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Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines! - For the 2019 Killarney Motor Show at the home of motorsport in the Western Cape on Sunday 27 October.
It is perhaps the most evocative of its kind in the Western Cape, bringing together as it does the exquisite craftsmanship of the vehicles of the past, the sleek automotive offerings of the early 21st century and the unlimited ways they can be customised to reflect their owners' personality, as well as a glimpse into the future of motoring.
For the fourth annual Killarney Motor Show we are taking the revs up again with close to 1300 vehicles on show and more than 100 stalls selling just about anything you can think of for your car - and your tummy, with a huge variety of watering holes serving ice-cold drinks, sit-down eateries and takeaway vendors!
Image: Dave Abrahams
There's a new, more accessible layout, an entirely new category of exhibitors and fascinating new displays to delight spectators and keep them at the show all day, from "gates open" at 10:00am until the show closes at 5:00pm, including live music and a fun fair in the pits paddock offering exciting rides for children of all ages.
For the first time, there will four active circuits; the arena section will be dedicated to non-stop entertainment, featuring passenger races with (very brave!) members of the public sitting alongside professional drivers during actual races, stunting, drifting, burnouts, and even vintage tractor parades and tug-o-war contests.
Trials expert and Dakar Rally hero Kobus Potgieter will show us how to ride over all sorts of natural obstacles, while international stunt stars the Le Riche brothers will amaze you with impossible stunts on two wheels, including riding almost four metres straight up the side of a truck – we've seen it before and we still don't know how they do it!
Image: Dave Abrahams
In addition, the new car dealers will have their own dedicated test drive circuit for the first time, offering test drives on the latest models all day – including electric cars, another first for the Killarney motor show. Despite the popular perception among hard-core petrolheads that electric cars aren't exciting to drive, don't knock them until you've tried one – you're in for a pleasant surprise!
There will also be public karting on the newly resurfaced “K” circuit, a demanding layout featuring 14 turns in just one kilometre, to give you a real taste of how Formula 1 greats Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton and Ayrton Senna started their racing careers.
After dipping a toe into the water in 2018 with an area devoted to dual-purpose biking, the Adventure City concept goes (literally) wild this year with a comprehensive display of off-road machinery on two and four wheels, off-road trailers, camping gear, tents and accessories – everything you need for your next safari.
Image: Dave Abrahams
The static displays at the 2019 Killarney Motor Show will encompass some one thousand vehicles, ranging from classic, custom and brand-new motorcycles to massive eighteen-wheeler trucks.Pride of place on the main straight, however, goes to the Streetcar Show, featuring cars of all types and sizes, customised inside and out and modified as only the Mother City's petrolheads can do it, into 'hot rods', 'stance cars' lowered to within centimetres of the road and American-style muscle-cars.
The Cape Multi-MotorClub brings together hundreds of exotics bearing names such as Porsche, Jaguar and Alfa Romeo in the paddock behind the Clubhouse, but you'll also see restored family cars that you can point out to your children, saying, “My grandfather had one of those” - because nothing teaches automotive history to the next generation of petrolheads like getting up close and personal with historic vehicles, taking in their gleaming chrome and the smell of leather polish.
Image: Dave Abrahams
The entire sweep of Kfm Corner is dedicated to lovingly restored classic motorcycles from the 1950s to the 1980s, with dealers' stands in the pits paddock displaying the latest models and incredible custom machinery from the finest workshops in the Western Cape.And that's what the Killarney Motor Show is all about: it's all for real. Nearly all the vehicles on display, old and new, arrive on their own wheels, the stunts are genuine, the racing on the Half-Main circuit is for real.
You can drive many of the new models on display yourself, on the new 'dealer test circuit', marvel at the sheer size of the trucks that populate our national roads (all the trucks on display are working vehicles). The one thing you won't find at the Killarney Motor Show is anything virtual or simulated.
The show will be open to the public from 10:00am to 5:00pm, tickets can be purchased at the gate or book via Computicket entry is R100 for adults, R40 for scholars under 16 and free for children under 12.
