Spinning into the Future

Rehoboth and Arandis were the places to be this weekend as spinners from Namibia, South Africa and Botswana battled it out in front of scores of screaming fans.

The stunt driving motorsport has gained a serious local following and has changed many perceptions since its days as an illegal street activity. Now, spinners and fans can go to purpose built spinning pitches for their adrenalin fix.

“We want to show all the stakeholders that this is a serious sport that can be done safely in a controlled environment and is a huge crowd puller,” says Llewelyn du Plessis, part of the organisors of the Arandis spin event, which saw Dupps Spinners and Coastal Spinning and Drifting put on a show for the eager spectators.

“The town councils and police are slowly changing their attitudes towards the sport and we are in discussions with them to give us land near Walvis Bay where we can set up a proper spin facility. This process has been initiated and we’re just waiting on a favorable response.

That will give enthusiasts a place to safely engage in their sport,” he added.

They had a spinner by the name of Eric Maswaya come in from South Africa for the show to give the local spinners some tips.

“It’s a nice event and brings a lot of activity to the small mining town. We’re actually looking at hosting at least one spin event here each month,” said Du Plessis.

Rehoboth was again the scene of a huge turn out for the event that took place at ‘Die Kraal’. There Namtol and friends showed off their skills in a battle against their counterparts from Botswana.

It was another huge event, the turn out was great. That set us up for a awesome afternoon, especially when The General from Botswana and Ninja from Namtol battled. That for me was the highlight,” said Driver aka Emmanuel Opali, chairman of the newly registered Namtol Spinners.

“A huge shout out and thanks go to the fans and everyone who makes these events possible and especially to the Namibian Motorsport Federation for welcoming Namtol as a fully fledged motor club. Steps like these are helping to give the sport credibility locally and this will help us grow sport and the local talent,” he added.

If you missed out on both these events, you can catch the daredevils from Namtol at the Ojtiwarongo Show this weekend. There they’ll be having performances throughout Saturday, so make sure to be there to see the best spinners in Namibia at play.

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