ROGUE RALLY 2014 GYMKHANA
Event date: 26 September 2014 | Words & photos: RaceMasteR J | Location: Grand West Casino, Cape Town.

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The annual Rogue Rally, now in its second year, is designed to be a week of super car road tripping for millionaire play boys and girls. Not only do they get to drive on some of the best roads but they also stop at some of the best race circuits in South Africa. Racing in the day and partying at night with some of the best machinery in the world for 1 week straight. A true test of driver skill and endurance which see’s some amazing locations as well.


Unfortunately for us we couldn’t follow the entire Rally this year, but we managed to check out the activities set up for the “Rogues” as they call themselves, at Grand West Casino in Cape Town. Starting off from Joburg, Cape Town was the final leg of the rally. Due to WesBank Super Series happening at Killarney, the circuit was unavailable for supercar hooning.

Grand West Casino was kind enough to offer their parking lot for a tight gymkhana course on Friday the 26 of September.
Now as exciting as getting to see some fine exotic supercars such as Lambo’s Ferrari’s, Porsches and McLarens is, nothing was going to stop me from getting to see firsthand the McLaren P1 that was specifically flown in from McLaren HQ in UK to participate in the rally. It wasn’t any ordinary supercar, this was hypercar royalty! But more on that a bit later.


Arriving at Grand West well before any of the Rogues could, I met up with local Drift Squad members, Ready D, Noer and Anwar. They were invited to put on a little drift exhibition for the Rogues before their gymkhana event could start. After setting up the cones and walking the course we all realized that this wasn’t going to be an easy task. It was tighter than a ducks arse! We managed to push a few cones wide when the organizers weren’t looking, but I doubt that helped much.


It was time for a few test runs and first up was Ready D and Anwar in the Nissan S14.5. Anwar managed to sync the course up with a bit of bumping and grinding of the steering, gearbox and e-brake and after Ready D mentally hooked things up he too had a go and found it to be a fun filled challenge. Being a gymkhana course this was designed to be done at much lower speeds compared to what these guys are normally used to.


Noer brought along the monster 800HP 2JZ Skyline. This car stands out in any situation and permanently wears a large flashing “look at me” sign above its roof! However this car is not all show and no go. The Skyline being brilliantly set up as it is, with super sharp steering, lots of angle and little to almost no turbo lag, Noer made easy takings of this tight little course laying down thick lines of black rubber over the freshly painted Grand West parking lot.


Watch the above video to see just how the Skyline performed under these tight conditions.


When the Rogues eventually started to arrive in drips and drabs, from Knysna, the parking lot, even with its strict security started to buzz with activity. Even though the event was not publicly advertised, somehow people found themselves drooling along the fences.


One by one they started to arrive, Nissan GTR’s, Porsches, Ferraris, McLarens and even a Rolls Royce Phantom with rims…yo! But as each of these million Rand exotics pulled in I kept my one eye open for a yellow P1.


As the parking lot started to fill up I was getting ever more concerned if the P1 was indeed going to make an appearance. But lo and behold it eventually did, from the back entrance. Sneaky!


As soon as it stopped and parked there was a swarm of people around it. I was one of them. 900+ HP from a production car is insane. I know the Veyron has more power, but we all know the Veyron is not a lap time monster like this car is. And besides, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Veyron locally, but here I was getting to see and experience this P1 for real. Yes I was starting to become like a school boy again. But more on the P1 in a future article. Promise.


After a quick driver and safety briefing the Rogues all lined up to start the gymkhana.


The GTR’s seemed to adapt the easiest compared to some of the other cars.


But for others driver skill was not a forte as they got lost a few times. I suppose it was almost the end of the week so they can be forgiven.


This Aston Martin Rapide looked as big as a ship but it was rather impressive around the tight little course.


Driver skill or not, technology will always have the upper hand especially in the case of the McLaren 650S.


The Porsches were also not surprisingly quick as well. But we didn’t expect anything less from this German brand.


Eventually it was time. It’s what I came here for. The P1 fired up into life and made its way towards to queue of cars getting ready to twist and snake themselves around a horde of cones.


The car started to lower itself to the ground while the rear wing extended. Race mode! Oh yes!


But when the car eventually pulled up to the starting line I noticed the wing had retracted and the car stood higher up. It didn’t make sense. But when the flag dropped and it pulled away I understood why. It was doing its run in full electric mode. Yes, for those who have forgotten, this car is a hybrid.


It performed just as quickly as the other supercars, probably quicker, but just without any noise. It was like the car was being pushed around by some modern invisible witchcraft, which in actual fact it was, electricity!


After completing its first run in electric mode it made a u-turn only to return in full race mode! This is what I came to see! – I thought to myself, again. Unfortunately the course being as tight as it was didn’t expose the P1’s best abilities except for the short run at the end where you can visibly see just how quick this car is. Watch the video to see what I’m on about.


A fun fueled day spent with friends going sideways in drift machines and million Rand exotics trying to beat each other’s times, the McLaren P1 completed its runs and I decided to call it a day. I don’t know if I will ever get to see another one in the flesh again, hopefully I do someday. Be sure to check out http://www.roguerally.co.za for more info about the Rogue Rally and stay up to date for the next one.


Check out the full gallery below.

RaceMasteR J