Colin-on-Cars - Supercar spectacular

April next year will become a petrolhead’s dream when 60 exotic cars leave the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit on a 1 300 km tour of the country – including a track day at Dezzi Raceway on the KZN South Coast.

OzowDR23 will kick off at Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit on April 27, where entrants road will take to the tarmac for day one’s fast-paced track day. From there the supercar convoy will head east for an Afrika Burn inspired launch party and overnight in the Drakensburg, ahead of day two’s convoy to Umhlanga where some of the world’s most prestigious automotive rivalries will be settled at a high-profile gymkhana like no other.

Day three sees another grip-seeking, aero-testing, limit-pushing track day, this time at Port Shepstone’s Dezzi Raceway, before some respite for both man and machine on the fourth travel day – by private charter to Hoedspruit, of course.

Air Force Base Hoedspruit and its 3,9 km asphalt runway, together with the beautiful backdrop of Kapama Private Game Reserve, provide an ideal venue for high-speed test runs on day five, with OzowDR23 wrapping up with a Sabie hillclimb and ‘Go Hard or Go Home’ prizegiving party in Nelspruit on May 2.

While the OzowDR23 supercar entry list is yet to be confirmed, an ultra-valuable assortment of exotic machinery including rare Lamborghinis, Ferraris, McLarens, Aston Martins, Porsches and Paganis – some with values approaching R100-million – is expected based on past event participation.

Aside from the competitive elements behind the wheel, entrants will identify charities of their choice and challenge each other to raise the most money by the end of the rally.

Automated EFT specialist and title sponsor Ozow will develop and facilitate an easy payment system with unique smartphone scannable QR codes applied as decals to each team’s supercar. Teams are encouraged to support their charities through donations from associates and members of the public along the six-day journey.

Super and hypercar owners interested in entering the largest charitable rally in the southern hemisphere are welcome to contact Mark Castel at mark@daytonarally.co.za for more information.

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Colin-on-Cars - Maisy gets petrolhead's dream

It is the kind of stuff petrolheads dream about but, for Maisy from Wales the dream came true as she took over as CEO of McClaren Automotive for a day.

Maisy – just Maisy – aged 17, became the Chief Executive Officer of luxury supercar maker McLaren Automotive for the day to celebrate International Day of the Girl and encourage young people, and particularly young women, into science and engineering careers.

Maisy took over the reins from McLaren Automotive CEO Mike Flewitt, as part of McLaren Automotive’s long-term partnership with global children’s rights charity Plan International. 

It comes as McLaren highlights Plan International’s new research showing 1 in 4 (25%) girls aged 11 to 18 have wanted to try out a science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) subject or job but have either been told it is for boys, were worried about being negatively judged, or were unsure since they only saw boys doing it in the media.

It also showed nearly half of girls (47%) have heard through media, friends, or family that ‘girls are not good at STEM’.

“My day as CEO of McLaren Automotive was full of incredible moments but being part of building a supercar was amazing, and that’s not something many people can say,” says Maisy.

“Plan International is about smashing stereotypes, changing attitudes, and unlearning lessons because a lot of girls think they should be playing with dolls and not cars, and that’s not right. This partnership between McLaren Automotive and Plan International is inspiring young women to consider STEM careers and achieve their full potential.”

The day included leading her executive team in strategic decisions as well as collaborating with many of the company’s female business leaders, engineers, scientists, and designers.

CEO Maisy gained an understanding of every aspect of the process of designing, engineering, building and marketing supercars and helped to hand-build a McLaren supercar, including putting on the all-important McLaren badge as the finishing touch to one of the company’s new hybrid supercars, the McLaren Artura.

Maisy also met brand ambassador Amanda McLaren, daughter of company founder Bruce McLaren, at a new ‘McLaren: Driven by Design’ exhibition at Brooklands Museum which features a full-scale LEGO 720S supercar, before having a CEO preview of some of McLaren’s top secret future supercar designs and a passenger test run in a McLaren GT.

“Having Maisy take over as CEO of McLaren for the day to celebrate International Day of the Girl has been both an enjoyable and valuable experience for me and the whole McLaren team. Her ideas, insights and intelligence – as well as clear passion – will help us move forwards even faster on our efforts to achieve even greater diversity and inclusion,” says Mike Flewitt, Chief Executive Officer, McLaren Automotive.

“Maisy also got to see the incredibly exciting and diverse range of talents we depend on to produce our supercars and I hope, in the process, she has helped to dispel stereotypes associated with the automotive industry from a gender and skills perspective. “Our work with Plan International is for the long-term and I’m delighted one of the key decisions Maisy led on as CEO was our pledge to work with Plan International on McLaren’s commitment to holding workshops with 100 girls over the next 12 months, scaling up to 1 000 globally by 2025 to encourage greater take-up of STEM careers. That is a legacy Maisy and everyone at McLaren can be very proud of.”

https://bit.ly/3Dv3MIY