‘Huge dust cloud of excellent fun’

When it comes to opening their hearts for charity and other good causes, 4×4 owners recently drew a line in the sand for the Battle of Brands (BoB).

This year’s beneficiary was the Cancer Association of Namibia (CAN) in the Erongo region.

Around 30 owners of various brands of 4×4 vehicles from across the country recently got together at Goanikontes to see who is the boss.

Though the tracks were planned and designed in such a way to allow owners to take part without damaging their cars, it was still challenging for some brands due to their lower ground clearance on the thick sand.

The organisers, however, say the event was a success.

Johan Pretorius from Landy Friends is one of the organisers of the event, and said they were initially worried due to the small number of entries.

But at least 15 more vehicles eventually entered, amounting to just under 30 cars taking part.

“We took the guys through the tracks so they would know what to expect, and even during the introduction trip, some cars got stuck already,” Pretorius says.

But the entrants say they were in it for the fun and getting together to raise funds.

They started with the X-track, where two cars competed against each other in a race against time.

Then it was time for the speed loop, more or less the same concept as the X-tracks, but much shorter.

Here speed and skills were of the essence, Pretorius says.

The driver with the fastest combined speed on the two tracks would be crowned the winner.

Though different brands with different technical specs entered, there were only two classes, Pretorius says: the standard class and the modified class.

The latter was made simple to avoid technicalities, and even if you entered a stock standard class, but fitted bigger wheels, it automatically qualified as ‘modified’.

The chairman of the Land Rover Owners of Namibia (LRON), Erwin Wietz, described the event as “a huge dust cloud of excellent fun”.

The next event will be hosted on 26 October 2024 at Uis in the Erongo region.

Pretorius called on everyone in the region to join in the fun.

For more information, visit www.lrovernam.com

The winners in the different classes were all awarded a trophy at the Goanikontes Oasis restaurant.

The winners were as follows: X-Track and speed loop, Ockert Botha in a Land Rover Defender.

Botha was also the overall winner.

Team event: Erwin Tietz and Jorg Spoerer in a Land Rover Defender 90 and Nissan patrol, respectively.