, Golf GTIs and Focus STs.

Local fans may miss the wild action of the WP BurlyPro GTi Challenge come April 21, but they will have a chance to compare how Jozi’s sister series shapes up when the Motor Mart Volkswagen Challenge visits Killarney — especially considering expat Capetonian Stiaan Kriel will be looking to get his championship charge back on the boil after a troublesome outing at Zwartkops last time out. 

Three popular local series that will be represented at the Extreme Festival are RST Suzuki South Superbike, Masters and 600 motorcycle races, the V8 Masters and Makita Supercars — all of which can be relied upon to impress.

So there’s more than enough reason to clear your diary for Saturday 21 April if you are a petrol head and you live in the Cape - see you at Killarney’s Extreme Festival!