The M+Z Motors Tara Rally is ready, like it has been the past 53 years, for high-speed stages and stiff competition on Friday and Saturday.
The flagship of local rallies, previously known as the Total Tara Rally, has a new name and sponsor and will from now on be known as the M+Z Motors Tara Rally.
Ekko Eisenberg, the managing director of M+Z Motors, says: “It was important to us (M+Z Motors) to support this in order to support motorsport as we predominantly make our money and business out of cars, so obviously we are also petrol heads.
“So, we decided it may be for a good cause to bring some fresh life into the motorsport scene.”
Eisenberg says he took part in the rally with his father as a youngster.
He will also participate in this year’s rally, and he and his navigator, Horacio ‘Rassie’ Rietz, entered with a specially designed and built JAC 2×4 bakkie.
“We will enter as rookies. I drove as navigator with my dad as a young boy,” he says.
Eisenberg says his technical crew is an experienced rally team and have won several titles on the gravel roads of southern Africa.
Stefan Labuschagne and his team from Gobabis Auto Truck and Tractor built the vehicle for the rally, Eisenberg says.
The team did not leave the original JAC engine in, but replaced it with a V8 Lexus for better performance (and sound), he says.
It’s not about winning, but participating in the rally, Eisenberg says.
The rally consists of 18 stages of which some of the super special stages will be held at the Tony Rust Raceway outside Windhoek, while others will be hosted around Windhoek and Rehoboth.
Organiser Henry Bisschoff says some of the farmers at Rehoboth were very accommodative of the organising committee.
“The routes are well prepared so everyone can finish the rally,” he says.
The total distance of this year’s Tara is around 300km, while the stages, including the super special stages, will cover 178km.
A rally team consists of a driver and his navigator, while each team has a technical crew whose primary task it is to maintain and repair the cars at designated service parks.
The Tara Rally has its humble beginnings in 1968, when it was planned and designed by Dennis Kent and his cat, ‘Tara’, to be an enduro rally.
He sponsored the event himself.
The event has been sponsored and supported by Total for many years.
This year’s sponsors are M+Z Motors, Savannah Car Hire, Super Tyres, Motor Media Namibia, Van Wyk Petroleum, CCB, Crisis Response, Namibia Joinery Supplies, Team Havenga, and Kosmos 94.1.
Spectators’ guide booklets will be available from tomorrow at any M+Z Motors dealer in Windhoek.
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