Darling 400km National Off road Race – Sponsored by Nissan

Round one of the 2004 Absa Off Road Championship, in Darling in the Western Cape took place this past weekend.

A surprisingly large number of competitors made their way down to the race, with 54 Entrants participating in this event. Production Vehicle category accounting for 28 entries and the Special Vehicle category for 26.

On the Special Vehicle front it was likely to be a BAT versus Jimco battle in Class A after the newly arrived Oven Fresh Biscuits Porter blew its BMW 4.6 V8 engine earlier in the week.

The Class A BAT challenge came from reigning Special Vehicle Champion Brandon Harcus and new co-driver Achim Bergmann (Adrenalise Corporate Entertainment BAT), 2003 Toyota Dealer 400 winner Mark Corbett and new co-driver Gavin Kelsey (Century Property Developments BAT), Clint Gibson/Mike Brown (Praesidium Financial Services BAT) and new comers Philip Vosloo/Evan Hutchison (Adrenalise Corporate Entertainment BAT). The Class B BAT competitors are Henry Kirstein and Renier Jooste (Atlas Copco BAT) and Ernest Corbett/Wrawick Goosen (Century Property Developments BAT).

The Nissan Dealer 400 Prologue got underway at 13h00 on Friday (March 19) to determine starting positions for Saturday’s main event that started at 08h00 in Darling and consisted of two laps of a 172km course with thick sand terrain.

The Nissan Dealer 400 again proved to be the nemesis of crews in the Special Vehicle Category with many of the starters succumbing to the thick sand.

Last year’s winners Atang Makgekgenene/Mike Stangl led from start to finish in the Total Jimco and finished one and a half minutes ahead of 2003 Toyota Dealer 400 winner Mark Corbett/Gavin Kelsey in the Century Property Developments BAT.

Due to an unfortunate incident A1 Brandon and Achim rolled their BAT, surviving a 160km head over heels somersault, due to a farmer building an unauthorised double whoop on the race route which was not marked and were out the race after just 100km.

Visible damage was minimal considering the speed
and number of impacts sustained by the BAT.
Neither the driver nor navigator were injured in this incident.

A21 Philip and Evan retired with a faulty power steering unit. Clint Gibson/Mike Brown in the Praesidium Financial Services were forced to retire when the alternator failed 45km from the finish.

Ernest Corbett and son-in-law Warwick Goosen (Class B Century Property Developments BAT) arrived at the finish line in sixth place in the Special Vehicle Category.

The next round of the Absa Off Road Championship, the Nissan Sugarbelt 400, takes place in the Eston area near Pietermaritzburg on April 23 and 24 where BAT will resume it’s challenge!

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