By Donna Collins
THOUSANDS of ‘petrol heads’ flocked to Spin City in Brakwater on Saturday for the biggest ever King of Spin event, which attracted a record number of entries, and packed to capacity spectator turnout.
Dubbed the “Windhoek Grand Prix” of Spinning, this record breaking event was organised by a few committed ‘gents’ who filled a dream to launch Spinning in Namibia on a grand scale, with an estimated 7 000 people pouring through the gates.
Legendary NAMTOL Spinners and ‘Most Wanted’ brother duo Peter and Emmanual Opali, were instrumental in making this dream come true for the action hungry crowds. With no budget, no sponsors and just the love of the sport, main organiser Peter, pulled off probably one of the biggest events of its type in Namibian motorsport history.
Never seen before traffic jams leading up to the much anticipated event, bore testimony to how hungry the people are for some real live, street-style motorsport action. A late start did not deter from the overall performance of the day, which saw back to back, non-stop adrenalin- pumping action unleash just what the people came to see – five hours of raw exhibition.
The ‘Spinners’ did not fail to impress with their dare-devil antics which included spectacular doughnuts, drifting, stunts and burnouts which filled the arena with billowing clouds of acrid tyre smoke just to add to the super charged atmosphere.
A total of 26 full blooded spin vehicles battled it out for the ‘King of Spin’ title, with participants coming from far and wide to be part of this historic event.
The best of the best Namibian Spinners travelled from all corners of the country to show off their Spinning skills, as well as ‘The General’ from Botswana who brought his converted BMW bakkie to the show.
Professional Jo’burg show boys Sunesh Pursad and co-driver David Carrim brought the house down with their spectacular exhibition driving stints behind the wheel of a Maxpower BMW E30 which they drove up for the occasion.
The boys who are big news on the SA Spinning scene which is a big sport, told Woema that they have been Spinning for the past five years.
“Spinning is a culture and a movement, and is growing into big things in SA, and we would like to see it happen here in Namibia as well,” said Sunesh.
“This was the best show we ever attended in Namibia, and were truly humbled by the crowd,” he added, saying that this was one of the biggest crowds he has ever performed in front of.
It was pointed out that judging on the show for the King of Spin title, tests the drivers abilities to control the car, inclusive of categories such as tyre bouncing, being innovate with stunt tricks, drifting maneuvers, crowd response, to mention some.
With a cash prize of N$10 000 up for grabs for the winners, Woema learned that due to the nature of the event, and the brotherhood of the competition – it was decided not to crown a single team, but share the glory.
According to Peter, they the split the money between everyone who participated, although technically speaking Emmanual still holds the King of Spin title in Namibia.
Participants included prominent teams from Coastal Spinning & Drifting, Coastal Auto Body Spinners, NAMTOL Spinners, Windhoek Spin City 9mm DSD Squad and Dupps Spinners to mention some.