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The premise is simple: guys in cars
showing off. The execution, of course, is
difficult in the extreme, calling for a mix of
steel nerves and almost artistic approach to
driving. The sport can be best described as
car dancing.
The history of the sport is mired in mystery,
but most experts agree that it came out of
the ghettos of Soweto in the later years of
Apartheid. Car ownership for young black
men was very rare in the late eighties.
So most of the cars being used during the
sport’s genesis were stolen.
The sport, therefore, is particularly local,
but its roots are global. Disenfranchised
young men form gangs and seek rush-
inducing activities to assert their machismo
and stick a finger up in the direction of the
establishment. That the sport has caught
on in recent years is no surprise, given
the excitement it generates in driver and
spectator alike.
The broadening of the sport’s appeal
has allowed the sport to become more
mainstream. No longer are the drivers
gangland hoods and rappers.
One man who is seeking to change the
reputation, if not the sense of danger in
the sport, is filmmaker Pule Motloung. He
has made a documentary on the sporting
phenomenon entitled “Love 4 the Box
Shape”.
“We are trying to create
a new image,” says
Motloung.
“You
can
be
ambassadors
for
your community by
just taking this thing
and revamping it and making it a positive
thing.”
For many years an underground sport, it is
now sanctioned within South Africa. In an
interview on ‘outmodified’, a South African
motor sport website, enthusiast Mudinie
Hassim explains how this happened.
“It was called non sanctioned events by
some of the authorities that allowed us the
use of public venues.”
The very first legal spinning event was
held at the Galeshewe open air arena in
Kimberley some six years ago.
“It became exposed
through cellular clips
and word of mouth,
by
one
specific
incident where a guy
called Bhubetsi from
Gauteng performed
a manoeuvre called a
‘Get out stunt’. While
the car is in a circular wheel spin, called
a ‘doughnut’, the driver jams the throttle
…keeping the car in the rev limit and
also locking the steering to maintain the
doughnut move.
South Africa boasts a proud sporting tradition, but most of the
established sports owe their prominence to the country’s colonial past.
One sport, however, stands out as a purely South African production:
the mad, tyre-screeching mayhem of Car Spinning is 100% local.
“Only after the crowd
acknowledges the daring
move with a frantic
cheer, does he then get
back behind the wheel”
touchline
12
Spotlight on Sport
Sport Profile:
Car Spinning