User:BruceD77/South African Rally Championship

The South African Rally Championships is a series held throughout South Africa over closes road special stages. The championships is currently made up of 8 rounds, held between March and October each year. The year 2010 was the 50th year of the championship.

Current Classes
For the 2011 championship will allow the following classes:
 * 1) S2000 - International and South African homologated S2000 cars as well as N4 cars.
 * 2) A7 - For 2-litre SA homologated cars
 * 3) A6 - For A6 and N3 SA homologated cars (1600cc for A6 and 2000cc for N3)
 * 4) A5 - For A5 SA homologated cars

1960s
The championship originally began for regularity rallies before changing over to special stage rallies. While Ewold van Bergen originally took the most titles, the decade saw the arrival of Jan Hettema as a serious force in SA rallying, firstly with Volvo and then with Toyota.

1970s
The Ford Escort made it's mark on SA rallying during the '70s. Sadly the decade saw the only posthumous champion in Lambert Fekken, who was killed on an event when he had a head-on collision with another vehicle traveling in a stage. The decade saw the arrival of Sarel van der Merwe, who would go on to become a household name in South African motorsport. He won his first title in 1975 in a Datsun, winning again in 1977 in a Datsun before moving to Ford and winning again in '78 and '79.

A number of overseas competitors took part in events during the '70s, with Tony Pond, Tony Fall, Jochi Klient, and Lief Asterhag all taking wins during the decade.

1980s
The 1980s started the way the '70s had ended, with Sarel van der Merwe winning just about every rally in sight, together with co-driver Franz Boshoff and their Ford Escort. He won 7 of the 9 rallies in 1980 (the other 2 going to Tony Pond in a Datsun Stanza), 7 of the 10 in 1981 and 5 of the 8 in 1982.

For 1983 Group B rallying finally arrive in South Africa, with Volkswagen importing 2 Audi Quattros for Sarel van der Merwe and Geoff Mortimer. The Quattro won all 9 rounds in 1983, and only missed one in 1984 which was won by Hannes Grobler in a Nissan Langley. Audi again won 7 of the 8 rounds in 1985, this time only beaten on one event by Serge Damseaux and Vito Bonafede driving a Ford Escort RS1700T, the car that Ford had abandoned as it's replacement for the Escort on the WRC level.

1986 saw van der Merwe beaten to the title for the first time since 1976, mainly due to overseas commitments in Group C and IMSA racing. Despite not winning a round that year, Hannes Grobler took his first title in a Nissan Skyline. Audi still won 6 of the 8 rounds but they were split evenly between Geoff Mortimer and van der Merwe. An interesting arrival that year was Toyota's own locally built Group B-spec car, the Corolla Turbo. The car was given to Serge Damseaux and early technical troubles prevented it from putting up good results but there was promise for the future. Audi had also arrived with the Quattro Sport at the end of the season for van der Merwe.

For 1987 South Africa kept the Group B cars, and Sarel van der Merwe took a break from the series to concentrate on his sportscar career, leaving the newly arrived Quattro Sport Evo 2 in the hands of Geoff Mortimer. Mortimer went on to win 6 of the 8 events to take the title, the other 2 rallies been won by the Toyota Corolla Turbo of Serge Damseaux. Nissan were also increasing their efforts with a 4wd version of the Nissan Skyline being built and driven by Hannes Grobler.

In 1988 Sarel van der Merwe returned to drive the solo Quattro Sport E2, Toyota continued with the Corolla and Nissan built a monster turbocharged 4wd Skyline rumoured to be producing close on 600 BHP for this final year of Group B in South Africa. In the end van der Merwe won 4 of the 8 rallies, with Grobler and Damseaux winning 2 each, but it was van der Merwe's 11th and final championship victory.

In 1989 the rules changed - Group B cars were banned and in their place manufacturers now had to build cars based on locally sold models, but with 4wd added and non-turbo engines up to 2-litres which could come from any model that was sold. This was true to the original Group S rules that the WRC was supposed to adopt in 1987. Toyota built a version based on the Corolla hatchback model known locally as the Conquest with a Celica motor without turbocharging. This turned out to be the car to beat in what was arguably the golden era of SA rallying. Nissan built a 4wd Sentra, only for Grobler to begin with and Volkswagen, who couldn't use a Quattro anymore, built a Golf Syncro, although they only made in 4wd later in the season and van der Merwe had to start with a 2wd version for the first few rounds of the season. Damseaux won his first championship with 6 wins out of 8 events. The surprise winner of the Castrol International Rally that year was Johan Evertse in a 2wd VW Golf running in Class B, which was the equivalent of Formula 2, this despite horrific rain and wet weather conditions. Van der Merwe won the other event in the now-4wd Golf Syncro.

1990s
1990 was a mixed up season where nobody really gaining any dominance and reliablity and crashes made the championship a lottery until the end. Damseaux, van der Merwe and Glen Gibbons (Conquest) all won 1 event, Grobler won 2 while Nissan teammate Jan Habig won 3 events, including his home event, the Tour de Valvoline Rally, in an old-spec rear-wheel-drive Skyline. However, with all the top drivers not being consistent enough, it was Glyn Hall and Martin Botha in a 2wd Class B (Formula 2) VW Golf who took the overall title.

In 1991 Sarel van der Merwe moved to Ford who were re-entering rallying on a full works level again. Unfortunately they only had a RWD Sapphire for him to drive for the first event, before the 4wd Laser would be ready. Glen Gibbons won the opening round for Toyota, and Damseaux won a further 2 events later in the season. Van der Merwe won 2 events in the Laser while Grobler won 2 events and the title in his Nissan Sentra. Jan Habig won the other event for Nissan then promptly had a fall out with Nissan and left to join Volkswagen by the end of the season. He joined Johan Everste who had been promoted to the No. 1 driver in the team following van der Merwe's departure to Ford. When Habig left Nissan his co-driver Douglas Judd stayed and partnered Grobler for the rest of the season. This co-driver change allowed Franz Boshoff, van der Merwe's co-driver, to pick up the Co-driver's championship.

1992 saw the best manufacturer representation in years in the top class. Toyota had 2 cars for Damseaux and Gibbons, Nissan had Grobler and Nic de Waal, Ford had van der Merwe and Glyn Hall and Volkswagen had Evertse and Habig. Evertse, van der Merwe and de Waal each won 1 event, Grobler won 2 but Damseaux won 3 to claim the title, including an incredible comeback drive on the final round after rolling and losing time on day 1.

In 1993 SA rallying started to take a downturn. Touring Car racing had been introduced and the manufacturers believed that it would attract greater TV coverage (which turned out not to necessarily be the case), although the one thing it did attract was a massive amount of their motorsport budgets, more than was actually thought would be the case in the end. Toyota continued with 2 cars for Damseaux and rising star Enzo Kuun, Ford reduced to just running van der Merwe and Nissan started with 2 cars for Grobler and de Waal before dropping down to one car for Grobler from mid-season. Volkswagen withdrew completely leaving Habig to run his own private entry 4wd Golf. Damseaux won 6 of the 8 events to take his 3rd title, with van der Merwe and Habig winning 1 event each. At the end of the season van der Merwe decided to retire from rallying.

For 1994 Toyota were the only team with a works entry so they reduced their effort to 1 car for Damseaux. Kuun moved to take on the Ford Laser as a private team, and Grobler entered a private Sentra along with Nuno da Cunha. Habig turned out to be a very busy man during 1994, not only running his own private VW Golf Syncro, but also building a WRC Ford Escort Cosworth and competing on the RAC Rally, finishing 8th overall, as well as developing a new Mark III Golf Syncro for 1995! Habig and Kuun won 1 event each, Grobler 2 events and Damseaux the other 4 events to win yet another title.

In 1995 Toyota continued with Damseaux only, Habig had lots of trouble developing the Mk III Golf and Grobler continued as a private entry in the Sentra. It also saw the arrival of Hyundai, new in the country, running a 4wd rally car, originally for Billy Rautenbach (father of Conrad Rautenbach) and then also for Enzo Kuun. Toyota also started to sell off their 4wd cars to a number of privateers who then helped to boost the top class. Damseaux won 7 of the 8 events to take a easy title, with Kuun taking the other event for Hyundai.

In 1996 Grobler left the championship, leaving Damseaux versus Habig and the Hyundai team. Again Damseaux won 7 of the 8 events but he crashed out while comfortably leading the Castrol International Rally, leaving Sarel van der Merwe to take the win on his return to the series driving a 2wd Daewoo Cielo.

In 1997 the rules changed once again. Four-wheel-drive cars would now have to take a big weight penalty and so the idea was to move towards Formula 2 as the main class and 2wd only. For this season there was a Group S16 class and the Formula 2 A7 class which should have been the same. Toyota stuck to a S16 version for Damseaux and Daewoo entered the Cielo seriously for van der Merwe and Kuun. Habig went for a A7 version Golf to start with, based on overseas models, but then found that a S16 version was quicker and converted later in the season. Hyundai were the only ones to try and continue with a 4wd car for Glen Gibbons but the car was miles off the pace and they withdrew during the season. The season turned into a epic fight between Damseaux and the 2 Daewoo drivers, the Toyota taking 3 rallies and van der Merwe winning 2 and Kuun 1 event. However politics struck as it was discovered that the Daewoo drivers had done illegal reconissance on an event and were both banned with 1 round to go. This should have handed the title to Damseaux but the final 2 rounds were mayhem in heavy rain and mud and clever driving and consistent points scoring earlier in the season allowed Habig to take 1 win and the title, his first ever. Rising star Ettiene Lourens won first SA crew home in the final round although overseas driver Robbie Head won the rally. He and Stig Blomqvist had been drafted into the Daewoo team in the final round partnered by the co-drivers of van der Merwe (Franz Boshoff) and Kuun (Guy Hodgson) (they had been found to be not-guilty in the offense and therefore were still in the running for the title). However after the event it was found that the event did not have the required level of international status so their entries were excluded from championship points leaving Habig's co-driver Douglas Judd as co-driver champion.

For 1998 the series finally had a overall sponsor in Stannic, part of the Standard Bank group. Now only full F2 kit cars were allowed, no more S16 hybrid versions. Toyota continued with Damseaux and a Conquest and Volkswagen returned as a full works effort for Jan Habig, having imported a Safari Rally spec Golf Mk 3 Kit Car. Daewoo sat out most of the season as they built and developed their new Lanos model for Kuun and van der Merwe. Also around was a private Ford Escort RS2000 for Paolo Piazza-Musso. Damseaux won 4 events in the year but retired from a few others to leave Habig, with 2 wins, as the champion initially. Piazza-Musso won the first ever all-tar rally and Kuun won on the debut for the Lanos when Damseaux retired and Habig crashed while leading the Agip Rally. At the end of the season there was more court room drama as Toyota protested Habig's 13th place finish on the Agip Rally. Originally the crew had been disqualified from the event but were later reinstated under a technicality. Toyota protested to have the original disqualification upheld and won, meaning that Damseaux claimed the title by a single point from Habig.

The lineup was the same for 1999, only this time Volkswagen imported a brand new Mk 4 Golf Kit Car for Habig and it paid off. 6 wins to Damseaux's 2 meant that Habig wrapped up the title. Daewoo had pulled out at the beginning of the season due to internal politics.

2000s
In 2000 Toyota decided they couldn't afford to play the full kit car game anymore and withdrew their car from that class. Instead they developed a A6 Corolla sedan model for Damseaux, who on paper would be fighting for class honours with his own son Jean-Pierre and Etienne Lourens, while Habig would be galloping away into the distance with the Kit Car Golf. Although Habig would go on to win 5 of the 8 rounds, he retired from the other 3 and those were won by Damseaux in amazing drives, and it was the A6 Toyota that eventually took the championship crown.

2001 saw a few more rule changes. The full F2 kit cars were now banned and instead a much cheaper version of the kit car would be allowed. In addition Group N4 cars like the Mitsubishi Lancer and Subaru Impreza would now be allowed to compete on SA events, albeit with a smaller turbo restrictor than was allowed in WRC events. The star of this particular group would turn out to be former kart racer Johnny Gemmell in an Impreza. Toyota changed plans again and with a cheaper formula now built a Corolla sedan model to the top class specifications for Damseaux. Volkswagen proved how much money was being spent on kit cars by increasing their works team from 1 car to 5! However, there would be 2 top class cars for Habig and Kuun, while the rest would be lower class cars for up-and-coming drivers such as Hergen Fekken. With 4 wins Habig won the championship, beating Damseaux with 2 wins. The works teams were not impressed with the final 2 rounds which were run in wet and muddy conditions and both were won by Gemmell, meaning that in the right conditions privateers in N4 cars could beat the works F2 cars.