25 Aug Concours South Africa 2017
A beautifully prepared 1989 Ferrari F40 was the overall winner of Concours South Africa 2017, held at Sun City on August 4-6. The F40 was built to celebrate Ferrari’s 40th anniversary as a manufacture and was the final project overseen by founder Enzo Ferrari before his death in 1988. The winning car is one of only a handful residing in South Africa. FMM also has an example. Owned by Keith Rivers, a founder member of Tiger Wheels and well known for his exploits in motocross and motorcycle enduros,
Second place overall went to an unrestored 1968 Shelby Mustang GT350H owned by Dainfern’s Ravi Chetty. This car is one of the last special Hertz rent-a-car Mustangs produced by Ford and Shelby in 1968, and was imported here from America a couple of years ago.
In a somewhat surprising third place was the immaculate 1970 Porsche 911S ‘short-wheelbase’ model owned by Porsche expert Tim Abbot of Johannesburg. The unexpected aspect of this award was that alongside many more flamboyant and exotic entries, the green Porsche looked remarkably understated.
“We have taken a huge step forward with our second Concours South Africa event,” said organiser Paul Kennard. “Not only were there more entries, the standard of presentation rose exponentially over 2016. This year we had international presence with guests from New York and the UK, and we have even bigger plans for next year.”
FMM curator Wayne Harley was head of the judging panel that included the CEO of Coys of Kensington, Chris Routledge, and Octane magazine editor Robert Coucher.
“In 2017 we set the bar very high as far as the judging standards are concerned,” said Wayne. “We are taking this event to an international level, and restorers in this country can only learn from the input from our panel, which has vast experience in both local and international concours events.”
Chris remarked that the overall presentation and setting of Concours South Africa was already well up to the standards of the best events internationally. He said a number of cars at Sun City could compete internationally. “One thing I would like to see next year would be a class for home-grown specials such as the Ford Sierra XR8, the Alfa Romeo GTV6 3,0 litre and the Capri Perana, cars that were only available in South Africa and nowhere else.”
At a function on the Saturday evening, special guests Sarel van der Merwe and Ian Scheckter were inducted into the Hall of Fame at Sun City, with a moving tribute given at the ceremony by racing driver and South African insurance guru Paolo Cavalieri.
CONCOURS SA RESULTS
Overall:
- Ferrari F40, 1989, owned by Keith Rivers
- Shelby Mustang GT350H, 1968, owned by Ravi Chetty
- Porsche 911 S, 1970, owned by Tim Abbot
Class Winners:
Class 1 B: 1939 SS Jaguar 2,5 Sedan owned by Roger Martin and Fiona Hampson-Searle
Class 2 A: 1958 Volvo PV 445 Wagon owned by Vic and Gerhard Campher
Class 2 B: 1958 Austin-Healey BN6 owned by Ben Gerber
Class 3 A/1: 1970 Mazda R100 Coupe owned by Peanuts Fouche
Class 3 A/2: 1964 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III owned by Gustav Raubenheimer
Class 3 B/1: 1968 Shelby Mustang GT350H owned by Ravi Chetty
Class 3 B/2: 1970 Porsche 911S owned by Tim Abbot
Class 4 A/2: 1989 Daimler Double-Six owned by Steve Koterba
Class 4 A/1: 1989 Ferrari F40 owned by Keith Rivers
Class 5 Show and Shine: 1958 MGA Twin-Cam owned by Neville Conchar
Class 5 Resto Mod: 1994 AC Cobra replica owned by Willem Stieler.
