Harbour town racers ready

Rudi Bowe

Walvis Bay motor racing drivers, Allan Martin and Jan Everson are ready to race in the 50th edition of the Tara Rally and the biggest road race event of the year in Namibia that will take place from Thursday 8 to 10 November with Total Namibia as the main sponsor with a total of N$150 000 towards the event.

Allan Martin finished 3rd in his class and third overall in 49th Tara Rally last year with Derek Jacobs as his navigator. This year Allen will compete in his 20th rally with Marietta Olivier as his navigator in the S3 class with his J&P Hydraulics 4×4 16 Valve 2008 model Polo Vivo (4×4) named “Try me 2”.
Jan Everson and Fanie Botes as his navigator will compete this year in S2 class with their Seal Consulting Engineers sponsored front weal dive VW Polo S2000.
Their first won in 2013 when they won the S1 Class in Total Tara Rally with a repeate in 2014. The 1600i engine was replaced in 2015 they won the S2 Class and was overall 3rd place with a Dave Ingle 2 IT FSI 16V engine. They did not participated in the 2016 Tara but won the S2 Class in 2017.
The Tarra Rally will start in Swakopmund with eight stages in the vicinity of the Martin Luther monument on the outskirts of Swakopmund with the final stage to conclude at Kanonkop. The next day will be the start of stages 9-14 as all cars will be off to Kransberg, Karibib and Wilhelimstal where the days racing will end at Tony Rust race track and on Saturday stages 15-21 will start at the Tony Rust race track and then also conclude at the race track with the final stage.
This year’s Tara Rally is a special one as it celebrates the Windhoek Motor Clubs 50th anniversary as host and be Co hosted by Total after their withdraw in 2016 with combination is welcomed back to motor sport by many.
The program for the 2018 Total Tara is:
Day 1, Thursday 8 November with a total of 46.97 kilometres
17:00 Special Stage (SS) 1 Martin Luther, 9.20 kilometres
17:20 SS2 Pypline, 16.65 kilometres
17:40 SS3 Daggabos, 12.22 kilometres
19:25 SS4 Rössmund, 8.90 kilometres
Day 2, Friday 9 November with a total of 132.31 kilometres
07:05 SS5 TransNamib, 24.73 kilometres
08:00 SS6 Husab-Monument, 11.09 kilometres
09:05 SS7 Trekkopje, 11.42 kilometres
09:30 SS8 Kanonkop, 9.08 kilometres
10:20 SS 9 Sukses, 13.51 kilometres
11:33 SS10 Kranzberg, 9.04 kilometres
12:18 SS11 Karibib, 7.50 kilometres
12:53 SS12 Vogelsang, 11.28 kilometres
13:40 SS13 Khanrivier, 11.43 kilometres
14:15 SS14 Wilhelmstal, 10.57 kilometres
18:25 SS15 Tony Rust, 6.33 kilometres
19:25 SS16 Tony Rust, 6.33 kilometres
Day 3, Saturday 10 November with a total of 32.32 kilometres
10:03 SS17 Rocky Crest, 5.31 kilometres
10:20 SS18 Prosperita 5.59 kilometres
11:30 SS19 Omeya, 10.45 kilometres
11:35 SS20 Rocky Crest, 5.31 kilometres
12:25 SS21 Tony Rust, 4.66 kilometres