Feline junkie builds "em, drives 'em, races "em’

A racing driver, an engineer, a businessman and a fanatical cat lover don’t always have much in common, except if they are one and the same person.

That sums up cat-mad Cedar Lakes resident Markus Minihold and his wife Taryn, a work-from-home home executive who shares her spare time with their beloved cats.

And they love travelling…

Travelling in their book started off as long, leisurely drives out into the countryside, with the Drakensberg being one of their favourite destinations. Nowadays this has changed to travelling around to motor racing tracks all over the country – with the same car, but now on a trailer behind a tow vehicle.

Leaving the purring felines at home and firing up his roaring race car, Markus and his fellow competitors will be at it again on Saturday 12th November at Kyalami, taking on a host of like-minded speedfreaks in high powered race cars of all kinds in the Altech GT Classic Invitational Races.

“A few years ago I bought a normal road going Porsche 911 SC. It was an everyday car and ideal for taking to the open road – air conditioning, electric windows, sunroof, the lot. Not anymore…”

It wasn’t long before Markus, the owner of a full service car workshop in Midrand, started eyeing his pride and joy in order to better express his need for speed.

“At first it was simply a case of fitting a performance exhaust, and later I added special tyres too. That was the beginning and the end – end of my road car and beginning of my race car,” he explains.

Working on his car only after hours and only on Wednesday and Saturday nights, Markus is a very focused man. And having some spare time on his hands without kids, schools and hectic afternoons to consider, he gradually moved on from there. “Later came the reworked suspension, but we still managed to drive it on the road until I put in a roll cage, and that was that – things got serious and it just wasn’t practical to drive long distances on public roads anymore.”

Old habits die hard, and they had a final attempt at driving the road cum race car one more time. “Our last real open road drive in this car was a few years ago down to a Porsche Club event near Durban. It was pure hell…”

Markus and Taryn, who met through his brother and her sister nearly two decades ago, are without any offspring. “ It's just one of those things that never happened back then, and it would be too big a step to change our lifestyles now… We are both massive cat lovers.”

He has now decided to sell the car which he converted from being an upmarket executive road car into a blistering quick race car. Markus, who studied Mechanical Engineering at Wits, now has his eyes set on building the next version – a Porsche Cayman that can be raced in the Altech GT Challenge on the Pro Tour Motor Racing Road Show

“This year I tried the 911 out in the Altech GT Classics, and it was extremely fast, winning both races by some margin at Zwartkops. Now we are converting it back into a more classic RSR version minus the massive wing, but still with the same 3,0-litre engine and matching gearbox without all the fancy electronics and other trick parts. ”

Markus and his fellow competitors will again be in action for a racing weekend at Kyalami on Friday 11th and Saturday 12th November 2011 for the last round of the 2011 Pro Tour Motor Racing Road Show.