From June 16 to 17, the entire Top Gear team will be descending on Durban. This is beyond exciting, my household is in a state that reminds me of the buzz before Christmas when you’re eight years old.
I know Top Gear is hugely popular in South Africa, but it is even more exciting for me as a Brit, as Top Gear is the most English thing in the world – politically incorrect, funny, irreverent, and it involves middle-aged men with British accents behaving badly…oh and cars. Something for everyone.
Perhaps most importantly though, Jeremy Clarkson loves South Africa. At the moment he mostly loves Johannesburg, spending a lot of time there, but it is our duty to make sure he goes home, along with the Stig, Richard Hammond and James May, loving Durban even more.
He should – it is going to be a blast. A two kilometre specially constructed street track winding through Durban is the first ever Top Gear live road track. There will be surprises, and the massive space in the Moses Mabhida Stadium gives the team a chance to really go wild, with everything from FMX bikes, donutting, flaming rally cars, supercars, and the full team arriving in a motorised simulation of the studio set.
When Jeremy Clarkson was asked if he was looking forward to it, he said, “We travel all over the world with Top Gear Live events and wherever we are we always say the audiences are amazing. But South Africa is different because when we say it there, we really mean it. That’s why I can’t wait to share our Top Gear Festival with the friendliest, most enthusiastic people on the planet.”
Jeremy has a long history of enthusing about this country. In a legendary piece of travel writing in the London Times, he did South Africa a massive favour internationally by saying that he had no idea why anyone thought Joburg was dangerous. “I dare you to visit Johannesburg, the city for softies,” he wrote. The only way he could explain the commonly held view of a lawless, gun toting, murderous place, was to decide that there was a conspiracy amongst the citizens of the town to protect the lions of the Kruger National Park from foreigners! They had been catching feline Aids from eating refugees, so he decided that Joburg was now keeping the wonders of South Africa a secret from the world to protect their wildlife. He couldn’t come up with any other reason why locals would continually tell you how often they were shot at, or live behind razor wire when all he ever passed were shops selling tropical fish or friendly strangers.
How much more then can we offer him here? The sea, the food, the weather, the gees, and Durban has already stepped up. Everyone says big ticket events battle to sell here, but the Platinum tickets at R995 have already sold out for every show. When the event was staged last year, the line up was incredible: David Coulthard, Jody Scheckter, Sir Stirling Moss, Eddie Jordan, and the fastest man in Africa, Gugu Zulu. This year promises an even bigger and better line up.
There is no better way to get more events to Durban than to support the ones we have. Local is lekker, and the spinoff from this will be huge. Further motoring events are planned on the street circuit after Top Gear has gone, with the possibility of more A1 racing and much more. Local talent will be showcased with Motorsport South Africa running the Super Production Car Series and the Volkswagen Polo Challenge Series.
Durban is putting on its international face, so get yourselves down to the stadium and show the world that we know how to party. After all, if Jeremy called Johannesburg “mellow”, then we should all be holding our breath to hear what he thinks of the most laid back city in South Africa.
By Elizabeth Moore
Don’t forget to enter our Top Gear competition where you could win a pair of tickets to see the show LIVE here in Durban in June. If you haven’t entered yet click below and complete the entry form.
