Growing the race fleet
Twice the Fun
Growing the race fleet
Cape Town’ s André Steenkamp has now joined Tony Casey. The two drivers know each other from SHC, where André has also campaigned an Alfa Romeo. A dedicated motorpost enthusiast, André is a committed gentleman racer and a great fit for the Team Efficiency / aBr motorsport team.
With time attack being an important formula for the 2026 Team Efficiency / aBr motorsport season, the team has chosen a very specific second car for the competition fleet. And it’ s one of the very best competition and time attack platforms ever made: Nissan’ s R35 GT-R. The sixth generation of Nissan’ s legendary‘ Skyline’ looks terrific in Team Efficiency / aBr branding
Although the Team Efficiency / aBr Giulia and GT-R look very different, they share remarkable mechanical specifications. Both are powered by V6 turbocharged engines and all-wheel drive, with trick differentials and control software that manage torque distribution between all four wheels.
Twice the Fun
Like all great motorsport teams, it’ s the shared expectations, anxiety, and experience that make a race weekend so rewarding. For Tony, having a new teammate to exchange ideas with and use as a feedback loop helped a lot. Unless you are a driver, you don’ t really understand the focus and concentration needed, or what all those hand gestures and cornering sign language mean, when drivers are sharing their experiences in the pits.
Tony and André had a terrific time at Red Star Raceway during the first Vilaca Racing Time Attack series event of the season, held in late June. Originally built as a motorcycle race venue, Red Star is a very technical circuit, with several increasing-radius turns that test throttle discipline a lot.
With the Team Efficiency / aBr motorsport Giulia and GT-R having abundant power and all-wheel-drive traction, they had lots of traction for the challenge of Red Star’ s tight layout. The circuit has a very interesting complex linking turns six to eight, in a dogbone shape, which punishes mistakes and rewards drivers in-tune with their cars, who can balance steering input, a glance at the brakes, and flow.
At the end of the Vilaca event at Red Star, André set a fastest time of 2:13.128 in the GT-R, with Tony’ s fastest lap being a 2:26.945. But the lap times are only part of the time attack experience.
No driver ever has a perfect lap. For every driver, from gentleman racers like André and Tony to the best full-time professionals, it’ s not about the perfect lap, which is always unachievable. What it’ s about is conquering that specific bogey corner. For some drivers, it could be a high-speed sweep that must be taken flat, without any throttle lift. For other drivers, it could be a slow-speed hairpin, where braking technique and first-movement steering input need to be perfectly balanced and coordinated.
Team Efficiency / aBr motorsport had a great experience at its first time attack event. Tony and new team mate André can’ t wait for the next time attack round, at the formidable home of South African motorsport, Kyalami.
JUNE 2026 43 WORDS IN ACTION