Exotics for Fireball Invitational

The brainchild of Dave Morgan, a car enthusiast with 25 years' of advertising and event management experience, the Fireball Invitational is in essence a national showcase of executive and high performance sports cars showing off their wares in public.

It is sponsored this year by the Cape Town-based investment specialists Fidentia and is an exclusive series that will feature some 40 thoroughbred road-going cars in a week-long selection of competitions.

Among the marques represented this year are Noble, Nissan GTR, Porsche, Lotus, Ultima and Ferrari, ensuring that the track and other racing events will be a closely contested battle for supremacy.

The event starts at Wesbank Raceway (the old Gosforth Park) in Germiston, Gauteng on Sunday, April 8 with two days' of circuit racing.

It then moves to KwaZulu Natal for racing at Toyota's test track near Durban.

Day four consists of travel through the Transkei to East London, in the Eastern Cape, where there will be racing at the historic Mercedes Benz grand prix circuit on day five.

The Fireball Invitational then moves on down the east coast to Port Elizabeth, where there will be a hill climb special stage on day six and racing at Aldo Scribante Raceway the following day.

There will be a gymkhana in the city centre of George, Western Cape, on day eight, followed by racing at Killarney circuit near Cape Town.

The event will end with a prize-giving at the V&A Waterfront on Sunday, April 16.

"While the event has some romantic association with the glamour and extravagance of similar previous events staged in the United States and Europe (the Cannonball Run comes to mind), the Fireball Invitational is endorsed by Motorsport South Africa and complies with all national, provincial and municipal road ordinances, laws and bylaws," says Morgan.

"Any competitors breaking these will be disqualified."

Geoff Mortimer, well-known in motor racing circles as a team manager, racing car builder and former SA saloon car as well as rally driver champion, is officially associated with the event and will compete in one of the fastest Nissan Skyline GTRs in the world.

Tony Taylor will represent MSA on the event and will be the clerk of the course.

"It is the only national promotional racing event that incorporates exhibition facilities. Our event hopes to attract the so-called ?boy racers' or ?weekend racers', a phenomenon that has exploded on to the scene in recent years," explains Morgan.

"While we are not encouraging these people to actually enter our event, they are our target audience for the promotion and branding of associated products.

"Fireball Invitation is for executive and thoroughbred road-going cars. These sports cars are the stuff dreams are made of and many of us aspire to own.

"It is our vision that Fireball Invitation be far more than simply an annual week-long extravaganza.

"Recognising the phenomenal growth of the ?weekend racing' culture, our objective is to provide a unique national showcase for premium executive sports cars in a racing arena, supported by a brand related expo.

"Future developments include a driving academy under the expert direction of Geoff Mortimer which will provide tuition, testing and accreditation.

"We also plan regional Fireball events, a loyalty programme for paid-up members along the lines of the Infiniti loyalty programme, and we envisage offering international group travel incentives for drivers wishing to compete abroad or attend foreign racing events."

Highlights of the event will be televised on M-Net's Supersport as well as the SABC's Car Torque radio programme on channel 3.

For further information please contact Hanlie Morgan on 083 390 1234.