Times Of Swaziland: Men and their big toys Men and their big toys ================================================================================ BY MDUDUZI MAGAGULA on 11/08/2013 02:27:00 EZULWINI - Ordinary people could not help but stare and admire as the ‘rich’ came out to play with their toys worth over E32 million collectively. Since Thursday, well-heeled owners of exotic sports supercars roamed corners of the country in search for such things as roasted maize, during the fun-filled supercar-riddled charity event. The maize was bought among other places, the Mahlanya market where they were also tasked to be nice to the ladies who sold the maize to earn points. They were awarded points by the very ladies who sold the maize to them. This was part of the Cannonball Run Africa 2013 charity event which started off in Zwartkops Raceway near Pretoria, South Africa on Thursday. Participants of the run paid E13 000 for the outing which was dubbed the Swaziland’s Amazing Race for Cannonball Run Africa 2013. They came into the country in a convoy of about 32 cars worth at least R32 million. These wealthy fellows drove cars such as the Mercedes SLS AMG, Nissan GT-R, Audi R8, Porche 911 Turbos, Maserati Gran Turismos and a BMW M6 among others. There was also a new Jaguar F-Type V6 S model car with a supercharged 280kW engine which was driven by two journalists Thomas Falkiner, South Africa’s Sunday Times motoring reporter and Jesse Adams from the Star News paper. Award winning race driver Jaki Scheckter was in the mix, driving the powerful Maserati GranTurismo. The rare event was mainly sponsored by two companies, Investment Cars Company and Dust A Side, a multinational company with branches all over Africa, Europe and the Americas. Swaziland’s race was arranged such that participants worked in teams of three cars, with one objective, to collect as many points as possible from various tasks that were given to the teams. The tasks were timed such that a delay by a minute was penalised with a one point penalty, this proved to be not a problem for the supercars drivers. Each car had a driver and a co driver who acted as a guide for the driver. Since most of the participants came with their spouses, they became the guides for their lovers who drove the fast cars. After the Friday race, at about 2pm, the reporter mingled with the super machines owners. This reporter had an experience of being chauffeured in one of the super cars, a Porsche Boxter 2013 model which had only clocked about 2 000 kilometers in the odometer. An exhalation drive from the Royal Swazi Sun Hotel to around Mantenga area took less than five minutes. “This car is cheap, actually it is best value for money,” said my driver, Rupert Mckerron. He is a businessman who owns the company that sells the McNabs energy tablet, an energy capsule rich in vitamin B complex and Omega three and six which are available in local stores. Darron Raw, director of Swazi Trails, a company which organised the Swazi leg of the event, said the event was a success. He said it was for the first time that the event was held in the country. “This is good for our tourism because all the guests will definitely return to the country to enjoy our beautiful scenery,” said Raw. He said participants of the race were disciplined and there were no incidents reported in their entire stay in Swaziland. His company designed the tasks for the teams. These included cryptic road books and the scavenger hunts tasks between numerous checkpoints. All these challenges were sprung upon the teams as they arrived at each pre-arranged and secret destination. The Cannonball Run Africa is now in its 11th year. It is a charity-driven supercar tour organised by the Round Table. All funds generated by the Run are donated to the QuadPara Association of South Africa and to date the Cannonball Run has raised hundreds of thousands of Emalangeni. Part of the proceeds from the Swazi race will be donated to the needy Swazi children.