Wesbank Modified BMW 535i
1995 to 2013 - Zimbabwe
Leon Joubert participated in South African motorsport events like endurance racing, rallies and economy runs for BMW South Africa, and moved to Zimbabwe in 1988 to set up a tobacco farm. He was close friends with BMW Motorsport manager, Pieter de Waal, and in 1994 he was able to get the Group N BMW 325iS of Shaun van der Linde to Zimbabwe. Leon arranged local sponsorship and got Gary Kirk to drive the car for the full championship series, which they won. The championship was an open formula and the 325iS raced on slicks without seats. Leon fulfilled the function of team manager and the car was mostly kept on his farm, although he did race the car on occasion.
By 1995, some of the Wesbank V8 cars had arrived on the Zimbabwean racing scene, and the 325iS was no longer competitive. Leon knew that the two 535is were stashed away unused, so he secured the B17 car of Deon Joubert to be raced in Zimbabwe.
Once again, Leon got Gary kirk to drive the car, but was not actively involved in the racing due to his farming commitments. Gary collected the car from Midrand, where it was parked next to the Group 1 745i of Tony Viana. BMW was considering starting a museum at that stage.
The BMW proved to be very successful and won every round of the 1995 Zimbabwe national Championship, except the last event when the car retired with a broken piston.
About a year after the BMW started competing in Zimbabwe, the team got sponsorship by Caltex and the car changed colour to Caltex colours.
At this time the B16 car of Tony Viana was at Owen Ashley’s workshop in Cape Town getting the original cantilever front suspension refitted after spending time in Namibia.
In 1996 the car was taken to Zimbabwe to be raced by Richard Robinson and it changed from Motorsport colours to Caltex at the same time. The piston failure at the end of the 1995 season on Gary Kirk's car, as well as the arrival of two Wesbank V8 on the scene at the beginning of 1996 made the decision to turbo charge both cars. The cars became relatively unreliable with turbo charging and were retired at the end of 1998.
The cars both competed in the local championship at Donnybrook and Breedon Everard, the highlight when Richard Robinson and Gary Kirk won the 3 Hour in Bulawayo in the B16 Viana car.
The cars were brought out of retirement on occasion and were stored at Puzey & Payne BMW dealership, but were eventually moved outside to an open piece of ground next door, exposed to the elements. Leon Joubert found the cars like this when he went to inspect them, and some parts had already been removed from the cars. He arranged for one of his trucks to collect the cars with as many parts that he could find and took them to his farm where they were stored in one of his tractor sheds.
Leon left Zimbabwe in 2002 during the farm occupation period and settled in Tasmania. The Joubert car B17 ended up in the hands of Gary Kirk, who started racing the car again and clinched the 2002 National Saloon Car Championship. The B17 car was finally retired and ended its racing career having won two Zimbabwe National Championships. The Viana car B16 ended up in the hands of Colin Schreiber, where the car remained for about twelve years before being sold to Nick Sheward.