Entries open for Engen Engine Restoration Challenge 2017

Following last year’s successful inaugural competition, this year entrants stand the chance to win a share of R200,000 for the best restoration of the vintage engine back to full operational status.

Entries for the junior and senior class categories opened on 1 May 2017 and the last date for submission is 30 November 2017. Winners of the event will be announced in 2018.

Before

After

Says Paul Leask, Engen Lubricants national sales manager: “We invite all entrants to visit our stand at the NAMPO Harvest Day from 16-19 May 2017 where they can view last year’s winners as well as enjoy the many magnificent vintage tractors on display at the Engen Museum.”

Transferring, devolving mechanical skills

Leask says that Engen, along with Savtec, continues to embrace the opportunity to transfer and develop mechanical skills through the mentorship elements of the competition. “In the process, we are able to develop a culture favouring preservation of, and respect for, the vintage equipment used to develop the agricultural sector” he adds.

While all entrants will receive a hamper of Engen products, the top two regional entries in the Senior and Junior categories will be eligible to go on to the finals which take place on 8 October 2018.

“Key to the spirit of the competition is the transfer of knowledge to the youth, with youth skills development essential to the future sustainability of Savtec and the country at large”, says Christo Pieterse, chairman of Savtec’s Central Free State Club.

“Additional skills which can be picked up during the competition are the recording of the process in the workbook, as well as public speaking, when finalists have to describe their project to the adjudicators.

“Spectators are stunned when a nine-year-old boy explains the working of an engine and then demonstrates the starting procedures to crank an old Wolseley engine,” says Pieterse proudly.