KYALAMI HISTORY

The last Grand Prix held at Kyalami in 1993 saw two of the all-time F1 greats duelling it out for the lead (pictured on page 104). Lap after lap, Ayrton Senna in a Mclaren-ford held off Alain Prost in a vastly superior Williams-renault, but eventually the inevitable happened and Prost drove to victory. That race was run 31 years after the first F1 Grand Prix was held at Kyalami, the 1961 non-championship event won by the late Jim Clark in a Lotus. The first World Championship Grand Prix at Kyalami was in 1967 when it was almost won by Rhodesian John Love in an outdated Cooperclimax before he had to stop for extra fuel. Mexico’s Pedro Rodriguez was the winner in a Cooper Maserati, the last GP win for both Cooper and Maserati. So yes, the track has a storied history. Niki Lauda scored his first comeback win in 1977 after his fiery Nürburgring accident the previous year had nearly claimed his life. Two years prior, Jody Scheckter won his home Grand Prix in a Tyrrell, to the wild acclaim of more than 100 000 fans. It is interesting to note how much planning is required to run a modern Grand Prix in contrast to 60 years ago. In March 1961, members of the SA Motor Racing Club gathered at a farm in Kyalami, midway between Johannesburg and Pretoria and decided it would be a good venue for Jo’burg’s new track. By May of that year, the first cut of the proposed circuit was made by then mayor, Dave Marais, at the helm of a bulldozer and the circuit was officially opened on 4 November 1961 with a 9 Hour race. On 9 December 1961, the first (nonchampionship) Rand Grand Prix was held at Kyalami, just nine months later. Jim Clark of Scotland won that first race for Lotus, and two years later he would be world champion. Clark also won the 1968 South African Grand Prix for Lotus; it would be his last Grand Prix win. These first and last wins at Kyalami bookended the career of greatest racing driver of his era. Sadly, a few months later he lost his life in a Formula Two race at Hockenheim, Germany.