Speed Stars


Speed Stars is a television show conceptualized, produced and owned by Marius Roberts, and his company M.R Productions.

The shows’ first season was broadcast on Ignition, a dedicated motoring channel on DSTV 189, as well as on DSTV Catch Up. The 13 episodes were split into 2 parts, with the first 6 shows broadcast during November and December 2015 and the next 7 shows broadcast through February and March 2016.

Each of the 24min episodes featured 2 high profiled individuals from the world of sport, music, television and entertainment, who were first given professional driving instruction, before being unleashed on the racetrack to set a timed lap. The star with the fastest lap time was deemed the winner.

Road Safety and Driver Education forms an important part of the entire Speed Stars experience, so each episode had a key road safety message. Not only are we educating and improving the driving abilities and awareness of our stars, but also those of our viewers.

Stars who featured in our first season:

Lalla Hirayama – TV Presenter
Boity Thulo – TV Presenter, Actress
Catherine Constantinides – former Miss Earth SA & Environmental Activist
Melinda Bam – former Miss South Africa
Gilan Gork - Mentalist
Larry Soffer - Magician
Bridgitte Hartley – SA Canoeist & Olympic Bronze Medal Winner
Sanani Mangisa – SA Hockey Goalkeeper
Rob Forbes – 5fm DJ
Darren Simpson – Highveld Stereo DJ
Siv Ngesi – Actor, TV Presenter, Comedian
Tumi Morake – Comedian, TV Presenter
Jack Parow – Musician / Rapper
Kurt Darren – Musician
Elana Afrika Brendenkamp – TV Presenter
Jeannie D – TV Presenter
Ross Learmonth – Musician (lead singer, Prime Circle)
Leanne Manas – Morning Live Anchor
Reuben Riffel – Chef
Kamini Pather – Winner, Master Chef
Trevor Gumbi – Comedian
Katlego Maboe – TV Presenter, Singer
John Smit – former Springbok captain, RWC 2007
Jonathan Kaplan – former international referee.

And the winner of Speed Stars: Jonathan Kaplan

Not only did he earn the boasting rights as SA’s speediest star, but his charity, Animal Allies, received a R30'000 donation from Michelin. As the winner, a trip to the world’s greatest endurance race, the 24 hours of Le Mans, as a VIP guest of Michelin. With Jonathan becoming a Dad for the first time, it was runner up Rob Forbes who attended the event in June in his place.
Jonathan also received a Fortis timepiece valued at R28'000 as the winner of the show.

Clermont to Le Mans: The Michelin Story covered Rob’s trip to France with Michelin and was broadcast on Ignition as a 24 min special. You can view the show here:

Speed Stars was sponsored by Michelin, with support from the following partners:

Opel
Force Fuel
Greensky Creative Branding Solutions
Zwartkops Raceway
The Fairway Hotel
ION Action Cameras
Fortis Timepieces

Well, its time to find out as we put your driving talent to the test in the second season of Speed Stars, but this time its not only about our famous faces!

Michelin and Speed Stars will embark on a nationwide public search for the 4 fastest drivers who will take on our 20 celebrities, and with it the chance to become SA’s speediest star. The entry mechanic is a simple one: karting.

Through our promotional campaign on television, print and social media, public will be encouraged to enter our Speed Stars Search on the 3rd September at one of four karting venues in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban. Venue details below so book your slot today!

CAPE TOWN CENTURY KARTING
021-5251720
www.karting.co.za
 
DURBAN EPIC KARTING
082 800 1431
www.epickarting.co.za
 
GAUTENG COMPU-KART
011-6090076
www.compu-kart.co.za
 
GAUTENG XTREME INDOOR KARTING
011 465 0088
www.xtremeindoorkarting.co.za

We take the 4 fastest times from each of the venues through to our elimination round on the 10th September, where the 4 fastest will then be a part of Speed Stars.

There are Entry Restrictions:

  • Must be 18 years of age or older
  • Must have a valid drivers license
  • No professional racing drivers / karters

BOITY THULO AND SPEED STARS

We are super excited to have Boity Thulo join the Speed Stars team as one of our presenters! Boity was part of our first season and it was on the show that she got to drive a manual transmission for the very first time, so it wasn't surprising when she ended up with the ‘wooden wheel’ award for posting the slowest time.

She had so much fun during the filming process and wanted a chance to come back and redeem herself – of course we said yes, but thought it safer keeping her in front of the camera!

Boity is impossible not to love and we are really looking forward to the fresh energy she will bring to the show.

GUESTS

But Boity isn’t the only star on the show. As with our first season, Speed Stars will bring you the biggest names in South Africa - a diverse mix of entertainers, sports stars and comedians - taken out of their comfort zones and given the chance to show us their race faces!

Our first guest pairing is literally David versus Goliath with David Levinsohn taking on Jason Goliath. This is guaranteed to have you rolling on the floor with laughter.

Taking to the circuit next are the king and queen of the waves, with Chris Bertish challenging Bianca Buitendag – will they take to the track like a duck to water?

You don't get more cool than Maps Maponyane and Jonathan Boynton-Lee but who will keep it cool when these close friends meet on the race track?

Leigh-Anne Williams starts your day and Bonnie Mbuli finishes it, but who will finish on top when these two television presenters meet on screen?

If our first four celebrity guest pairings are anything to go by, we are in for a fantastic second season.

MICHELIN GIVES BACK!

Michelin is again donating R30'000 to charity and Speed Stars has chosen two charities to support this season through a new feature on the show – The Charity Challenge.
In each episode our stars will be teamed up and compete against each other in various car related challenges, with the winning team getting R2500 to donate to one of our charities. The winning team chooses one of the two sealed envelopes to reveal which charity is the beneficiary.

Ark Animal Centre

As the leading puppy shelter in South Africa, this NGO has a no suffer policy. They specialize in the rescue, rehabilitation and re-homing of puppies, pregnant moms and small breed dogs.
Their aim: to change the attitude of people towards animals through education and awareness and to promote animal welfare and animal rights.
www.arkanimalcentre.co.za
087 742 2211

The Sunflower Fund

As a National Non-Profit Company, they aim to create awareness, educate and recruit a viable source of ethnically diverse bone marrow stem cell donors in an effort to save the lives of those suffering from life threatening blood disorders. Higher numbers on the registry increase the chance of finding matching bone marrow stem cells donors in order to undergo life-saving bone marrow stem cell transplants.
www.sunflowerfund.org.za
0800 12 10 82

BROADCAST SCHEDULE

Speed Stars is a 13 part 24 minute series, broadcast as follows:

3rd Sep – 9th Sep: SHOW 1 = Season 1 Highlights, Intro Season 2

10th Sep – 16th Sep: SHOW 2 = DAVID LEVINSOHN vs JASON GOLIATH

17th Sep – 23rd Sep: SHOW 3 = BIANCA BUITENDAG vs CHRIS BERTISH

24th Sep – 30th Sep: SHOW 4 = MAPS MAPONYANE vs JONATHAN BOYNTON-LEE

1st Oct – 7th Oct: SHOW 5 = LEIGH-ANNE WILLIAMS vs BONNIE MBULI

8th Oct – 14th Oct: SHOW 6 = PUBLIC FINALISTS

15th Oct – 21st Oct: SHOW 7 = STARS TBC

22nd Oct – 28th Oct: SHOW 8 = STARS TBC

29th Oct – 4th Nov: SHOW 9 = STARS TBC

5th Nov – 11th Nov: SHOW 10 = STARS TBC

12th Nov – 18th Nov: SHOW 11 = STARS TBC

19th Nov – 25th Nov: SHOW 12 = STARS TBC

26th Nov – 2nd Dec: SHOW 13 = FINALS

Speed Stars will be broadcast on Ignition, DSTV 189 as well as on DSTV Catch Up.
Each episode is repeated nine times during a week at the following times:

SAT 19:30
SUN 07:30
MON 01:30
TUES 09:30 & 21:30
WED 06:30 & 18:30
THURS 13:30
FRI 15:30

The winner of Speed Stars will jet off overseas with Michelin as part of their global Pilot Sport Experience. Created to give guests a taste of what its like to be a racing driver, they will get to drive a Formula 4, Touring Car and Rally Car on an international F1 circuit. This year’s event is held at the Sepang F1 Circuit in Malaysia.
Our winner will be a part of the 2017 Michelin Pilot Sport Experience, the destination is still to be revealed.
Fortis is one of the oldest Swiss watchmakers, dating back to 1912 and our winner will receive one of their latest timepieces valued at R30'000 from www.fortis-sa.com.

Our Predict the Winner competition is also back! Each week you get a chance to correctly predict who will win when our stars go head to head on the racetrack – get it correct and you could win an Advanced Driving day with Opel and Michelin.

Weekly winners will be selected via entries on the Speed Stars website www.speedstars.co.za and on our various social media platforms.

But the massive news is our Predict the Winner Grand Finale prize is also an overseas trip with Michelin!
Our final show will see our fastest guests back on the track in a winner takes all season finale – correctly pick our winner and you could be joining our winner at the Michelin Pilot Sport Experience in 2017.

If you would like a taste of the show, all of the episodes are on our You Tube channel – SpeedStarsSA.

Below is the link to the final episode of Season One – our grand finale.



You can find Speed Stars on social media – speedstarssa (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube)

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