![]() The city’s idyllic beachside Grand Prix circuit however remains a firm favourite among local racers across Southern Africa. The Scotsman’s Lotus teammate Mike Spence won the non-championship race in 1966 to draw the curtain on Grand Prix racing in East London. The South African Grand Prix became part of the Formula 1 World Championship in 1962 when Graham Hill won for BRM, before Jim Clark won two more SAGPs in his Lotus-Climax each side of 1965 when the race was not run. Those non-championship Formula 1 races drew the cream of the world championship crop to race against the best of South Africa’s homegrown local series F1 racers and Paul Frère won the New Year’s Day 1959 race in his Cooper-Climax, before Stirling Moss won another race run on Old Year’s Eve that year in his Porsche and Jim Clark won his first SAGP in a Lotus-Climax early in 1961. It took fourteen years for the Grand Prix to return to the newly-built 3.9km mile East London Grand Prix Circuit that used a portion of the original track near Potters Pass and is still in use today. Gigi Villoresi won the 1939 race in a Maserati 6CM, but World War II brought an end to that first, incredible South African Grand Prix era. The South African Grand Prix back then formed a mini series with other races including the Grosvenor Grand Prix in Cape Town and in 1938 the mighty Auto Unions visited the country, but tyre wear problems for Bernd Rosemeyer and Dick Seaman’s monstrous silver racers allowed local hero Buller Meyer to pull off an incredible giant-killing win aboard his Riley. Italo-South African Mario Massacuratti won the second SAGP in 1936 on a shortened 17km track in a Bugatti 35B, while Pat Fairfield won the ’37 race in his ERA. Those early SAGPs were held around New Year’s Day every year, when East London, 1000 kilometres due south of Johannesburg, was bustling with upcountry holidaymakers, a fact that also made the chronology of the race inconsistent as that date occasionally straddled two years and missed a few as well. ![]() ![]() A year later, the first South African Grand Prix was run on that Prince George circuit - that race drew an international entry list and was won by Whitney Straight in a Maserati 8CM. It stretches all the way back to 1933 when expat American journalist Brudd Bishop arranged the Border 100 race on a 22km track around the coastal city of East London. So let’s first take a look at that incredible story. That is no coincidence as most of those races traditionally happened in the first week of March. The company’s first public statement comes at a most interesting time too - regular readers of this page will notice that our daily history stories over the forthcoming week or so, will all be highlighted by snippets of South African Grand Prix history. ![]() Jody's presence brings great credence to this latest bid to see a race that was once an integral facet of F1 back into the world championship. The event that will see the likes of Valtteri Bottas and David Coulthard ripping up the city centre tarmac in contemporary Mercedes, Red Bull and Renault F1 cars, alongside the likes of SA’s own World F1 Champion Jody Scheckter out in the Ferrari he drove to the ’79 title among far more action on the day, is seen as a pipe-opener to the South African Grand Prix returning to Kyalami sooner, rather than later.įronted by Warren Scheckter, son of multiple South African Drivers Champion and former Grand Prix driver Ian and 1979 Formula 1 World Champion Jody’s nephew, South African GP was established with the prime intention of returning South Africa to the Formula 1 World Championship with Jody Scheckter himself being the founding president. Fittingly, speculation around the country returning to the Formula 1 World Championship schedule was at fever pitch this week as South African GP (Pty) Ltd announced that it will be hosting the Jozi Formula 1 Festival in Sandton, not far from the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit on Sunday 29 March. Traditionally throughout the 'seventies and 'eighties, the South African Grand Prix would be in the news around this time of the year. ![]() 2020 1 March: Today in Racing Read More The South African Grand Prix: It is time. 2020 Forgotten Legends: Porsche’s portly pilot problem Read More 02 05:00:00. ![]()
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