Retro Write Up Speedweek Challenge

We are thrilled to be able to officially launch our first Speedweek Challenge as part of the annual Kalahari Speedweek at Hakskeenpan (“heel lake”) in September 2014. You are all invited to take up our challenge or just come along and enjoy being part of what we believe is going to become an annual pilgrimage for those of us who want to, or should I say need to, hear the early morning desert silence broken by an unsilenced, unrestricted pre 1975 motorcycle attempting to break the sound barrier, or at least the speed limit…

The 2013 Kalahari Speedweek already showed its potential for becoming South Africa’s premier old school speed retrofest. The participation of the Capetonians like the Miller hot rods and the Los Muertos custom motorcycles set the tone for future events and Retro Write Up will do our bit to contribute to what these guys have started. Hakskeen Pan is already becoming known as a land speed destination as Andy Green will start practising there early this year for his attempt in 2015 to set a new overall land speed record of 1000 mph (1600 km/h). We are hoping that, even if most of our competitors are only aiming for a tenth of this ridiculous speed, our event’s socialising around the evening campfire will make more noise and bigger waves than his Bloodhound SSC breaking the sound barrier.

Although we intend winning the event with Marnitz’s BSA 650cc, which is currently barely a rolling chassis bitsa, our real intention is to attract entrants and spectators to create a truly nostalgic experience. This event is not all about top speed, rather about riding our older motorcycles inappropriately fast. The term fast is used loosely as safety will always come first. “Run what you brung!” This is an opportunity to take incomplete but running motorcycles out of the moth balls and give them a burn. It is also an opportunity to test ride a new build. Presently we will only be racing for bragging rights but when our sponsorships are finalised, we will announce prizes and possible financial assistance for entrants regarding the event costs. Please note that there is no entry fee over and above the Speedweek entry fee. We are finalising costs and dates and will pass this information along.

Besides offering you the opportunity to kick our butts and have a blast in the desert, our Speedweek Challenge offers other advantages, especially to the pro-builders and shops. We would like to do regular features on your entry’s build progress for our blog and FB page as well as inclusion in other articles or features in the media. Free publicity, ladies and gentlemen!

Although we are in contact with interested sponsors, nothing has been finalised as yet. We therefore invite you to put the word out within your network that our event is looking for a main sponsor. You can imagine the marketing campaign that can be created using this event as a platform.

We hope that many of you will share in our vision of creating an aspirational and inspirational annual event for older motorcycles with the endless Kalahari desert as a backdrop. Our dream, is that in years to come Hakskeenpan becomes known internationally as the best retro land racing destination. Retro Write Up will do our bit to make it happen