Deon Joubert outruns the pack

Driving Mégane Renault Sport Cups the six drivers competed in the Brat Pack Challenge, a race-within-a-race, at the Renault-sponsored event last weekend.

Together with co-Brat Packers Duncan Vos, Robbi Smith, Geoff Goddard, Mike Briggs and Philip Kekana, 46-year old Joubert tackled the 1.9 km twisty climb up Knysna's Simola Hill behind the wheel of a standard Mégane Renault Sport Cup and recorded the winning time of 49.710 seconds and an average speed of 137.598km/h.

"There is still a highly competitive spirit within each of the guys and even all these years later, every victory is still important," he said after the event.

A surreal experience

"On the face of it, the climb up the hill looked quite simple but it actually was quite demanding technically and after each practice run, I found my performance improving by a second or so," says Joubert. "The Mégane Renault Sport performed very well and was fast enough to make the uphill course all the more challenging."

Joubert says that he found the whole experience quite surreal. "You find yourself racing up a hill, negotiating corners, your entire focus on the road ahead and then 50 seconds later, it's all over and you find yourself face to face with the most breathtaking scenery ... you just feel so alive!"

Still involved

In his Brat Pack days, he once held the second-highest win rate in the local touring car league, raced a World Touring Car Championship at the Monza race track, drove in NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) and was the proud recipient of Springbok colours.

While no longer a participant in professional motorsport, Joubert remains involved in the motor game through his public relations work for various motor companies. He also does guest drives of performance cars on the race track for a local motoring publication.