ABOUT THE AUTHOR Pierre Martins was born in 1960 in what is now Gauteng, South Africa. He began driving long before he was legally permitted to do so, teaching himself the fundamentals of vehicle control by the age of ten. Motorsport followed naturally. He started on motorcycles, competing in Supermono, 600cc Supersport, 1000cc Superbikes and Battle of the Twins, earning regular podium finishes. The transition to four wheels was not a departure from racing, but an expansion of it. Over the years he has competed successfully across a wide range of disciplines. In 250 Superkarts he recorded numerous podium finishes, resulting in 3rd overall in the 2007 championship despite missing several races that season. In the GT Challenge during the Pro-Tour era he achieved multiple class wins, finishing 1st in class and 2nd overall in the 2009 championship. In Historic Car Racing he has participated in numerous endurance events, frequently sharing machinery with other drivers and finishing on the podium multiple times. On several occasions he has driven more than one car in the same endurance race, once finishing first, second and third across different classes in a single event. His endurance record includes victories, and podium finishes in Historic Car Racing, the Passion for Speed events, the Revival of the Kyalami 9-Hour and various regional and club competitions. Pierre has also competed in invitational series including single-seaters and sports prototypes. Beyond competition, Pierre has worked extensively as a test driver and performance evaluator for M&R Motors (Porsche Specialists) and On the Track Racing Magazine, assessing and developing high-performance machinery under circuit conditions. Over decades of continuous track work, he has driven and evaluated a wide range of privately owned race cars. As a coach and instructor, he has worked with drivers at Kyalami Supercar School, Zwartkops Raceway and Dezzi Raceway, where he continues to conduct private coaching and structured driver development sessions. He is known for precision, consistency and mechanical sympathy - equally capable of sprint aggression or nursing compromised machinery to the finish. In wet conditions he is widely regarded for control and composure. Across multiple circuits and platforms he has repeatedly recorded identical back-to-back lap times under race conditions - a reflection not of speed alone, but of structural stability. Supersede Control is the articulation of principles refined over decades of competition, testing and coaching - a framework developed not in theory, but under pressure. Pierre lives in Durban, South Africa, where he continues to explore the limits of control under pressure - on track and through the drivers he works with. For him, the pursuit has never been about speed alone. It has always been about understanding what happens when pressure arrives - and learning to govern it. |
