Anniversary Ferrari Trumps Concours South Africa opposition at Sun City

By Stuart Johnston

A dazzlingly beautiful Ferrari F40 won the 2017 Concours South Africa competition at Sun City over the weekend 4-6 August. The 1989 example, owned by Keith Rivers of Johannesburg, is one of just two, or possibly three Ferrari F40s in South Africa.

This famous Ferrari, known as the last of the space-framed traditional Ferraris, was announced in 1987 as a limited edition commemorative model to celebrate 40 years of Ferrari production. Coincidentally, August 2017 marks the thirtieth anniversary of this car, which was touted as the fastest car in the world when it was launched, with its twin-turbocharged 3,0-litre V8 engine pumping out some 352 kW, a huge power output for the late 1980s.

Second overall at this year’s only multi-marque concours competition was an original (unrestored) Shelby Mustang GT350H dating from 1968, and owned by Dainfern collector Ravi Chetty, with third place going to long-time Porsche aficionado Tim Abbot with a carefully restored Porsche 911 S, a 1970 model finished in Irish Green.

This year’s event was the second Concours South Africa, the first having been held at the same venue in September 2016. The 2017 date in early August was blessed with weather of the early summer variety in the spectacular Pilanesberg  setting, some two hours north-west of Johannesburg.

Adding an international flavour and accelerated standard of judging this year were visitors from the US and the UK, with the CEO of international auction house  Coys of Kensington Chris Routledge and Editor of the internationally-acclaimed magazine Octane, Robert Coucher, forming part of the judging panel.

Chief judge Wayne Harley, the curator of the Franschhoek Motor Museum, said that the standard of cars at this year’s event had increased exponentially over the 2016 maiden Concours South Africa.

“But we have ramped up the judging process and the standard of scoring accordingly.” said Harley.  “There are no concessions to this being an event in the southern region of Africa. We have car collectors here sourcing cars from all over the world, and this an event that compete internationally.”

Chris Routledge, who has a vast experience of the world’s best classic cars and has visited the likes of the famous Pebble Beach Concours in America and the Villa d’Este event in Italy, was particularly impressed at the wide variety of vehicles on show, although he noted the strong Porsche presence which he said is a world-wide phenomenon at concours events, at present.

 Indeed, some 13 Porsche entered, evidence of the popularity and enthusiasm for this famous German marque, as well as the longevity of its products! A total of 57 classic and veteran cars graced the lawns outside the Gary Player Country Club at this year’s event, with other display-only cars brought the total to well over 60.

The final scoring was extremely tight, with the winning trio enjoying margins in some cases of less than a one point out of a total of 200 points. Unlucky to lose out was the freshly restored 1971 Dino 246 GTB ( the small Ferrari of the ‘70s, only later badged as a Ferrari) belonging to Vic and Gerhard Campher, which was restored by last year’s Concours SA winner Carlos de Abreu of Botswana.

Another beautiful 1970s exotic which was a non-trophy winner, but had tongues hanging all weekend, was Peter Bailey’s orange Lamborghini Miura S, with a restoration that was only completed on the morning of the event!

A sad withdrawal from the competition was Volkswagen South Africa’s 1949 Beetle, the oldest VW in the country. However, VW fans could delight in a couple of split-screened Kombis in the entry, including one in the Resto-Mod class fitted with a complete Porsche 964 all-wheel-drive chassis and a Porsche 997 3,4-litre engine. Owner Anton Roux said that this particular Kombi (which originally had a top speed of 80 to 90 km/h) was good for 200 km/h!

Class winners that caught the eye were Willem Stieler’s Superformance Cobra, which won the Retro Mod class,  Ben Gerber’s perfectly-rebuilt 1958 Austin Healey BN6, Gustav Raubenheimer’s imposing 1964 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III,  and the Campher brothers’ Volvo PV445 station wagon, a 1958 model. And a pre-war classic class winner was the 1939 SS Jaguar sedan belonging to Roger Martin and Fiona Hampson-Searle.

The oldest car on the lawns was the 1913 Buick of Brian Noik, while the car that travelled the furthest distance was Cape Town enthusiast Peanuts Fouche’s little Mazda R100 Coupe, a 1970 model never readily available here. However, this car was notable as the car that brought South Africa’s only Formula One world champion, Jody Scheckter, his first international recognition. Young Jody drove a race version of this rotary-engined little Mazda to a class win in the  International 1971 Nine Hour Endurance race at Kyalami in a field that included Ferraris and Porsches from Europe.

“This year’s Concours South Africa was a huge ramp-up over our inaugural event,” said organiser Paul Kennard. “The standard of cars was extremely gratifying, and the word is out amongst serious collectors that this is a must-do event. Next year we will be having an even bigger international presence for what is a uniquely South African event. We are over the moon about things right now!”