THE Festival of Motoring (FOM) came back with a bang and brought car lovers from all walks of life to the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit in their numbers.
FOM is what a candy shop is to a child, but this one is a field with real-life toys for grown-ups and kids.
The festival quenched the thirst of petrolheads who had not been able to attend many events due to lockdowns brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Many leading brands were on display including Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Citroen, Dunlop, Fiat, Jeep, Mercedes-Benz, MOPAR, Opel, Peugeot, Suzuki, Toyota, and Volvo.
For the first time, visitors got the chance to see demo laps of the Cosworth-powered Minardi F1 M189, the Ferrari A1 GP Car, Renault 3.5, and the Pilbeam MP58 with the Infiniti Indy Engine.
Show director Judy Maharaj said: “We aim to bring the quality of the show that has made the Festival of Motoring such an iconic event on social and entertainment calendars. The support we have had from the industry already has been testimony to the resilience of the South African industry.”
One of the exhibitors was Shelby South Africa, which had a white Shelby GT with blue racing stripes on display.
“We’ve got some beautiful cars on show including a Shelby GT which is for sale through The Glen McCarthy Ford. We have a beautiful GT40 here as well and great art pieces,” Shelby South Africa’s Paige Lindenberg said.
“There are between 60 and 70 cars that we have sold in South Africa. We don’t count the upgrades that we do, we just count the full upgrades that we do. We don’t count just the exhaust, spoilers, and other small components,” she said.
Another exhibitor, director at Auto Bonn Panelbeaters, Ravi Chetty, said the cars that were on display were from his personal collection including a Ford Mustang Shelby G.T 500CR, popularly known as Eleanor from the legendary Nicolas Cage movie Gone in 60 Seconds.
Chetty said they do a lot of full restorations for their clients, and all of this is done in-house.
“In the background, we have a special car, a 1961 Chevy Impala which was built 14 years ago, and has air suspension which was imported from the States with a custom interior and a sound system,” he said.
