Supervan vs The Manxman 2009 and 2011 races in South Africa

Discuss Non-E30 BMW's in here - No selling!

Moderator: martauto

tcbracing
E30 Zone Newbie
E30 Zone Newbie
Posts: 61
Joined: Sun Apr 29, 2007 11:00 pm
Location: Isle of Man and Inverness

Post Sun Jan 20, 2013 8:09 pm

Dear All
Now the (Top)cat is really out of the bag!
set out below is the background to Sarel and perhaps explains what all the excitement is about!!

Sarel Daniel van der Merwe (born December 5, 1946) is a South African former rally driver, who was a multiple South African Rally Drivers Champion. He is sometimes referred to as "Supervan"
Van der Merwe won the South African Rally Drivers Championship a record eleven times in 1975, from 1977 to 1985 and in 1988. He also held the SA Saloon Car Championship (1994), SA modified Saloon Car Championship (1994 & 2001), and won the 1996 Castrol International Rally in Swaziland.
Van der Merwe began his racing career in 1967 racing saloon cars. His international career took off in 1983 in the IMSA series in the USA, with his most notable win in the 1984 24 Hours of Daytona race driving for Kreepy Krauly Racing, an all-South African team in a March 83G-Porsche. He shared the win with Graham Duxbury and Tony Martin. Van der Merwe did exceptionally well in the 1984 24 Hours of Le Mans where he finished 3rd on debut. In the 1986 Le Mans race, Sarel pulled in a lap early and Jo Gartner took over. A lap later the suspension broke and the car veered off the Mulsanne Straight in the middle of the night and Gartner was killed.
In Historics he is often seen at the wheel of the fearsome 1963 7.5 litre Red Ford Galaxie owned and prepared by Peter Du Toit, who owns Zwartkops Raceway as well as some 53 racing cars. The Galaxie is a reproduction of the Galaxie driven by Bobby Oltoff in period. Peter’s son Mark Du Toit is seen aggressively driving the cream 1964 Chevrolet Biscayne proudly displaying ”a500HP”a on the bonnet.
see:
[youtube]IdhLJtR_ZY4[/youtube]
Topcat
Owner of 1991 E30 Hartge H26 (since 1994)
and 1980 E21 Alpina B6 2.8
tcbracing
E30 Zone Newbie
E30 Zone Newbie
Posts: 61
Joined: Sun Apr 29, 2007 11:00 pm
Location: Isle of Man and Inverness

Post Sun Jan 20, 2013 8:14 pm

Topcat
Owner of 1991 E30 Hartge H26 (since 1994)
and 1980 E21 Alpina B6 2.8