The chronicles of a rookie racing driver — Part Two

The second round of the 2025 Extreme Festival powered by Coca-Cola racing series comes to Kyalami on Saturday.

You can expect an action-filled day when 11 classes go racing on the legendary 4.5km-long track in Midrand, Johannesburg. These include the Dunlop Extreme SuperCars, the Astron Polo Cup, SA Touring cars and more.

A few of the garages out of 40 will be dedicated to the Toyota Gazoo Racing Cup teams, comprising media, dealer and youth development drivers in about 20 cars. I’m a competitor in the Media challenge, racing a first-gen Toyota Yaris GR for TimesLIVE.

This weekend's race will be even more special for me. Being born and bred in Thembisa, just a few kilometres away from Kyalami, means it's my home race.

Being a part of a racing series is a learning curve. The time, money and effort it takes to reliably organise and execute a race meeting the size and magnitude of the Extreme Festival speaks volumes of the passion and professionalism in and around the paddocks. 

The spectators too, are a crucial component. They play the role of 12th man on the field, encouraging the competitors, and it's important the racers give them their money’s worth in entertainment. A delightful part I've come to look forward to is the end of a race, as we wave to the crowds thanking them for turning up to watch.   

The life of a racer is fascinating, and quite honestly, mad at times. You are in race mode at all times, imagining scenarios and visualising braking points long before you slide a HANS (head-and-neck support) device under your helmet, a topic for another day. Finishing third in class at Killarney has ignited a more focused and competitive spirit. The No 1 spot is tantalisingly close. 

Weight, or the lack of it, is crucial in racing. A lighter car accelerates, brakes and corners better. Not wanting to prejudice my little all-wheel drive steed, I recently knocked on the door of dietitian Jenny Ford, and also roped in triathlon athlete Lloyd Marlowe. The professionals were tasked with assisting me to trim the excess, while enhancing the fitness levels to handle the intensity of competitive racing.

The adrenaline arrives before the first corner, and if you add the thick, fire-retardant racing suit, boots, briefs, socks, helmet and all, the cabin can get hot very quickly. Meanwhile, the hard cornering and braking drivers experience bring a variety of forces that act on their bodies. A driver must shoulder all this while ensuring a sharp mental focus to drive fast and safely, and execute overtaking or defensive driving manoeuvres. Take it from me, you need the strength.

We descend on Kyalami this week. I’m certainly not new to the Clubhouse, Sunset and other famous corners of the iconic track, but Leeuwkop corner remains a frightening obstacle. It's a fast and blind approach into a left hairpin bend, and requires bags of steely courage to aim for a wall at high speed, then braking late and turning in, hard.

I enter Thursday and Friday’s practice and qualifying sessions, and the Saturday morning race with eight-points in the bag, respectively just six and four points shy of SuperSport’s Nabil Abdool (14) and Car Magazine’s Kyle Kock (12.) 

I've grown in confidence, and am raring to go a little bit faster and wilder than before. As the late and legendary Brazilian Ayrton Senna said: “If you are on the track driving fast and everything is under control, you're not racing.”