01 Oct 2024

The sky around Francistown was clouded by tyre smoke and the raucous cheering of the crowd.

Roar of powerful engines filled the air at the Francistown Spin Bash, which has been on hold for the past four years due to COVID-19.

Cars started to hit the track at 1600 hours until midnight and car spinning fans arrived some hours earlier because of limited space in the family friendly event.

They performed a number of stunts to impress the spectators with their continuous spinning motions at high rev and speed for a certain amount of time.

The spinners also performed stand-still burnouts, whereby drivers keep their handbrake up while also applying their foot to the brake pedal at the same time accelerating, causing the back and front wheels to spin whilst the vehicle is stationary and creating as much smoke as possible.

It was a day of intense competition and amazing stunts by the spinners and some of the highlights of the day came from some of the visiting performers from South Africa and Zimbabwe.

But it was when Mzololo Mlilo, aka ‘Shaka’ from Zimbabwe and John Mpaya from South Africa rev their engines that saw clouds of smoke hide their modified BMWs and that was when the real spinning came into life.

They performed a number of tight manoeuvres so that their cars spin around , creating a cloud of smoke before they casually stepped out of the car while they were still spinning round driverless, engine revving, and tyres screeching.

Mlilo and his partner, Ryan Mashobani, trading under the name ‘Amakhosi’ veered his car and sent his spinning around in circles whilst still maintaining control of his vehicle.

Whilst all this is happening, he would get out of the moving car and strike a pose, but there was more skill involved than putting the foot down the burning rubber.

In the driver’s seat, Mlilo gripped the steering wheel and was determined to put on a show for the spectators who had gathered around the tyre barricaded spin track.

Mpaya on the other hand, continued to leap into the bonnet whilst his car was still spinning.

On the roof, he would lift up the bonnet, balances on the window frame , before re-entering through the door or through the sun roof to take control of the vehicle once again. The local side featured renowned spinners in the likes of Mothusi Alfred, also known as King Joe, VMUD, real name Thuso Mudongo, Thabang Phiri (Bosphiri), Thabo Mudongo, also known as Timpower and Steven Given, the Ghetto Child.

They took the youth and pop culture by storm as this high -octane activity makes its way into the mainstream motorway scene. Their spinning teams hung from their car doors and posed on the roofs of their speeding vehicles, all this in front of an adoring crowd who could not hide their excitement and begging for more.  The organiser of the event, Cannedy Sibanda, said they had expected a lot of spinners to partake in the event but some failed due to unforeseen circumstances beyond their control. He said the motorsport industry is a very expensive one that requires a lot of money to maintain their spinning cars.

However, he said the event went as planned, adding that the Francistown spinning continues to grow, looking at the number of people who continue to throng the event.  “I am pleased by the number of people who came despite a late notice but I am optimistic that next year’s event will attract more revellers,” he added.

Sibanda pleaded with companies and individuals to donate any form of help so that the teams realise their dreams.

 He wants to see more young people joining the sport, including women who seem to be more fearful about spinning.

“The management should now focus on women to make the spinning more attractive,” disclosed Sibanda. Ends