Petrolhead.
Road speedster.
and self -proclaimed adrenalin junkie...
Ntombi's one of 20 South Africans currently being featured on the Hallmark Channel in a series of 5-minute inserts called Beneath The Surface.
Each clip showcases different South Africans across the country who do regular jobs by day and wild things by night - they were all fimed here and rotate and run between shows. In a way they're like Hallmark greeting cards of people getting in touch and sharing news about who they are beneath the surface and what they're up to.
Turbo Pulling PowerBy day Ntombi's a systems analyst for an IT company and by night/weekends/after-work she's a rally driver - which is how I came to hook up with her at Killarney Race track in Cape Town recently.
The idea was that we'd visit the track to dice each other so I could see exactly how fast she is.
We waited and waited for the go-ahead to ignite our machines but couldn't get past the start line unfort. - the weather in Cape Town's still so stormy (all
Derek Van Dam's fault) the track was too un-raceable.
As a result we couldn't drive so we had a gossip instead - after taking this pic:
The guy at the racetrack who organises visitors and the cars etc was so all over N. when he heard she's a racer you have no idea. Notice how I don't have any seatbelts on in my pic yet she does in hers - he absolutely
insisted she put them on -
after we knew we couldn't race - so he could put them on her aka get as close as poss.
Fast FactsNtombi's need for speed started when she was 14 - her brother taught her how to do doughnuts (round about skidding manouvre's) and she was junkiefied.
She started rally racing in 2005 when a friend asked her to be his navigator for a race. Soon after she started racing herself.
She's Jozi based and does most of her racing there.
She's a peronalised GPS - her friends and relations always ask her for directions to everywhere.
The fastest she's ever raced is 240km/hour.
She enjoys dicing drivers on the road when she sees they think they can't beat her 'cos she's a girl.
Her advice on being a pro driver: always drive with an awerness of the five closest cars around you. Be aware of the car two ahead; and the car two cars behind.
Extra RaceyBesides her racing Ntombi's also one of
Gareth's Girls on 5FM. As you may or may not know Gareth's somehow managed to wangle himself a posse of girls who give him titbits on current things happening and Ntombi's one of them.
Through Gareth's Girls she went on a blind date - each of the GG's were dared to do something they'd never do. Her and her date were on the blower to each other as soon as their date was over and they're still going strong two and half months later.
Dancer. Crazy. GS.Here's a taste of the inserts featuring 3 other people in the series - a ballroom dancer, base jumper and Soweto Gospel singer: