Grand prix festival celebrates racing’s glory days
East London will once more reverberate with the sounds and smells of grand prix cars when the SA Historic Grand Prix Festival begins on Saturday and Sunday November 24 and 25.
However it won’t just be pre-war vintage cars that will be celebrating the festivities of more than 84 years of motorsport at this historic site.
While the circuit in East London has existed in numerous formats over the past eightplus decades, there will be representative cars racing on its
The stars of the show will be 24 cars not often seen in SA, some of them racing through the same corners as they did over 80 years ago
historic ground.
More than 80 entries have already been received for the full race weekend that will include historic single seaters from the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, to some of the wild formula cars of the 1980s and 1990s with their aerodynamics and wide slick tyres, appropriately nicknamed “Wings and Slicks”.
Some of these come from the golden era of Formula Atlantic, although they’ll be racing alongside the Indian Ocean in this case.
Pre-90 Production Saloons, including the Historic Pursuit series and Racing Saloons from the same period, will round out the programme along with races for Sports and GT cars.
Spectators can expect to see historic Formula Fords and Lotuses in action, Formula Vees and dramatic Formula Atlantic cars at full tilt, including a March 77b.
Alfa Romeos, Datsuns, Fords and BMWs will run door handle to door handle in the saloon car categories, while Porsche 911s, Chevrons and Lolas are expected to complete the spectacle. The stars of the show, however, will be 24 cars not often seen in action in SA, some of them racing against each other again through the same corners as they did over 80 years ago.
The feature event of the SA Historic Grand Prix Festival will have 17 of the 1930s cars racing in anger.
Some of the owners will be flying their professional drivers out just for the race, which will likely see a four-way battle at the front between the two ERAs (one of which won the 1937 SA Grand Prix), the Maserati 8CM that won the inaugural SA Grand Prix in 1934, and the Alfa Romeo Tipo B P3.
And these four cars are raced hard and fast, so it will be interesting to see who can claim victory again after 80odd years!
Behind them there is likely to be a good battle between a brace of MGs, Rileys, Austin Seven Specials, Aston Martin Ulsters, a Bugatti Type 35, Singer Le Mans and Plymouth Special. Off the track, some famous friends will also be joining the festival.
Camilla Bowater is Whitney Straights’s daughter and will be reunited with the Maserati 8CM in which he won the 1934 SA Grand Prix, his final race.
There will also be three generations of Scheckters including Ian, David (son of Tom Scheckter who raced in the 1937 SA Grand Prix) and his grandson, Alan.
In addition to various other VIPs and motorsport personalities, Colin Meyer will represent some history as the son of Buller Meyer, who came second in 1937 and won the 1938 SA Grand Prix.
A fantastic Drivers’ Club Hospitality facility will be available, with a great view of the start/finish line and in close proximity to the paddock.
VIP packages are available that include a lunchtime grid walk, VIP parking and all-day Premium Canape Food experience and drinks.
In addition to the actual races, the pre-war cars will be retracing the original 17km Prince George Circuit that hosted the SA Grand Prix between 1934 and 1939.
The only part of the original circuit that no longer remains is where the East London airport is now built and the cars will parade around its full length, which incorporates the East London track as it is known today.
Limited general access and VIP hospitality tickets for both the East London Race event and the Grand Prix Garden Party at Val de Vie on December 1 and 2 are available for purchase at www.sahistoricgp.com or follow the event on Facebook at SA Historic Grand Prix Festival.