Once a year, 20 specially selected cars travel from across the country and converge just outside the small coastal town of Port Shepstone for a somewhat low-key racing event. This isn’t drifting, or endurance racing, or even regular bumper to bumper circuit racing. Nope, this is a simple event to see who can attack the harrowing circuit in the quickest possible time. Massive elevation changes combined with no room for error is certainly an easy way to celebrate the show-offs from the real drivers.
Welcome to Time Attack.
The location for todays action? Dezzi Raceway.
Dezzi Raceway is incredibly unique, due to the fact that it’s entirely built in what is technically someones private backyard. You read that right - the owner of all this land built a racetrack around his property, with his house perched on a high point overlooking most of the track. If that’s not the dream right there, then I don’t know what is. Also, as mentioned above, this track has minimal margin for error. If you go off in some parts, then you’re going off the edge of a cliff. Or maybe into a dam. Sometimes off a cliff into a dam. You get the idea.
Arriving before the drivers briefing, I took the liberty of indulging in a car spotting stroll through the pits. It was certainly worthwhile, as I was greeted with an impressive selection of high horsepower machinery on display, some of which had travelled thousands of kilometres to take their turn at attacking the demanding circuit. However, the most impressive of the bunch came in the form of a freshly purchased Lamborghini Huracán LP 620-2 Super Trofeo race car. Pricing for these cars is hard to estimate, but I’ve heard ballpark figures in the region of USD $450,000. Needless to say, it’s certainly the only one in South Africa that I know of, and it’s privately owned. Impressive.
As this event was pretty low-key, crowds were at an absolute minimum, with only a few people dotted around the massive property. I wasn’t expecting this event to be well supported, as only those “in the know” knew that it was taking place. To be honest, it was nice to experience an event like this in uncrowded surroundings, since I had (nearly) free reign in choosing photo locations, and didn’t have to fight through a crowd to get there.
The driving started getting underway at 10am, with the competitors taking a leisurely pace around the track for the first few sessions. Watching the variation of cars lapping the track, I noticed a strong trend towards Japanese manufacturers, with a special focus on the GTR. Within the first hour, I’d seen a R32, R34 and R35 take their respective turns out on the circuit, followed by a Subaru STi as well as a Mitsubishi Evo. The only two non-Japanese cars on the day came in the form of a Ford Mustang GT, and the aforementioned Lamborghini race car. Time to see who wins the battle then: Italy, Japan, or America.
As the temperatures rose and racing lines were set, the hot laps started to take priority. Unsurprisingly, the R35 GTR’s were now starting to dip below the 1:20 timing mark, with the Mustang much further back. Still, I always love supporting the underdog, so I didn’t give up on the Mustang just yet.
Another notable competitor came in the form of this ultra-aero Nissan 200SX. I’ve posted about this car before here on Steemit, since I was fortunate enough to do a photoshoot of the car at the owners house. The massive aero pieces are all custom-made, generating an amount of downforce estimated to be over 800kg. This car was meant to be heading over to Australia soon to compete in the World Time Attack Championship, but that journey has unfortunately been delayed until next year. Better late than never…
Interested to see more photos of this car? Click here.
A few hours into the day, and it looked for certain that the winners title was going to go to a Japanese home. My underdog Mustang had stopped competing around midday, and the Lamborghini had only made two outings - both of which weren’t even done at full throttle. Still, I’m a big fan of the GTR, so knowing that the fastest car on the day would probably be the R35 was a nice thought.
With the day rolling to a close, something remarkable happened. The Huracán race car went out for one last run, and smashed the previous lap record, posting a new best time of 1:13. To put that into perspective, I did 1:29 in my Subaru STi on semi-slicks, and it was far from a gentle lap. Whoever was driving that Lambo must have had an amazing combination of skills and disregard of death to set a time like that around the track.
The setting of a new record bought the day to a neat close, and I left feeling satisfied after a full day of indulging in local motorsports. And even though the title didn’t end up in the hands of a GTR, it was great to see an exceptionally rare Lamborghini doing what it does best - being fast, loud and over-the-top.
I have no doubt that the 1:13 lap record for cars will stand for a very long time.
Equipment Setup
| Camera | Canon 6D |
| Lens | Canon 24-105 F4 L Series |
| Processing | Lightroom CC |
| Location | Port Shepstone, South Africa |
DISCLAIMER: All photos and writing are my own original work.