RallySport Magazine September 2016

FEATURE: SOUTH AFRICAN SPECIALS
WHEN NECESSITY WAS THE
MOTHER OF INVENTION
Story: LEON JOUBERT
Like Australia, South Africa had
lots of tempting unsurfaced
roads and countryside mountain
passes that begged to be used for rallying
in the years following the Second
World War, and they were soon put to
use by enthusiastic amateurs.
South African outback roads were
of indifferent quality. Potholes, cross
drains and rocky surfaces were part of
the mix and crews had to be skilled car
preparers and mechanics. Tough cars
‘made for Africa’ were preferable.
By 1960 a national rally championship
had been established and, in its first
years, the two-stroke Auto Union
proved to be a regular winner, thanks
to its durability, good FWD handling
and 15-inch wheels with long travel
suspension.
By 1964 another tough European
car, the Volvo 122S ‘Amazon’, began to
feature regularly on the leader boards,
but that year also witnessed the first
appearance of two other durable car
makes, both from Japan – Datsun and
Toyota.
The Datsun effort was driven
(literally) by a remarkable Pretoriabased
engineer, Ewold van Bergen,
who could meticulously dismember a
Datsun Bluebird 1200, then re-design
and reassemble it into a rally-winning
car. He was so successful that he was
soon employed by Datsun (and later
Nissan) as the company’s only ‘foreign’
consultant outside Japan.
The Toyota importer countered by
importing two twin cam Toyota GT5
coupes and the cars were successful.
That prompted van Bergen to create
Leon Joubert’s Auto Union
competing in the late 60s.
The ex-Hannu Mikkola Ford
Escort imported by Ford South
Africa for Jan Hettema in 1971.
his so-called Datsun P510 SSS-TK, which
confused his Japanese employers until
he explained that TK stood for ‘Toyota
Killer’.
Throughout the late 1960s, the South
African Championship saw healthy
competition between Volvo, Datsun,
Toyota and also Renault (with R8 and
R12 Gordinis). Even Alfa Romeo Guilia
and Berlina models (assembled in
South Africa) were in the mix.
The Total International Rally was
the country’s biggest annual event in
which the winners also got a free entry
into the Monte Carlo Rally. These links
led to some cross-pollination with top
European rally drivers often competing
in the Total Rally. Ove Andersson was
one of the first, and would eventually
establish powerful competition and
engineering links for Renault and
Toyota.
During the 1960s, eligible cars for
championships were basically those
that were for sale in the South African
market (there was a wide choice), but
modifications were largely unlimited,
though there were engine capacity
classes that scored bonus points, along
with points for overall results.
This formula carried through into
the 1970s and as Ewold van
Bergen with Datsun, and Ove
Andersson with Renault and Toyota,
began to forge technical links with
overseas sources, the development
of Ford of England’s motor rallying
programmes with the Escort also spilled
over to South Africa.
The first ‘full works’ Ford Escort to
arrive in South Africa was an ex-Hannu
Mikkola Lotus Escort used as a recce
car, and it was given to multiple SA
Rally Champion, Jan Hettema, to drive.
It was soon followed by a local ‘Perana’
version of the Escort Mexico, powered
by a two-litre SOHC Ford Pinto engine.
The Escort ‘Perana’ was developed
by the same Basil Green who created
the Perana Ford Capri V8 that is quite
well known in Australia. It may have
triggered a flood of ‘skunk works’ cars
for mid-1970s rallying in South Africa.
In 1972-73, General Motors SA (under
64 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - SEPTEMBER 2016