To The Point Jhb launch

... and here's the one in Jhb

22 November

Exclusive Books

Mandela Square

6pm for 6:30pm

If you're in Jhb and want a signed copy...

To The Point Book Launch

We'll be having exclusive launches at... ja... Exclusive Books.

The Cape Town Invite

8 November

Exclusive Books, Cavendish Square, Claremont

6pm for 6:30pm

Herschelle will be there

(and me)

Open to all so please feel free to pop by...

The Durban Invite

(looks a helluva lot like the CT invite)

15 November

Exclusive Books, The Pavillion, Westville

6pm for 6:30pm

Herschelle will be there

(and me)

Open to all, so please feel free to pop by.

Fresh Ink

My old skool half sleeve is just about finished. Another visit to the peerless Manuela Gray at Wildfire in Long st today saw the addition of a pair of swallows and a star.

One more session and I reckon it’s done. For this sleeve anyway…..

Hay now, Hay now, now.

I've just written a feature for the Red Bulletin on the Red Bull Boxcart race, held this year in Soweto. Here's the sidebar from the 6-page feature that'll appear in the November issue...

"For insight into what it’s like to pilot a boxcart down the Diepkloof hill, our Red Bulletin writer donned a helmet, hopped into Red Bull’s own boxcart, and started rolling…

As it often does, received advice offered conflicting opinions. “Don’t bother braking for the chicane,” said a colleague who’d helped set up the course. “You don’t build up all that much speed and, with go-kart tyres on our boxcart, you’ll have enough grip to get through the corners.”

“No, I’m definitely going to brake,” said Charlie Repsold of the ultra-quick Try-Hard R team. “If your cart is quick, you’ll build up way more speed than you can handle in the , even if you have thin bicycling tyres like ours, which are best for this kind of job.

So… brake-and-use-go-kart-tyres versus don’t-brake-and-bicycle-tyres-are-the-way-to-go. Someone was right.

The debate still ping-ponged under my helmet as the Red Bull crew gave the boxcart an enthusiastic shove off. The first half of the course – the long downhill – was the key to a fast time. It was here that having tyres with little rolling resistance offered huge time bonuses… the only problem being could one carry that speed through the three-corner chicane at the end of it?

There was time to ponder this, head tucked down low on the long straight. Just enough time to make the wrong decision, as it turned out. With a soundless “braking is for girls” rippling across my lips, I stayed off the pedal and…. well it went reasonably well for the first corner, got a little sketchy through Turn Two, and then all turned into a shower of yellow straw at Turn Three. Carrying way too much speed than the wide profile go-kart tyres could handle, the boxcart understeered straight off through the hay bales.

Fortunately the impact absorption of the hay and the generous run-off area meant the only thing bruised was pride.

Brakes 1, Steve 0.

SWIFT & SWIFTER

On test… Suzuki Swift Sport

Who doesn’t like having fun. Hands up. (Ok, besides the North Koreans.) No-one, right? As long as it’s legal and no-one gets hurt, having fun is just about the best thing there is. A no-brainer it would seem.

Thing is, a lot of people actually forget this. Especially people who make cars. An obsession with technological advancement can blind them into making cars that are super safe or super quick or super easy to drive. Nice. But bladdy boring.

Fortunately Osuma Suzuki, the 80-year old chairman of the Suzuki corporation is not one of those people. Unfortunately we’ve no record of the actual conversation between the Osumster and his design team, but we’re pretty sure his brief for the Swift went something like this:

“Dude-sans. Make it simple, make it cheap, but most of all, make it flippin’ fun to drive. Cool?”

“Hai!” they all said, and went about producing this gem of a little car. Indeed it won the “Most Fun” award in the 2006 Japanese Car of the Year competition. Seriously. They have a “Most Fun” category in Japan.

Over the last couple you will have noticed the four-door version of this little Jap hatch buzzing around SA roads quietly building a reputation as an affordable car that was, well, a helluva lot of fun to drive. Its 1.5-litre motor was not the punchiest, but it provided just enough voomah to power the Swift’s superb chassis. And its fairly understated styling – especially for a Japanese car – was a welcome oasis of serenity among the creases, scallops and flashes of faux chrome sported by most of its competitors.

Just to make sure the party continues, Suzuki have now introduced a limited run (100 only) of their three-door Swift sport model in this country. A new 1-6-litre motor puts out 92kW (as opposed to the Swift’s usual 74kW) and the chassis has a couple of tweaks to go with the bigger biceps. The suspension has been stiffened and now comes with more responsive gas-filled shocks, the steering’s been recalibrated to be just that bit sharper, and 17-inch alloys provided the necessary grip and street cred.

In terms of performance, it’s not quite up there with the Mini Cooper S’s of the world, but the Swift Sport’s performance is nonetheless more than snappy enough for a jaunt to the fun-o-sphere and back. It’s a revvy little bugger that gets particularly shirty above 5000rpm, egging you on to use the upper echelons of its rev range to your heart’s content. At R199 900 it’s not particularly cheap, but the same price as its obvious rival, the 98kW Renault Twingo RS. It could do with a sixth gear for highway cruising, but that’s probably the only fault one could point out.

All in all, a lekker little chorrie.

Gibbs autobiography promo poster II

Publish Post

Here's another. Particularly interesting chapter this....

Gibbs autobiography promo poster

It's been a while since I posted on blog. I've been helluva busy. Or something. Whatever. I'm back in the saddle and with the launch of the my Herschelle Gibbs autobiography drawing ever closer (it hits the shelves on 1 November), it's time to start building the hype.

Publishers, Zebra Press (part of Random House/Struik), have unleashed a PR blitz that begins this week with promo posters in book retailers. And here's the first one...

Portraits by my mate Morne Van Zyl - a fantastic photographer - just checkout www.mornevanzyl.com.