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The award, which was presented to Hall at a special dinner in Johannesburg commemorating 100 years of motor sport in South Africa, was made in recognition of his achievements in furthering the aims of South African motor sport in recent years, both in South Africa and internationally.
Hall, 47, is a former national championship rally driver and, as manager of Nissan Motorsport, led Nissan to four consecutive championship wins in the South African Touring Car Championship with the all-conquering Nissan Primera from 1997 to 2000 and three consecutive championship wins in the national Off-Road Car Racing Championship with the Proudly South African Nissan Hardbody from 2001 to 2003.
The success in the domestic championship of the South African-built Nissan Hardbody - the racing version has been designed and developed by Nissan Motorsport in Midrand under Hall?s direction - resulted in Hall's team being commissioned to build two cars for the 2002 Dakar Rally, where
they were run by the French Dessoude racing team.
In 2003, Nissan officially entered the world's toughest motor sport endurance event and Hall and his team were entrusted with building three cars and running them on the 8 500 km 19-day marathon.
Giniel de Villiers, multiple touring car champion and 2001 off road champion, finished fifth in his first Dakar Rally in January with team-mate Ari Vatanen of Finland finishing seventh.
Both will again represent Team Nissan in the 2004 Dakar Rally in January in brand new Proudly South African Nissan Hardbody pickups built at Nissan Motorsport's headquarters in Midrand. Hall will again head up the technical backup team for the Dakar. As part of the preparation for Dakar 2004, De Villiers has competed in some rounds of the FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup in his Proudly South African Nissan Hardbody. He won the Morocco Rally in June to give Nissan its first ever victory in this series.
