Dozens of disgruntled drifters and street racers blocked the entrances to the Cape's main motor circuit, Killarney race track on Saturday.
The protesters, from areas like Atlantis, Grassy Park and Eerste River, converged on the venue, from 5am. They were demanding competition dates from the Western Province Motor Club (WPMC), the organisation overseeing motorsport in the province.
Their protest action disrupted two major events at the track; a regional karting competition as well as short circuit races for the city's bikers.
"All we want are dates when we can host our events," said Shane Green, one of the main organisers of the protest. Green is well known in motorsport circles in the Cape and is one of the city's top drifters.
"All the other motorsport guys have access to Killarney, we also want access. They (Killarney management) tell us there's no place on the calendar for us for next year," he said.
With the gates blocked and cars piling up ahead of what was meant to be a busy race day at Killarney, protesters stood firm. They demanded to hand over a memorandum to track bosses. And they were live streaming it all on social media.
"We are closing Killarney down," said Cheslyn Wiener, a motorsport enthusiast.
"We want answers regarding our upcoming events. We have Spin Outlaws, Drift Outlaws and we have the drag racing. We have been emailing management from Killarney for eight weeks now, and still no answer as to a date when we can host our finals,“ he said.
Wiener said drifters and drag racers had adhered to Killarney race track's regulations that their cars conform to certain safety standards for competitive events.
"The spinners, the drifters and the drag racers built our cars according to Killarney race track's requirements. We adjusted the decibels of sound of our exhausts, we had to put battery brackets on our cars, we had to install seatbelts,“ he said.
There were several unhappy competitors who were stuck outside Killarney race track, lamenting the protesters' action. Two race marshals who refused to give Weekend Argus their names said: "It's sick. It's pathetic. Everyone must now suffer."
Jade Smith, a racer from the Clubmans team, said the protesters were being "very unfair", adding: "A lot of our events have also been cancelled and we don't take it out on anybody else."
Des Easom, the executive manager of WPMC accepted a memorandum from the racers.
"It's disappointing that we've had this (protest action) and people who are here to race cannot access the facility. I have received their memorandum. And then we will revert to appointed delegates from the people who are doing the protest action.
"We hear what they are saying. We don't necessarily agree with what they are saying. They say we are trying to exclude them. We are an inclusive facility. We run more than 200 events a year. We are already the most used arena in the Western Cape," Easom said.
The protesters eventually cleared out more than three hours later. By then the scheduled events at the track were already delayed, and competitors feared they wouldn't have enough time to complete the competitions.
The Mayco member for safety and security JP Smith also weighed in on Saturday's events. Smith told Weekend Argus: "This is a matter between the street racers and Killarney and they're resolving it. The City's events department will facilitate an engagement between them in the next few days."
The protesters said they had also complained to Mayor Dan Plato's office. In response, Plato said: “People think they can write to the mayor's officers and get things done quick, quick. The whole world of drag racing wants to go to Killarney. They will never be able to allow every drag racer who wants to race at Killarney to use the track. I understand their gripe, but at the end of the day they need to work through the management committee entity. It is very sad that people want to resort to protests to get what they want."
John Coetzee, an executive from Killarney race track's sports committee promised the disgruntled racers they'd be included in a meeting with the circuit's management on Thursday, where hopefully they could agree on a resolution.
One of the protest organisers, Chris Hadjie said: "If we aren't in that meeting on Thursday, we'll be back here on Saturday and block the entrances again.“
And Hadjie promised to bring a lot more drifters along next time round.