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When there are cars around and photographs to be taken, it will always be a good day. That’s what I always say, and you can't go wrong with these two around.
The Swift Speed Club of South Africa (Western Cape chapter), recently had a year-end photo shoot with a few members who gathered their cars for an epic afternoon drive and some burgers.
Review: Suzuki's new Swift is a sporty and stylish hatchback
Founded in 2010 by now-Suzuki SA PR & Product Planning coordinator, Chelsy Pinto, Swift Speed started off with the idea of being open exclusively to those who owned Swifts, but it later changed to include anyone that owned any Suzuki.
Image: Swift Speed Club of South Africa / Warren Wilson
The club was predominantly based in Gauteng and a few years later due to increased demand, established a KwaZulu-Natal division and more recently, its Western Cape division. Currently within the Cape Town wing of Swift Speed, there are nine Suzuki Swift Sports. Unfortunately, everyone could not make it, but we understand commitments over the festive period.
The plan
The plan for the day was simple. The meeting point was the Winelands Engen 1stop on the N1 outbound from Cape Town. We held a short briefing session and headed to Berg River Dam in Franschhoek. The route was a relatively short drive but a healthy 42km and included the famous Helshoogte Pass just outside Stellenbosch.
Image: Swift Speed Club of South Africa / Warren Wilson
This near-10km pass is famous for its curvy and sweeping bends; perfect for the Suzuki Swift Sports we had in our convoy for the day (only if 3). Me? I was in the new Suzuki Jimny and I must say that watching my Swift Sport from the outside looked rather cool. Who am I kidding: my car looked epic!
Being the 'newby' (both at the event and in South Africa), it was decided that the new Jimny we were driving would be the pace car and lead the pack of three Suzuki Sports, one Toyota 86 and a Toyota Tazz. Yes, our members do own cars outside the Suzuki brand too.
Image: Swift Speed Club of South Africa / Warren Wilson
Leaving our rendezvous point in convoy, many heads turned our direction and it was as if I could hear their thoughts as we passed other road users: "Is that the new Jimny?" and "Look at those Suzukis!" It felt good knowing that our small group of aficionados managed to attract a few interested eyes.
40 minutes later we arrived at our location. With the sun still high we organised and parked the Suzuki vehicles for their time to shine once more. It didn’t take long for the cars to be positioned and as we waited, a few members took out some camping chairs, snacks and there they were watching the sunset and bantering about (what we do best).
It was a beautiful site. It did take long for the sun to set behind the mountain, though, but when it eventually did all our focus shifted to the photo session once again.
Image: Swift Speed Club of South Africa / Warren Wilson
A few snaps and we had the perfect group shot! Right, then for some rolling shots - which is always welcomed.
The little Tazz offered to be tracking car for the day. A few drives up and down the very quiet road leading to the dam delivered some great photographs and I could see smiles on everyone’s faces, but apparently those smiles were really hunger pains.
The smiles were a way of masking the fact that the rumblings for a burger were getting louder and more intense. Soon after we packed up and concluded our day in Stellenbosch, each with a delicious grubber between our fingers.
This was a decent way to end 2018. The brother(sister)hood is strong and I am keen to see what 2019 holds for Swift Speed Club of South Africa.