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AND THEY’RE OFF . . . This Raihaan (left) and Subaru will be seen in action in tomorrow’s opening round of the 2015 Telecel Drag Racing Series at Donnybrook Raceway, Harare

Collin Matiza Sports Editor
FORMER motor rally driver and navigator George Chitepo will come out of his “self-imposed exile” from motor racing for the second time in four months when he takes part in tomorrow’s opening round of the 2015 Telecel Drag Racing Series at Donnybrook Raceway in Harare.

Chitepo, one of the few black drivers who were involved in the elite sport of motor rallying here in Zimbabwe until it was scratched from the local motor racing calendar after the staging of the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally in 2012, first returned behind the wheel during the last event of the 2014 Telecel Drag Racing Series at Donnybrook Raceway on November 2.

Driving a Corolla RX7, the 44-year-old Chitepo announced his arrival in the local drag racing scene by taking a credible third place finish in his class during that event at Donnybrook Raceway.

And after finishing third in his first outing as a drag racer in last November’s race, Chitepo has now fallen “head over heels” with this exciting motor racing sport and is now hungry for more.

Chitepo, who now joins another former motor rally driver Robson Maganezi in the sport, announced yesterday that he will once again be back behind the wheel in tomorrow’s opening round of the four-round 2015 Telecel Drag Racing Series at Donnybrook and will be driving a Mazda RX7.

“In fact, I recently bought a Golf, but it is not yet ready and the other thing is that after making my debut appearance in drag racing in November last year and coming third overall in my class, I wanted to make my Corolla RX7 faster, but the costs of making it (go) faster are prohibitive.

“So, this Sunday will see me returning to the race track at Donnybrook driving a Mazda RX7 and I’m determined to leave a mark there,” said Chitepo, who navigated for South Africa’s Pieter Pilusa during the 2012 Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally in which they managed to last the distance and finished seventh.

After the scrapping of the Zimbabwe Challenge Rally from the local motor racing calendar in 2013, Chitepo took a sabbatical from the sport for almost two years until his return to the race track during last November’s final round of the 2015 Drag Racing Series at Donnybrook.

And the Chitepo revealed yesterday that he has just fallen in love with this exciting sport of drag racing that he has now decided to come up with a development programme for the young and underprivileged drivers, particularly those who live in Harare’s high-density suburb of Mabvuku, which is adjacent to Donnybrook Raceway.

“I want to come up with a development programme for young guys who’ve just got their driver’s licence, especially those who live in Mabvuku, so that more people will come and take part in this exciting sport. I’ve targeted the age group of 17 to 25 for this project and am also looking for its sponsorship,” Chitepo said.

And this should be sweet music into the ears of many young motor racing enthusiasts from Mabvuku who always make their way to Donnybrook every other week of the month to watch motorsport events, be it drag racing, motocross, the 4×4 Jamboree, karting or main circuit racing, at this popular world class track.

In fact, as usual, thousands of other local motorsport enthusiasts are expected to throng Donnybrook to watch tomorrow’s drag racing, a sport which has taken the Zimbabwean motor racing scene by storm since it was revived some three or four years ago.

Drag racing is open to the public and vehicles and motorbikes are classified according to engine capacities; and if they pass mandatory safety checks and if one has a valid driver’s licence, they are in.

Racing in this sport is done on a 400m or traditional quarter mile straight.

Drag racing is now the most popular motorsport genre and has helped position motor racing as one of the leading sports brands in this country.

The Donnybrook (main circuit) motorsport season got off to a flying start this year with a fantastic turnout of both competitors and racing fans at the Sables Circuit Racing event three weeks ago.

And tomorrow now heralds the highly anticipated return of the Dragpro Club public Drag Racing Series with the first event of the Telecel 2015 Drag Racing Series.

Racing tomorrow gets underway at 10:30am with virtually uninterrupted racing scheduled until 5pm.

The Dragpro Club are this year introducing a new Bracket Championship to complement the usual programme of events, in keeping with the popularity of this particular form of drag racing internationally.

A drag race is an acceleration contest, on a track/dragstrip, that begins from a standing start between two vehicles over a measured distance.

Drag racing events in Zimbabwe comprise of four separate competitions within this criteria.

The first event of the day starting at 10:30 am will be the newly-introduced Bracket Championship which is aimed at the more serious, experienced competitors.

In this form of racing, two vehicles of varying performance potentials can race on a potentially even basis. The anticipated elapsed times for each vehicle are compared and the slower car receives a head-start equal to the difference of the two.

With this system, virtually any two vehicles can be paired in a competitive drag race. Bracket racing makes starting-line reflexes extremely important and there is a high risk of disqualification.

In keeping with last year’s programme, the second event of the day, commencing at 11:30 am is made up of Class Racing where vehicles race the clock throughout the day within 13 different (10-car and three-motorcycle) classes.

In this competition, the two vehicles on the track may not necessarily be in the same class but are racing the clock for a best time. Vehicles are marked with a number, usually on the rear right-hand window which indicates the class.

A number preceded by TB indicates the car is turbo/super charged and NA indicates the car is naturally aspirated.

The third competition, held mid-afternoon is a fun bracket racing event, aimed at competitors who want to familiarise themselves with this type of drag racing before progressing to the Bracket Championship at future events.

The last, but by no means least, final event in the day, scheduled to start at 4:20 pm is the very popular and exciting “Eliminations” event where firstly the motorcycles and then the cars race in pairs, starting with the slowest from the day.

The loser of each race is ‘eliminated” whilst the winner goes up against the next staged vehicle and so on, until the fastest two vehicles are pitted in a final breathtaking race to determine “Fastest Car” and “Fastest Motorcycle” of the day.

Racing fans who haven’t left the venue before the start of this race will find it difficult to tear themselves away until the winner is established!

Dragpro Club’s drag racing is a public motorsport event and as such, members of the public, with or without racing experience, can for a very reasonable amount, register on the day and take part in this popular motorsport event.

The Dragpro Club and its partners (Telecel, hp lubes/Castrol, Turbo Solutions Africa, Financial Gazette and Autobusiness) advocate enthusiastic drivers/riders to embrace this opportunity to “Race the Track, not the Street”.

Entry fee for the public tomorrow has been pegged at US$5 per person, while children under 12 years get in for free. Full bar and catering will be available.