Two years the period required for the Western Province Rally fraternity to reach the foot of the Olifants River Mountains again, but, given everything scheduled for Saturday 5 June 2021 it was well worth the wait! With the sulpher yellow Disa only found in a single colony in the town of Porterville and powerful summer thermals attracting paragliding enthusiasts, the Dasklip Pass will take you to the Groot Winterhoek Reserve and now, the return of the 2nd CPMCC Porterville Rally.
With the support of Amagunya Suppliers, Marshall’s Delicious Minerals, Die Hollandse Motor Spesialis, CEJ Plant Hire, Dynamic Plant Solutions, Porterville F.T.Services, K&H Freight, various landowners and Porterville Tourism the Cape Peninsula Motorcycle and Car Club (the second oldest motor club in South Africa, founded in 1910) have scheduled a brilliant 8 stage (124.68km special stages, 187.22km liaison stages and total distance of 311.90km event at the foot of the Voorberg.
Four testing specials stages were to be completed twice and these would prove testing indeed as it represents a substantial increase in stage kilometers from 2019.
Really turning the 2021 edition into a festive affair is the much anticipated appearance of the SAAF Silver Falcons aerial display team at 09h15 and 14h45 on Saturday 2021. Team 84 is led by veteran CFS Langebaanweg flight instructor Major Sivuyile Tangana and his four ship team is set to delight all directly above the Porterville Showgrounds whilst the Ground Liaison Officer, Lt Cwenga Kwatsha, will be present at the showgrounds with the merchandise gazebo for those wishing to acquire genuine SAAF Silver Falcon memorabilia.
The team will be opening proceedings at 09h15 after which the first competing rally team will be flagged away from Porterville Showgrounds at 09h30 by none other than the Veteran Controls Officials (now retired) of Western Province Rallying, Lance and Rosemary Maytham. All the way from the Overberg and please, insist on receiving some Jellybabies before you leave the line!
Ismaeel Davids and Yusuf Ganief should in theory start third in the S2000 specification ID Paving 431 CCMCC S5 Toyota Run X 2.0 4×4 with Shaun Jones and Jason Thorpe fourth off the line in their Advanced Asphalting 424 S5 Subaru Impreza WRX STi 2.0 Turbo 4×4.
They are really going to have to pull out all the stops as their status in the region will now be challenged by Owen Jones (19 years old) and Aden Bredencamp in a very well prepared 454 S5 Subaru Impreza WRX STi 2.0 Turbo 4×4. Keeping up with the Jones’s just stepped up a gear with uncle Llewellyn, father Shaun and son Owen all capable of winning.
Paul-Hendrik “Paulus” Franken and TBA will be the pesky irritation to the powerful and spectacular 4×4 entries in his remarkably nimble three cylinder 1000cc Turbo front wheel drive Franken Motorsport 125 S5 Volkswagen Polo Vivo GT Cup and all would be well advised to keep a very sharp eye on the progress of this DKW on steroids.
Another exciting entry is expected to be the, ex-Hannes Grobler, Howard Centre Motors 428 S5 Nissan Sentra 2.0 4×4 of Winston Neethling and Lyle Marais. The team currently fitting a new steering rack and they are anticipating making the 5 June 2021 startline.
37 years ago Etienne Malherbe participated in the Lowveld 500 Rally in his R390 Mazda Capella Rotary with Eric Storbeck as navigator. The Mazda was comprehensively destroyed later in the year when they rolled it into oblivion on the 250 Hammanskraal special stage outside Pretoria. Over the years since Etienne enjoyed great success in class A5 with a Toyota Tazz but his love for rear wheel driven cars saw him acquire the ex-Johan Prins factory Nissan Stanza 1600. With Yvette Ramshaw as navigator they proved both popular and spectacular in the Western Province before Etienne moved to the Garden Route.
The rally will open with a 17.34km stage named Heuningberg and there will be no servicing of the cars before they tackle the popular 15km Middelpos stage.
A twenty minute service park is all that service crews will be afforded to get their respective teams ready for a second loop of the same two stages.
Teams will then enjoy a 45min Lunch Break / Service Park before heading off to the 16.48km Poskantoor stage immediately followed by the 13.52km Septemberskraal. It is only June but 20min service is all they have before repeating the two testing stages.
The roads are said to be in beautiful condition and fortunately for Riyaan Amlay the watersplash is dry this year. Current weather prediction has cloudy skies with 7ºC minimum and 25ºC maximum, sunrise 07h40 and sunset 17h44 (daylight for 10hrs04min). A lazy moon only rises 03h00 and sets 15h01 thus be safe on the roads to and from event.
The very friendly farming community really welcoming the rally to their area, but man, can these guys build contours! Hard landings can be the order of the day. Do you take the cautious approach or the flat-out approach?
Not that Llewellyn Jones and Christophé Pichon had any time to appreciate the view in 2019 as they set the fastest time on six consecutive stages to take an emphatic victory in the CEJ Plant Hire 434 CPMCC S5 Subaru Impreza 2.0 Turbo 4×4.

• Patrick Vermaak