Grobbler designed his winning BMW X3

MONKAGEDI GAOTLHOBOGWE
Staff Writer | Tuesday September 28, 2010 00:00

 

Grobbler, who now drives for the RFS team after Nissan decided to quit motor racing, told Mmegi Sport that he was invited by the new team specifically to design and build a new car that would win races. In its first year, the BMW X3 surpassed all expectations and won the most challenging off road event.

The crowd favourite famous for popularising the Nissan Navara brand in Botswana thanks to his wins in the previous Toyota 1000 Desert Race, on Sunday had his vociferous crowd cheering on the new entrant, the BMW X3, as he finished tops. And he has vowed to repeat the feat next year.

The Sunday triumph takes Grobbler's record in the 1000 Desert Race to six wins, with his first triumph coming in 1986 with co-driver Piet Swanepoel, and then reclaiming it in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2006 (all with Nissan). He now joins Apie Reyneke, who also has six victories under his belt, coming in 1987 (Nissan Safari), 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, and 1999 (Toyota Land-Cruiser).

Grobbler's victory came as a surprise to many spectators who were convinced this year's race was going to be dominated by Toyota all the way, especially after the Toyota brand bossed the game on Saturday largely due to the exploits of Anthony Taylor (and Robin Houghton), Duncan Vos (and Rob Howie) and Chris Visser (and Japie Badenhorst);  all Toyota in Hilux while the eventual winner was fourth. The fifth car on day one was yet another Toyota Hilux driven by George Barkhuizen and David van Wyck. But all was to change on the final day as Grobbler turned the corner.

After racing for the Nissan team for 33 years, Grobbler said the RFS team last year offered him a new challenge; to participate in designing, and building a new car that can win races and he accepted the responsibility with both hands.

The veteran driver said it took him and his team six months to design and build the winning BMW X3, which he estimates cost around R2.5 million.

Grobbler said: 'We had to build the car according to the rules governing all SP class cars in South Africa. We used diesel engine, instead of petrol engine, but because it is diesel engine and is turbo charged, they don't allow that we modify anything on the car. So we used a 3 litre, X5 BMW twin turbo diesel engine, and designed a special gear box and special diff and the car was just unbelievable.'

Grobbler said the car, which he refers to as the 'new baby', has only participated in three races including the Toyota 1000 Desert Race. It has finished on the podium in one of the three races.

Commenting on this year's new route, the champion said it was tougher than the previous years. 'You couldn't even drink a bit of water in the car; you had to concentrate so hard, there were so many rocks on the road, and I think it was tougher than all the years.'

Grobbler said the spectators were unbelievable. 'There were so many supporters, how I wish we had so many spectators like these in South Africa,' he said. Meanwhile, last year's winner in the special vehicles, Shameer Variawa and Siegfried Rousseau took control of the Special Vehicle category yet again.

Although Nissan has pulled out of the ABSA races this year, there were still six Nissan cars in the Botswana race over the weekend although four of them tumbled out of the race on the first day. Mike Whitehouse and Mathew Carlson rolled their Nissan Navara, while Thomas Rundle/Juan Mohr's Nissan Navara blew a motor, with Alfie Cox and Jurgen Schroder's Nissan Navara retiring with a blown head gasket, while Gaborone pair Ausman Sadiq and Shaukat Fazaldin's Nissan Navara also dropped out on day one.