Koës Pan Rally - 2015

[ThysdJ]

I guess some of you have heard of the Koës Pan Rally before? It is an annual motor sport event held on a clay pan just outside the small town of Koës in southern Namibia. We've been threatening to go for a few years now, but it just didnt work out, but this year, Gerrie was our incentive, the glue that put the whole trip together.

Gerrie had to go to Koes to cover the Rally for Wegry, and we decided to tag along, for moral support, and just to join in the fun. The Blonde was born and grew up in Koes, so the familiy ties are still there, with an uncle, aunt and some cousins still living in the district. So we had the family motives as well.

Seeing as we were going to do the trek (1200km from CT to Koes) anyway we decided to make it an interesting one coming back... By crossing back into SA at Mata Mata with the compulsory 2 night stay in the Park. We managed to get 1 night in Kalahari Tented Camp and 1 night in Twee Rivieren. Beggars cant be choosers, and at short notice in Kgalagadi you take what you get, even if it is a piece of canvas against a fence post..

So with all our preparations in place, we were ready to leave for Koes at the first sparrow's fart on Thursday 2 July...

[ThysdJ]

Ready to Rock and Roll



Gerrie was driving the new long termer at Wegry.. A brand new Amarok 8spd auto 4motion.





The road was long and boring and we didnt stop much, so no real action pics were taken. We drove up the N7 and crossed the border at Vioolsdrift/Noordoewer.



Immediately the scenery changed. It is dry in Namibia!!



Once we got to Keetmanshoop we stopped for a break and Gerrie filled the Amarok up with diesel. I had enough to get me back to SA thanks to a long range tank.



We arrived in Koes as the sun was getting low in the sky... Gerrie went to meet some locals at the garage...







and then we went to the campsite where Gerrie and Jeremy was going to spend their nights..





We were camping in the front yard of our cousin's house in Koes, where a whole lot of locals were gathered for the rally. A party of 3 guys came down from Windhoek to compete and was staying there as well. Our first night was a big one!!!

[Huismoeles]

Net toe ek begin lekker lees toe stop dit (en ek lees nie sommer maklik nie)

Kom nou oom vertel verder

Wil ook nog daai een gaan by woon

[ThysdJ]

The Friday was the "Big Rally" day.. with serious competitors doing 3 laps of a 8km track.. or something like that.. it was serious..

We were hanging around there, talking to the locals and looking for shady spots... of which none were to be found.. this is the Kalahari.. on a pan... no shade around..

Thinus, the guy from Windhoek whose party was boarding at my cousin's house was the winner... Here is the rear shock setup of his car..



Friday night was subdued... but fun as always... We were looking forward to Saturday... the Fun day on the pan..

[Mud Dog]

That topic title is a disaster for dyslexics!

[ThysdJ]

Saturday came and we all headed down to the pan for a day of family fun, lots of dust, pannekoeke and sosaties and other lekker stuffs..

Firstly there was a "Mini Rally"... where the locals and some not-so-locals could enter their vehicles in a shortened race on the pan and the surrounding sand dunes.

Then there was the drag races, or "Sprints"... Not 2 cars at a time... Nooooo all the cars in the class at the same time... This is a very dusty affair..

And then the Dune Charge. Different classes, mostly split on the number of cylinders, charging a fairly steep long dune. As they make it over the top, one by one, the starting point is moved closer and closer to the dune, meaning that some inevitably fell out, until there was only one remaining..

Here are some videos of the fun on the pan that day....

Mini Rally and stuff..

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Dune Charge 4x2's and Light Duty 4x4,s

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Dune Charge HardCore 4x4's

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After a long day on the pan we headed out, for a celebratory braai, some frosties and a few Jagermeisters... and later we did go for a quick one at the Koes Hotel... Somewhere along the line we lost Gerrie and Jeremy.... and never saw them again until we got back home. And they aparently also had a HUGE time.. We'll have to wait until the September issue of Wegry to read all about that..

[mcw]

Looks like good fun

Martin

[ThysdJ]

After a Saturday evening of huge fires, lots of venison and wors and chops and meat and roosterkoeke and all sorts of other lekker stuff accompanied by much merrymaking and jollification we got to bed very late.. and slept well into the Sunday morning under our thorn tree..... No pictures of said merrymaking and jollification can ever be published on any type of public platform...



Sometime during the day everybody packed up to leave for their respective places of residence. Some left for Windhoek, some 8 hours away, some left for Rosh Pinah, also about 6 hours away.. We were lucky.. we hung around till after lunch and left for the farm where our uncle and aunt lives.. 60km away..

We spent the rest of Sunday on the farm just having some quality family time.... On Monday after lunch we decided to depart for Mata Mata to cross over into SA and sleep at Kalahari Tented Camp. But somehow we got it horribly wrong.

I dont know if it is the DST or just the fact that we were very relaxed, but we arrived at the border about 20 minutes after it closed.. Aparently!!! The border post at Mata Mata closes at 15h30.. and not 16h00 as we thought. Obviously we didnt get the memo..

So we were stuck without lodging at Mata Mata... Luckily the Blonde knows people at a farm stall 14km back along the road we came where we could spend the night. So we did that.. in a Safari tent...

[Hangover]

Maaaan dit lyk lekker... Ek sal verseker een keer in my lewe so iets wil bywoon... Ons het hier by ons die vegkop rally maar daar word niks gejaag nie dis maar ry, drink, musiek, stop, drink verder, nog musiek, boere sport, ry weer ensovoorts....

[ThysdJ]

Ons het nie self deelgeneem nie, ons het net gaan kyk... Maar ons beplan om volgende jaar aan die Pretdag deel te neem... Ons was net nie ingerig nie, 'n gelaaide Hilux D4D met 'n glyerige clutch en 'n daktent is nie juis ideaal vir Dune Charges of "Sprints" nie..

[Haboob]

Nice Thys, if you miss that garage in Koes you just about miss the whole town. That was just about the only piece of tar we saw the whole day when we passed there... Nice Lodge just north of town (can't remember the name). Will be passing by that way in 2016 again.

[ThysdJ]

I just received my Sept edition of Wegry. The whole story about the Koes Pan Rally is in there.. on Page 50..