A roaring success
FIRST TIME WINS FOR NICOLAU AND BMW
By Roger Houghton mostly
The DJ Rally is an international event staged on behalf of the Vintage and Veteran Club of South Africa by a committee made up of members from various local motorcycle clubs. Leo Middelburg was Clerk of the Course, this year, assisted by Martin Kaiser.
Major sponsors were FFM Distributors, Motul Classic Oil and insurance broker Paysure, the classic vehicle as collectables insurance specialists.
This year, the historic DJ run was well attended with some new faces and some international riders joining the fun. We went along to Balfour to meet and greet and follow the riders in to the end venue at Benoni Northerns.
Such a cool vibe and so many beautiful old machines would make any petrol head grin so that’s what we did for the whole day…
“Watching these riders carefully making their way along the winding country roads to the “putt, putt, putt” of all kinds of engines makes a person truly appreciate the bikes that our forefathers rode – and just how good the current crop of machines are…”
Basic suspension, complicated controls and low speeds make navigating SA’s potholes and trucks interesting. But it’s not all bad, a few old hands commented that the roads are improving every year.
Riders need to make impromptu repairs on the roads, we heard of push rods popping out, nav towers coming adrift, chains jumping off and cables snapping… running repairs mean that participants need a bit of technical knowhow – or they need a good back-up driver.
The 2026 Durban-Johannesburg (DJ) Rally, held on March 13-14, saw both a new winning rider and a new winning motorcycle brand, with Neville Nicolau taking top honours on his sixth DJ, while his motorcycle gave BMW its first win in this prestigious classic motorcycle regularity rally. The BMW is a 750 cc R12 model, made in 1935, owned previously by Gawie Nienaber, who rode it in 20 DJ Rallies.
This annual event began as a road race on public roads between the two cities from 1913 to 1936, after which it was cancelled on the grounds of safety. During this period all except one of the races was won by a British motorcycle. (Neville has pointed out that BMW only started making motorcycles in 1923!)
In 1970 the DJ event was resuscitated as a regularity rally, where competitors are required to run at set average speeds and late or early arrival at the various time check controls on the route are penalised in seconds. Motorcycles entered in these commemorative rallies need to have been made before 1937, in keeping with the timespan of the original road race.
Previous winning brands have been overwhelmingly from the United Kingdom, with Harley Davidson, from the United States, the only odd-one-out with wins in 1921, 1977 and 2002, until BMW’s success this year.
Neville is a retired mining engineer who was formerly CEO of Anglo Platinum, is responsible for the immaculate preparation of all his motorcycles. Neville’s wife, Helen, took part in the event for the second time and finished 33rd on a 1936 350 cc Ariel Red Hunter.
You need to see these bikes – they look as though they have just rolled out of the showroom.
Neville and his wife are avid motorcyclists, and this year spent the month of January riding 4 500 km on modern 1300 cc BMWs in New Zealand so missed the “warm-up” Pre-DJ Rally.
The couple have already toured the US, Australia, and Europe on motorcycles.
Second place this year was filled by Gavin Walton, who has won the DJ seven times previously. He rode his 1936 500 cc AJS which once again ran faultlessly. Walton recorded the lowest score on the second day, after Nicolau had led the way after winning the first day.
Third place was filled by Mike Venables on a 1933 500 cc BSA Blue Star. Only 138 seconds error from 74 check points separated the top three finishers, with Venables a first timer on the podium.
Adrian Hollis, who was fourth on his 1935 600 cc Sunbeam Lion, is a previous DJ Rally winner, having taken top spot in 2000 riding the Sunbeam with Michelle Lange as his passenger in a sidecar.
The rules decree only solo motorcycles can win the event overall so the official winner that year was Leo Middelburg, who was Clerk of the Course of the 2026 DJ Rally.
Hollis is a consistent top performer who was runner-up to Walton in the 2025 DJ Rally.
The ever smiling, affable MotoGP racer Brad Binder was a surprise last-minute entry this year and fared well, finishing 18th on his father’s 1935 500 cc Sunbeam. Brad’s father, Trevor, riding a 1925 600 cc Indian Scout, was two places ahead of his son, in 16th spot.
It must be tough to take it so slow for a guy who spends his life on the quickest modem machines known to man.
This year there were 53 finishers from an original entry of 72. Six competitors failed to start when their old bikes realised how far they had to travel.
At 84 years of age, spring chicken David Holmes was presented with the award for the oldest finisher, while Michael Buchan (23) is the youngest for 2026.
Next year, long time motorcycle enthusiast and publisher George Portman has offered a youngster under 21 a seat on one of his classic bikes for the event – as long as that rider meets all the requirements.
Benita Palmer was the highest placed lady rider while Garreth Keevey, in 40th place, fared best of the first time riders
Anton Blignaut, a first time entrant, collected awards for riding the oldest motorcycle to finish the event and the highest placed pre-1926 500 cc finisher.
This was Peter Gillespie’s 1920 400 cc ABC Sopwith. Blignaut, the son of Alex Blignaut, the first general manager of the Kyalami race circuit, has been involved in motor sport for much of his life but this was his first experience of a DJ Rally.
If you have never been and seen these guys in action, put it in your diary for next year. Even better:
If you have a classic motorcycle lying in your shed gathering rust and dust, please get it running, lend it to a youngster (We have volunteers) and come and join the fun.
Perhaps you’ll even see a media team taking part next year so we can record the whole event.
This really is an amazing, historic, truly South African event.
Top 10 placings:
Neville Nicolau (1935 750 cc BMW)
Gavin Walton (1936 AJS)
Mike Venables (1933 500 BSA Blue Star)
Adrian Hollis (1935 Sunbeam)
Kevin Walton (1931 BSA Sloper)
Ryan Duncan (1934 Norton Model 18)
Keith Kendall (1936 Velocette MAC)
Jaycee van Rooyen (1936 Ariel Red Hunter)
David Pitchford (1929 Sunbeam Model 9)
Jayson Anderson (1929 AJS M6)
