Day three of the Cannonball Run Africa was definitely the best yet. There were no silly clues, just three wheel-shredding challenges designed to push man and machine to the limit. The first was held at Zwartkops Raceway where we had 15 minutes to set the perfect lap time.

Jesse and I immediately came out swinging in our Jaguar XKR-S – a machine that keeps on impressing us with its seemingly endless talents. Balls to Ian Botham, this thing is the real king of British all-rounders. Anyway, running in the first of three groups, we soon managed to pass everything except a Lamborghini Aventador that enjoyed a gazillion horsepower advantage

For a change I didn’t mess things up and clocked a 1:13.5 (unofficial) on my second flying lap. That’s two seconds slower than my full-fat, race-spec Mustang – quite a feat for a street car wearing standard rubber.

After Zwartkops we hit the road to ODI Raceway – a lonely drag strip situated on the outskirts of Ga-Rankuwa (yeah, we just can’t keep away from the place). Apparently there was a second challenge on route but being such navigational experts, we managed to bypass it completely. Pity.

Fortunately we made up for this balls-up by putting our supercharger to good use down the 2km ribbon of ODI asphalt. I’m not lying when I say that the XKR-S is choke-on-your-tongue fast. Even the Ferrari and Lamborghini drivers were impressed at how quick it was. When not behind the wheel of the Jag I was enjoying the racing from the start line. Here are some pictures of the action (and the Zwartkops track challenge too)…