The Sunday Mail
Zimbabwe has a veritable population of petrol heads.
This can be seen by the growth in popularity – in terms of both participants and spectators – at drag racing and burnout events.
Last Sunday, Donnybrook Raceway in the capital was the place to be for thousands of petrol heads and speed junkies who converged there for the 2015 Telecel Drag Race Series.
The atmosphere was electrifying, fast and furious.
Supercharged car and bikes provided for thrills galore, and the usual variety of music, braais and the free flow of all manner of drinks were probably sufficient motivation to ensure another bumper crowd turns out for this Saturday’s Burnout Mania at Longcheng Plaza in Harare.
Showing their remarkable gear-shifting skills will be two top crews, Ice Motors and Spin City, who will be out to prove who the kings of burning rubber are.
Botswana’s Sexton “The General” Lipile, a crowd favourite who has become a permanent fixture at burnout events across Southern Africa, will also be there to entertain.
Other local favourites at Longcheng will include Fat Cat, Spin Kid, Goofa, Jadah, DJ Shy, Cici Boy, Fuzzy L, and Boss Ice, to name a few.
Having started with a few individuals burning rubber for fun at Braeside Shopping Centre in the early 2000s, burnout events have grown to become major spectacles on the local leisure scene.
The subculture was largely visible in coloured communities like Arcadia, Hillside and Braeside, but the Ice Motors family has been spreading its influence to other areas and now boasts of spinners from as far as Epworth.
The rise of this group of daredevils has gone on to birth a subsidiary crew, the Voltron Force, which consists of cars named after robot lions from the popular yesteryear cartoon “Voltron”.
The Sunday Mail Leisure caught up with some Ice Motors members who gave insights on this subculture that many Hararians have fallen in love with.
Boss Ice (Kuziva Nkomo) said that when performing burnout stunts, it is not just the driving skills that were important as the car’s capabilities also played a huge part.
The most popular car on the local burnout circuit is the BMW E30, which is modified for the stresses that come with the game.
“Basically on spinning cars, things that you need to modify will be your diff, emergency breaking system, steering and you also need to increase your horsepower. You have to lock the diff so that both wheels pull in the same direction, which gives you close circles when spinning and to increase your horsepower we modify the exhaust system, the crankshaft as well as the cam among other things,” says Boss Ice.
With a passion for cars and vast knowledge in engineering, some rides are built from scratch.
“We have been tuning cars for the past nine years and right now we can start off with just a body and we will source parts until the car is on the road.”
Another member of the team, Manzul Fazilahmed, or Fuzzy L, says that they are constantly grooming youngsters — but adds that caution is key.
“You see, the art of spinning is not only about having a good time, some other things have to be taken into consideration.
“You have to look at your own safety, the safety of your co-driver, the safety of the people that have come to watch you and the safety of the people who will be managing the arena. So we always try to sit down with the young guys and give them tips on how to avoid accidents,” warns Fuzzy L.
Being one of the pioneers of the sport in Harare, Fuzzy L is glad that it has spread across racial divides.
“I am one of the founders of Spin City and over the years I noticed that the sport was limited to a certain group of people but now we are taking this thing to the ghetto. We applied to have a show at Chitungwiza Aquatic Complex but we hit a snag. I am still hoping that they will come around.”
Government is yet to recognise burnouts as a sport.
“Our main goal is to have burnouts registered as a sport in Zimbabwe so that we can even start building our own arenas, which are specifically for that purpose,” says Fuzzy L.
Another setback has been lack of corporate support, which could benefit by advertising either at shows or on cars as is done in motorsport the world over.
“The corporate world needs to understand that every time we have a show, we have a crowd of more than 5 000, so it’s a good advertising platform. If you take a look at the South African scene, these guys are being sponsored to the last bolt and this has seen the sport grow,” he adds.
Fuzzy L is one of the lucky few spinners who are sponsored. The sponsor will be catering for all his engineering needs.
Ice Motors promises to dish out new stunts on Saturday and urges people to come in their numbers to witness the burnout madness.
Some of the more popular stunts include drifting, throwing the car, figure eights and brushing.
