Paarl drag racer JP Peens smokes the competition in his 1.9 TDI Polo 

Paarl drag racer JP Peens finished ahead of the pack and placed first in his class at the Forward Wheel Drive Shootout which took place at Dezzi Raceway earlier this month. 

With his fully-fitted streetcar, JP Peens won the diesel class with a time of 11.4 seconds @206km/h with a 1.8s 60 foot. His fastest exit speed of the day was clocked at 209km/h. 

JP told Auto Rush it was the fastest the car has ever gone, adding that it had never exited the quarter mile above the 200km/h mark prior to the event. 

The Paarl racer made his way to KwaZulu-Natal with his father Jacques Peens, who started JP Motorsport over 20 years ago, and their friend Lee Peyper. 

The 2004 model Polo 1.9TDI was towed from Paarl to Durban and then driven from Durban to Port Shepstone to race at the event. 

Peens said that the Polo’s reliability has been a big driving force behind the success of the family business. 

“It’s an 11 second street car so we try to keep it quite reliable. It’s been in our family for about 10 years. My sister had it and then I took it from her.

“The car has gone through all of the stages[of software upgrades], from stage 1 to 3 while now it’s on a custom setup. Recently, it’s become sort of a publicity thing or promotion for our business and we’re happy with the performance,” Peens said. 

The TDI runs on a stock crank, rods and pistons while the head has been ported and flowed to increase air circulation. The cams were imported from Veicomer, which was brought to South Africa from Europe by JP himself. 

It’s boosted by a Garret GTB 22 65 turbo charger, which are supported by 63-73mm boost pipes and a front mount intercooler. 

The 90mm downpipe runs to a 76mm exhaust, which spits thick black carbon into the atmosphere at rates which could make Greta Thunberg turn red with anger. 

The car still houses its standard 6-speed TDI gearbox and is tuned by Keithan Govender of Meg Motorsport. Govender was formerly of RK Motion. 

On race days, the seats are removed and the driver’s seat is replaced with a fiberglass unit to lighten up the vehicle, while the 6-CD shuttle and aircon still remain in the car during races. 

Peens told Auto Rush he did not expect the victory because his confidence in the car, prior to the event, was not so high. 

“It felt nice because we did not expect much from the car going into the event. I was not too confident if I’m entirely honest. It surprised my dad and I when it ran down the track. 

“We don’t really have any future plans for the Polo because if we go any faster, they require us to add in a roll cage and we do not want to cut or weld the car in any way. I am happy with it as it is. But we have purchased the shell of a VW Lupo which we plan to run the exact same TDI set up in,” Peens said. 

Jehran Naidoo/Auto Rush