April 13th - Season 1

The Box Office Marathon

While many people doubted that the race between King Mandla and Touch Mkhize would amount to much fan fare considering that it’s a rivalry that seemed to have come out of nowhere, it seems those doubts have been put to rest.

It was one of the fans on F-X social media that started it when he said that “this race will probably be the most business-centered race of the entire series since it’s not about entertaining disputes but rather about which one of them is capable of selling more tickets.” From this, the interest grew like wildfire.

Fans have now been waiting eagerly as to how these two powerful drawers would try to get the edge this past Monday. With Touch and his talk show and Mandla and his political arena, the Formula-X fandom was abuzz with anticipation as to how these two would collide before the race.

Image sourced from clipart-library.com

However the race itself hasn’t gone under the radar as the odds have been placed and they are heavily stacked against the claimant. However those in defence of Touch have compared Touch to Eddie Guerrero — who defeated a champion main eventer to become a main eventer himself.

This online debate did not go unnoticed by Moodswing and Glenwood Jacobs who were definitely interested in seeing how much the race would make in the box office with Moodswing declaring on F-X social media, “this isn’t a box office race. It’s a box office marathon.” He also said that the fan base would definitely get to see the King and his claimant clash on the following weeks of Monday Night Fuel.

While this certainly got the pop he wanted, with this past Monday on Fuel, we can say that he definitely delivered.

April 6th - Season 1

Image sourced from clipart-library.com

Highway to the Grand Prix

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen and we hope you had one hell of a break because hell is taking a backseat for what Formula-X has in store for you for the next 8 weeks.

It’s almost Easter which means it’s time to check your faith and make sure you believe because for what we’re about to tell you, disbelief will be the order of the day.

As you’re well aware by now, the biggest pay-per-view of the year is right around the corner and it’s called THE FORMULA-X GRAND PRIX. And it has officially been announced that we are indeed on the road to the GRAND PRIX.

We also found out in the biggest way possible that preparations for this event are under way when a huge billboard was mantled right at a down town intersection announcing the upcoming event, thus revealing the mystery of this big marketing project.

It looks like everything is beginning to come together for this event but before we get to that pay-per-view, we have to go through another. For the first time ever, the ‘Commissioners of Fuel’ released the name of the upcoming PPV: SUNDAY NIGHT EASTER just 1 episode after the previous PPV.

After the announcement on social media regarding the highway to the Grand Prix, Moodswing followed up with the reveal of SUNDAY NIGHT EASTER saying that there were no more punches being pulled as they were barreling towards their flagship PPV and they don’t want people wondering about SUNDAY NIGHT EASTER.

Despite all the major reveals regarding the premiere  PPV of the Formula-X calendar year, the hungry fans still wanted more: they wanted to know what the circuit will look like.

March 16th - Season 1

The Festival gets a Circuit

With only 6 days to go, it’s time to talk about the circuit for the FESTIVAL OF THE FALL.

This insanely designed circuit gained it’s name fast: “The Reclining Chair” . It was so named because of it’s curved back. Although many have preferred to call it “The Dentists’ Chair” due to not only it’s look but also it’s association with pain as they could imagine the pain that the racers will feel curving around it.

The track itself will join a long list of pay-per-views past that have been built around Ngelosi City rather than inside of it like Show-Down.

However despite not taking place inside the city, it has been noted that the eponymous festival for the event will take place directly around the track.

Following this announcement, F-X reporters managed to discover that  the circular part of the track runs along a road that makes up the “English Quarter” — which has been named after New Orleans’ French equivalent for obvious reasons, namely its old fashioned architecture.

It was revealed that this was where the Festival will be taking place and that the Formula-X Racing Club Committee has managed to secure the help of all the local businesses in the area to help make the festival a reality.

We have to iterate how much of a feat this is which is a testament to the staying power of Monday Night Fuel in the pop culture of South Africa.

We also think it's safe to predict that this event will definitely be bigger than Heart-Attack no matter what happens.

March 9th - Season 1

The Autumn Break

In an interesting change of pace, the upcoming FESTIVAL OF THE FALL has been pulled forward to March the 22nd putting it exactly 13 days away.

F-X reporters met with Glenwood Jacobs after he announced the date change on F-X social media this past week.

“The reason that the date was pushed or rather pulled forward was because we wanted to take a two week break; the same break that the schools on the mainland take.

Image sourced from clipart-library.com

“As such, Monday Night Fuel will not air for two weeks following the FESTIVAL OF THE FALL and will return on April 6th with the next corresponding pay-per-view taking place on the 26th of April.”

While many fans don’t seem to be bothered by the move of the FESTIVAL OF THE FALL (possibly due to the original date having only been advertised for 4 days before the change) they are a bit bothered by Fuel being off the air for 2 weeks since school terms have never affected the program before.

Glen explained further. “While we understand that the fans are more than willing to continue watching and attending Fuel right through the school holidays, it’s our staff and personnel that we’re trying to look out for and we don’t just mean the F-X racers. They have spent the past the last seven months making magic for the fans at an almost non-stop pace. It’s the same reason that we gave them a break in December. So we’d like the fans to understand that it’s for them as much as you.”

Well as far as we go, we can understand that sentiment. We can only hope the fans can too.

March 2nd - Season 1

The Festival of the Fall

It’s official, just over 24 hours ago, Moodswing broke in March by announcing that the next pay-per-view would celebrate the beginning of Autumn with a huge festival and as such the PPV will be named FESTIVAL OF THE FALL.

In his announcement, Moodswing explained that the Committee is very well aware of what everyone is saying about the previous event, Heart-Attack and that while they look into how to improve upon it next year, they will be delivering something different in the meanwhile for the upcoming PPV.

Image sourced from clipart-library.com

Moodswing went on to say that the FESTIVAL OF THE FALL will be everything it claims to be: a festival! There will be an endless list of things to do for the whole family and not just for kids.

Moodswing said that they were modelling the structure of this after-event festival on Hallow’s Eve which they believe was a success because it was relatable for everyone unlike Heart-Attack which was not at all for children.

Moodswing went on to say that the races confirmed to be headlining the racecard will be King Mandla Xulu defending against Jim Kieck while Penny, Duchess of Drag will be defending against Dime.

Moodswing went on to reiterate that the FESTIVAL OF THE FALL would be completely different to Heart-Attack and guaranteed its’ success.

February 24th - Season 1

The Checkmate of Thawn Oberhauser

This past Monday Night on Fuel saw the return of one of arguably the greatest race on the list of F-X race types: the One-KM Derby.

The last time we saw this contest, it ended the rivalry between Jim Kieck and John Kloof and it looked to do the same here… this time for the Formula-X Throne.

Just as before, the derby was contested for major stakes. This time, the stakes for one of the competitors was made easy: the Formula-X Crown. The other competitor and Claimant for the title decided to stake his claim entirely when he said that if he lost, he would not challenge Mandla so long as he was King.

As it turns out, Thawn's stake was the only reason that Mandla agreed to face off with Thawn as he said that he had won two of the three feature races they’d had and if he beat him again, he wanted to be rid of him.

Image sourced from
clipart-library.com

As such, there is no other race that could have been chosen to finally put a sense of finality to what has been called the rivalry of the Summer.

It was definitely a sight to behold as King Mandla and Thawn took their positions around the bend of the OG section of the Fuel Speedway.

The whole event was an unprecedented moment as this was the first time that  only a section of the track would be used since before the debut of the new Fuel Speedway.

There was also a never-seen-before hype that dominated the Speedway as live audience and viewers were treated to a pay-per-view quality race at the cost of a subscribers fee. The word fever-pitch had never been understated than like in this race.

February 17th - Season 1

Impending Heart Condition

It is the night after the Heart-Attack pay-per-view and while there were many thrilling races on display last night in the heart-shaped circuit, the talk of the night isn't on who got the title… but rather on who got their hearts broken.

It speaks to the emotional power of the night when all anyone can talk about is the turn out of the V-Day Ball (as fans have taken to calling it on social media).

One of the biggest love stories of the night was between Thawn Oberhauser and Jim Kieck. While Thawn was unsuccessful in recapturing the F-X Crown, he would find that this would only be the tip of the iceberg.

Image sourced from clipart-library.com

At the V-Day Ball, after sharing a lovely dance with society darling Rebecca Msomi — a dance which Jim failed to find a partner for (see You Make Me Feel Like Dancing), Thawn would find himself at a loss later on in the night when he could not find his date. Fortunately enough, F-X Cam Crew did manage to find her… outside in the arms of none other than Jim Kieck.

While Thawn wouldn’t find this out until later that night on social media, he would remain silent until last night on Monday Night Fuel where he confronted Jim and looked to land a haymaker on the playboy before challenging him to a race!

While Thawn and Jim looked to handle things the ‘civilized’ way, the same could not be said for Penny Potgieger. While the Duchess of Drag managed to retain her title against Dime, she couldn’t retain her anger and the two rivals would come to blows… one blow: from the Duchess to Dime. (Read more on Penny Drops the Dime.)

While there is lot more fallout from that night to cover, it’s no doubt that these two take the cake in moment of the week.