F1’s Lost Circuits - Pt1 - Kyalami

in HISTORY by admin — March 13, 2010 at 6:45 am | 6 comments

F1’s Lost Circuits – South Africa

To most people, South Africa means wine, the World Cup, safari, and a turbulent political history. To Formula 1 fans, Kyalami Circuit can be added to that list. But Kyalami (the name means ‘my home’ in Zulu) was not Formula 1’s only South African racetrack – those with longer memories will recall East London’s Prince George Circuit, which is but one of a long list of South African circuits to host Grands Prix in the 1930s and 1950s.

The racetrack at Prince George was built into a seaside amphitheatre in the 1930s. First used to host the 1934 South African Grand Prix (pre-Formula 1 days), the track became part of the regular racing calendar, hosting races annually between 1936 and 1939, when racing activities were suspended as a result of the outbreak of the Second World War.

Racing returned to East London in 1959, following alterations required by Formula 1 regulations, and continued intermittently until the mid-1960s, when the cars outgrew the track. The last South African Grand Prix to take place as part of the F1 World Championship was held at Prince George Circuit in 1965, and is notable for being Sir Jackie Stewart’s debut race. The Scot finished in sixth, the final point-scoring position. Jim Clark won for Lotus, having started on pole and led for all 85 laps.

The revised Kyalami Circuit has now been surrounded by the ever-growing Johannesburg, but footage of the original track in the late 1960s shows endless fields and sunshine in a Super-8 haze. First used to host the South African Grand Prix in 1967, Kyalami was a regular feature on the F1 calendar until 1985. By the mid-1980s global condemnation of the apartheid regime and an increase in the use of sanctions was such that F1’s involvement in the country had to come to a halt.

Even the final GP was affected by political pressure – Ligier and Renault joined the French government’s boycott of South Africa and did not appear. Germany’s Zakspeed also boycotted the race. Government pressure was applied to individual drivers – the Brazilian government nearly prevented both Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna from appearing. Both men started, but retired outside of the points.

Only two races were held at Kyalami once the apartheid regime had come to an end. F1 returned to South Africa in 1992 and 1993 to find a remodelled racetrack that was slower and full of twists, quite unlike the track they’d used in the ’80s. A number of favourite bends had disappeared completely, while others had been changed almost beyond recognition. The 1992 GP was won by Nigel Mansell, while South Africa’s last F1 victory belongs to Alain Prost.

In its early days, Kyalami was a sun-drenched speed demon’s dream – the South African track was known for being one of the fastest on the calendar at the time. With the speed came great danger, however, and the circuit claimed lives in races and testing. Before the early 1990s redevelopment, Kyalami was known to be a fast, sweeping circuit, ripe for overtaking.

While Kyalami opened to racing in 1961, the F1 circus didn’t roll into town until 1967, when the circuit hosted the season opener, won by Pedro Rodriguez for Cooper-Maserati. South Africa played host to the start of the season until 1971, when it was shuffled into second by Argentina, and then into third by Brazil.

The track continued to hold races until 1981, when the brewing FISA-FOCA wars led to the South African event being withdrawn from the F1 World Championship. A race was held at Kyalami as scheduled, but run as a Formula Libre event. In 1982 the official circus returned to South Africa, but there were only three more years of racing before the political situation in the country saw the event’s removal from the calendar.

While there are occasional mutterings about bringing F1 back to Africa, the number of events is continuing to grow. It was announced this week that 2013 will see 20 races, with the addition of a Rome street circuit to the calendar. There is a limit to the number of races teams can afford in the era of resource restriction, so a return to South Africa would presumably come at the cost of an existing race.

F1’s rich history is littered with lost circuits, and there are always one or two on Bernie’s endangered list. South Africa’s Kyalami played host to some great racing, from Ronnie Peterson’s 1978 battle with Patrick Depallier to Keke Rosberg’s charge on teammate Nigel Mansell in the 1985 Grand Prix. While it’s a shame to see it gone, the new Kyalami is but a shadow of its former self.

Kate Walker