October 2014 | Page 88

World Record Attempt | by Howard Keeg World Record Attempt Cruising to a South African Record N1 4X4, South Africa’s leading independent Toyota Land Cruiser promoter and reseller, has taken the lead again in its promotion of this iconic brand, by organising a unique record attempt. Two unique records in fact. I n 2013, N1 4X4 organised the first two South African record attempts, and managed to set the bar at 285 and 283 respectively. These were for the most Land Cruisers assembled at a single location, and the most Land Cruisers in a controlled convoy. This was at the Limpopo Windpompfees, held at Naboomspruit in early May 2013. This parallel set of records pleased N1 4X4’s managing director Cliff Weichelt, but he did not want this to be a one-off event, and he wanted to formalise the record, by claiming a South African and African record. It is not known whether there have been other attempts around the globe, and a Google search on this has proved inconclusive, so it may even turn out to even be a world record. But for the sake of this article, this is an African record, and who knows what will come out of the woodwork? With this in mind, and to make the attempt more well- known and recognised, Weichelt approached Marius Opperman of TRIO Events, and asked him to organise a more formal event, with the aim of making it an annual event not to be missed, and to go for an increasingly higher record each succeeding year. The outcome has been the inaugural N1 4X4 Toyota Land Cruiser “South African Record” attempt, which was held at the Tarlton International Raceway, Gauteng on the weekend of 29 – 30 August 2014. ➲ Marius Opperman, trustee of TRIO Events, with one of the sponsors of the event, Jimmy Baptista of Jimmy Sauces ➲ The media sponsors of the vent were Groot FM and Beeld, and there to cover the event for Groot FM was deejay Kevin Pienaar | words in action 86 october 2014