A strong southeaster

Cape Town fans of classic racing have a lot to look forward to as the season’s premier racing festival heads to Killarney Racetrack this coming weekend. Many consider the bygone era of motorsport the heyday of racing in SA and they get to view old racecars and race drivers in action.

The multi-part festival hosted at Zwartkops Raceway near Pretoria last weekend saw thousands of fans turn up to see the likes of Jan Lammers pilot Michael Schumacher’s 1994 Benetton Formula One car. Dubbed the Cape South Easter the event promises the greatest variety of historic racing events ever presented at Killarney.

The bill will include the final rounds of the Springbok Series and the South African Tourist Trophy as well as sprint events for pre-1966 Sports and GT Cars, pre-1966 Legend Production Cars, pre-1977 Historic Saloon Cars, pre-1977 /1984 Sports and GT Cars, pre-1974 International Sports Prototypes, the GT Challenge, Fine Cars, pre-1971 Historic Single seaters and Historic Motorcycles.

Among the machinery one can expect to see famous racing cars from years gone by including Porsche 917s and 911s, Ford GT40s and Mustangs, two monstrous 7,0-litre Ford Galaxies, Chevy Camaros and the fearsome Lola T70s. A Formula 1 BRM once driven by Jackie Stewart will also make an appearance in the single-seater class, which features 26 entries.

Old Alfas, which never seem to die, a barrage of Fords and Minis as well as a few GSM Darts will be jostling for position all weekend. Racing will be split between classic motorcycles and cars take place all weekend.

Apart from the desirable machinery doing battle on track several big names will be in attendance evoking old rivalries. Among these will be Sarel “Supervan” der Merwe and Peter Lindenberg, British Formula One drivers Richard Attwood and Brian Redman as well as Le Mans 24-Hour race winner, Holland’s Jan Lammers.

The famous Scheckter family will be represented by Ian while SA’s most successful female driver Desire Wilson will also be there to give some of the lads a driving lesson. Koos Swanepoel and Peter Gough are also entered. For those of you that don’t know Wilson is the only lady to win a Formula 1 race of any kind. It was a round of the British Aurora Series at Brands Hatch rather than a world championship event.

Admission is R80 per day or R120 for a weekend pass for adults. Scholars under 16 pay R20 and there is no charge for kiddies under 12.