Coming hot on the heels of the launch of the new Type R in South Africa was the annual Honda Day at Killarney International Raceway last Thursday, bringing about 1 000 representatives of the marque to one place.
Plus there were some specials, such as the new Civic Type R in the metal as it were, and the latest Honda CBR 1000RR Fireblade for two-wheel fans.
Bobby Nitro spoke to organiser Ziyaad Bailey, who together with Imaad Hudson under the banner of B and C Events, staged the day.
Ziyaad says: “It all started about six years ago, when we had the plan to bring together all the Honda clubs in the Western Cape, and create a day to showcase all things associated with the brand, culminating in this year’s effort from cars and bikes to power tools and generators.
With bikes, drags, limbo, show ‘n shine, vendors, live music and dealerships, it was a day to remember. The highlight for many was getting up close and personal with the new Type R that took centre stage.
Zackary Daniels, the media and marketing guy, says this year was the first that Honda Mekor/Honda SA came on board as a sponsor.
He adds: “We had some special moments, with Early B pulling through with his cars, as he’s a big Honda fan and the people are mad for him.”
For Ziyaad, the parade lap was a highlight. Led by the Type R timeline, that is the whole collection of the performance Civic through every generation, and followed by the rest revving hard and doing burnouts here and there, the parade lap is an affair that gets the crowd hyped.
For the 2 000 or so attendees, there were club displays to take in, with the best of the day going to Type R Owners (seems that was the theme of the day, no surprises there!). Best car of the day was won by a car named Bumblebee S2K, while Tyron Thoresen powered his Type R FK2 to a decent 13.2 seconds over the quarter-mile strip.
Both Ziyaad and Zackary agree that the rain put a bit of a damper on proceedings, but Zackary adds: “What was really great to see is that people stuck around and the rain didn’t chase anyone away. They drove the track dry and just carried on undaunted.”
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