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Thersby appointed Red-Lined motorsport manager

More often than not, the people in the shadows are the unsung heroes in sport. Nowhere is that truer than in racing, where the drivers and the cars take all the glory, while the team and the people who do all the work to keep them there, are so easily overlooked. 

Red-Lined Motoring Adventures is becoming famous for its racing Nissan Navaras competing around the world from its Kyalami base and to keep ahead of the curve, the team is developing itself as quickly as it is its cars. Now hot on the heels of Letshego Zulu joining the team in a media and marketing role, comes news of Duncan Thersby’s appointment as motorsport manager.

“Duncan Thersby is another of the many men and women who work flat out every day and throughout race weekends to keep the machinery required to compete at its best. “We are delighted to confirm his appointment as motorsport manager at Red-Lined Motoring Adventures,” team principal Terence Marsh confirmed. 

“The son of a leading race engineer, Duncan is a chip off the old block, an absolute master and he will now run our motorsport program alongside technical director Graham Thornton. “We are lucky to have this vastly experienced man on the team — Duncan is the ultimate all-rounder and handles everything from managing our shop floor and technicians to heading up development, fabrication and he even spanners our Nissan Navara race cars. “He is also our go-to guy at the races and at the Dakar.”

Duncan qualified as fitter and turner before working with dad Norman, a leading race engineer and fabricator in South African motorsport in the 1980s. He dabbled in driving in the likes of Sports 2000 at an early age too, but when Norman left to start a career in IndyCar in the US, master welder Duncan took over the business and ran it for a few years.

Duncan later joined Glynn Hall to start a 16-year career at Hallspeed on Nissan Production Cars and then moved on to off-road racing, which saw Duncan to his first Dakar in Africa in 2003. Hallspeed later moved to Toyota and Duncan took charge of the team’s multiple SA champion rally team until local rallying slowed down and he joined Toyota’s Dakar program, contributing to engineering and running the team’s Hiluxes everywhere from the Dakar to the Silk Way Rally and in local competition.

Six years ago, Duncan took a quantum leap to join Terence Marsh and his fledgling Red-Lined operation out of a small workshop in Barbecue Downs. “It has been a fantastic experience to grow with Terence and Red-Lined,” Duncan grinned. “I've been able to live out my passion of fabricating and building race cars, doing all the R&D and development work from finding more horsepower to improving handling and saving money along the way — it’s been an incredible adventure!

“I suppose I'm lucky to do what I am passionate about — I’m fortunate that my dad was just as passionate about racing and engineering and he passed that on to me — I am usually the last to leave the workshop, even if sometimes the family jumps up and down, but I love what I do.” Now it seems that the Thersby racing legend is set to continue into a third generation too. “My son is in his last year of studying mechanical engineering,” Duncan concluded. “It seems it is in the genes!”

ENDS

Issued on behalf of Red-Lined Motorsport

What:Duncan Thersby Announcement
Where:Kyalami, Johannesburg
When:Tuesday 3 September 2019
Community:South Africa National

For further information please contact terence@redlined.co.za

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