Remembering André de Kock
Images by Dave Ledbetter and Michel Bega
For more than four decades, André de Kock was the peerless chronicler of everything to do with competition cars and timed racing in South Africa. André passed away in June, after a short but courageous cancer battle, aged 72.
Nobody had a deeper knowledge of South African motorsport than André. During his decades-long tenure at The Citizen, André developed a deserved reputation as the true oracle of South African motorsport coverage. From the most humble clubman events to South Africa’ s reach throughout international motorsport, nobody could recall details and relive anecdotes like André.
What made André’ s motorsport reporting so credible was his willingness to become part of the experience, but not the politics. Risk and reward are the pillars of motorsport, creating the
thrill and enhancing the experience. André consistently put himself at risk to understand and retell exactly what the true motorsport experience was like.
Fearless storytelling
Beyond his absolute dedication to motorsport reporting and coverage throughout South Africa, André was also a notable stunt rider and passenger. He held two Guinness World Records. One for the longest motorcycle ride( 120.4 meters) through a fire tunnel, achieved with Enrico Schoeman and André in a sidecar, set at Parys in 2014. The other Guinness World Record, also with Enrico, was a quad bike ride through a fire tunnel.
During the late 1980s, André was strapped atop the aft-cockpit deck of a jet-powered dragster, recording a 6.68-second quartermile run at 396 km / h.
When Willie Hepburn set the all-time South African land speed record in a very trick, locally developed Pontian Trans-
Am in 1990, André was seated in the passenger seat.
Willie built a 7-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine into a Pontiac Trans Am. It was an enormously powerful car, with an estimated 820 kW. On Goodyear road tyres, it ran a true top speed of 372 km / h, on the N3 highway near Villiers, with André fearlessly sitting next to Willie in the passenger seat.
As a measure of his commitment and relentless support for all tiers of South African motorsport, André was given a Special Award by Motorsport South Africa in 1998. This was followed by a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010.
From South Africa’ s golden circuit racing era of the late 1970s and 1980s, to the evolution of its off-road racing series to produce world-beating Dakar drivers and vehicles, André shaped the narrative for every chapter in South Africa’ s motorsport story arc.