Mohalenyane Phakela

EXCEL Garage in Masianokeng will on Saturday host the second edition of the annual Independence Spinfest which will feature drifters from Lesotho, South Africa and Swaziland.

The show will see members of the Maseru Spinners teaming up with Auto Slipdiff Association to form team Lesotho.

The Mountain Kingdom will be represented by Max, Lebona, Seisa, Tšoeu, Tšokolo, Tebello, Shooting and Lephoi.

The South African contingent will consist of Eddie Rasta, Googgie, Stacy, Team Taxi who will be spinning Toyota Corolla Sprinters while Swaziland will be represented by the Stupid Crew.

The daredevil motorsport originated in South Africa’s townships in the early 1990s with the most popular cars from the 1991 BMW 3-series model range. The BMW 3-series cars have since been named Gusheshe for the sound their engines make when they are revved.

Although the motorsport was synonymous with car theft and township gangsterism during the 90’s, it has since gained mainstream appeal with people from all walks of life participating.

To spin and drift, spinners use cars that have a limited slip differential gear arrangement which allows the output shafts to spin at different speeds with their speeds proportional to that of the input shaft.

In Lesotho, the commonly used vehicle models are the Gusheshe or Matchbox. However, earlier this year, Auto Slipdiff invited South Africa’s Team Duduza who introduced the Toyota Cressida and Team Taxi who introduced the Corolla Sprinter.

On behalf of the organisers, Hlaoli Lefatle told Xpress People this past week that they launched the Independence Spinfest last year to foster unity among spinners around the country and interaction with their foreign counterparts.

“It is true that each local association used to have its own events but we came up with this joint festival in order to foster unity,” he said.

“In any case, we usually work together by forming one team when we are invited to other countries.”

Lefatle said the event is not exclusive to the competing teams, but open to anyone who can spin.

“However, it has to be someone we are sure is up to the task to avoid unnecessary accidents. We have also invited our friends from outside the country who also invite us on a regular basis to their shows.”

He said both the Maseru Spinners and Auto Slipdiff are in the process of training female and teenage spinners.

“Maseru Spinners is currently training Lesotho’s first female spinner who is expected to be ready by December while Auto Slipdiff has three boys being brewed and will also be revealed in December. The idea is to promote sport within the youth as well as among the fairer sex,” he said.