Girls on track…Mother and daughter dares to dream in a nerve racking male dominated sport
By Michael Uugwanga
THE magic of car spinning lies in the dust and smoke that fills the air, the loud revving of engines and the swerving of cars. It is also in the daredevils doing dangerous stunts that straddle the thin line between serious bodily harm and invigorating the crowd. These are the enthralling and captivating spinning events.
Car spinning was birthed in the streets of Soweto in the late 1980s. The sport has long been associated with gangsterism and was used as a way to pay tribute to those who died at the hands of the apartheid state. Fast-forward more than two decades and the sport is an internationally formalised and profitable code that has seen women daring to dream.
This week Confidente caught up with the two motor spinners to talk about their love for daredevil stunts despite it coming with great danger and the stigma attached to this male dominated sport.
Spinning might not be one of the biggest sport codes in the country however the sport seems not to be far from establishing itself as a leading code.
Elinor (49), was born in Henties Bay (Erongo region), developed the love for the sport following the death of her brother who she said could have been a top spinner.
“My father and my late brother, Ricardo de Koe were always inside the garage, working on our cars and I would always stand near-by watching them, this helped me develop an understanding of cars, especially BMWs. My first car was a BMW E30 3.18 drop top, before I bought another BMW E30 3.27 shadow line range and now I have a BMW E36 3.
28i which I have driven for up-to 12 years now.
My brother passed away at a young age following a car accident which first left him paralysed.
“My mother taught me how to drive. On spinning I taught myself, after seeing a group of guys including my brother spinning at Windhoek Spin City event after one guy gave me his car to try and spin.
It was a nervous moment for me at the time but I managed to do it,” Elinor narrated.
She said had her brother not left this world, he would today be a spinning icon and played down the danger the sport comes with.
Today, she enjoys spinning alongside her daughter (Ayanda) and her spinning idol is South Africa’s, Clare Vale (60) who is regarded as the best female drifter in that country and Elinor said she aims to fellow in her idol’s footsteps.
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