22 May HUMAN INTEREST BY HAYLEY – ELOFF’S RACING ACADEMY: E.R.A – 22 MAY 2025
The Western Province Motor Club and Rob Eloff – owner of the English Racing Automobile Team at Killarney – has introduced a new initiative, Eloff’s Racing Academy or E.R.A for short; to bring new, fresh faces into the motorsport community and potentially to a career in motor racing, whether in the role of official, marshal, racing driver or pit crew.
Rob, who specializes in race craft, hosts classes every Friday from 2:00pm in his pit garage with the help of fellow main circuit instructor Richard Carr who specializes in Formula Vee’s, and Ash Dawood, also a main circuit instructor. Lessons range from theory, such as the Regulations of specific classes, to practical such as the assembly of a Formula Vee gearbox.
Rob has been in this field for 45 years; with sponsorship from his business, Eloff Transformers, he has built his passion for motor racing into reality, making him the perfect candidate as lecturer.
His current class comprises of three petrol heads, the youngest only 14 years old! He further explained the huge interest these three have, saying that if you ask each of them where a certain part is located, they would be able to point it out by a snap of a finger.
They are Jenna Clarkson, who Rob describes as being very mechanically minded, often taking parts home to examine and put on display, Jacob Perk – whose grandfather, Eddie, races old Formula One cars in the Historic Grand Prix overseas – and Riven Jurgens who is technically savvy and created her very own motorsport media company titled ‘Define Motorsport’.
The students described Eloff’s lessons as a safe space where there is no such thing as a stupid question or pressure; they’re encouraged to have fun. Not only do they get taught the spanner work side of motorsport, but the safety and administrative side as well, to give them a general understanding of what motorsport really is like.
With their interest piqued, his class now has ‘at home’ tutor sessions where they recap on the week’s work together whilst sharing one textbook and alternating weekly.
Once they are fully aware of how to work on a racecar and its engine safely, they will be posted to teams in other categories as ‘pit crew’, to take on the responsibilities that come along with it.
At Round 4 of the Power Series, they were thrown into the deep end but luckily were great swimmers. Richard had a special enquiry for Rob when he got to the track on Friday, 16 May, Luan van Heerden, a fellow racing driver from across the pits, was having some trouble with his vee and he wanted to know if E.R.A could help.
Jenna had been tasked to look after Luan’s vee under Rob’s Supervision for the remainder of the race weekend. She checked and did everything: oil leaks, the nuts and bolts, strapped him in, held debriefings, you name it!
It’s safe to say she was utmost proud of her little team as she ran up and down the pits cheering him on and even went out of her way to be his own grid girl – truly a bond she’ll never forget.
Not only were they tasked with fixing Luan’s Formula Vee, but they also had to take care of the B Vee, as Rob likes to call it, that was being driven by Dexter Bruce the weekend. After Free Practice on Friday, Dexter had no clutch after four laps.
Battling for a bit, they took the Master Cylinder apart, re-greased and reassembled it into the car before bleeding the system. Once tested, everything was fine, and a full check had been completed. The car was ready for Race 1 the next morning.
Race 1 didn’t go as planned, Dexter came back to the pits with no brake fluid in his reservoir. The three immediately started to strip the car looking for any faults and found a ruptured hydraulic pipe under the seat.
After consulting with Rob, they were handed a brand-new pipe, fed it through the chassis and reassembled the car. A successful preparation ahead of Race 2 where nothing went wrong.
A drivers briefing was held and Dexter was more than happy, he earned a well deserved third place in the Formula Vee Category and fourth overall. A big congratulations to him and the team!
WPMC is certainly looking forward to what the future holds for these students and hopes that plenty more will be willing and eager to join this initiative.
If you would like to join or are keen to know more about this, please do not hesitate to contact Rob at 082 801 6250 or email him at robeloff@worldonline.co.za.
TEXT BY HAYLEY ZAAYMAN
IMAGE BY DAVE ABRAHAMS