The Cool Down Lap: Toby Venter

As chief executive officers of large companies go, Toby Venter is … well, different. For one thing, the CEO of LSM Distributors which owns Porsche in South Africa, is an extremely accomplished race car driver. For another, he is widely revered as the man who, five years ago, saved the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit from becoming a business park.

It was Venter who, when Kyalami went up for auction, convinced the LSM Distributors board to buy it. And, it was Venter who initiated the process that will see the international 9-Hour race return to Kyalami this weekend.

“It will be a huge moment for our company and for South African motorsport enthusiasts to see the return of this iconic race, which last took place here 37 years ago,” he says. We meet him at Kyalami, where he occupies a small office in a corner of the administration building. Not for him a huge, carpeted area with a massive desk and original art on the walls. “I come here to work,” he says. He vividly remembers buying Kyalami on July 24, 2014.

“I told the board the sure way of not getting the circuit was not to attend the auction. We thought the property developers would outbid us, but that did not happen and, R200 million later, we owned Kyalami. Then we were faced with huge further expense. Looking at the state of the circuit, we realised we would have to rebuild, rather than fix, it”.

“In the process we had to adopt a master business plan, where the venue could soon start earning revenue, and we managed that by hiring out the track itself, plus the conference facilities, and utilising the circuit for Porsche’s own testing needs,” he says.

Picture: Neil McCartney

Today, Kyalami is regularly used by international companies for car launches, conferences and training exercises. They find that hiring the facility works out much cheaper than holding the same functions overseas. Venter has vivid recollections of the day he fell deeply in love with Kyalami.

“In 1967, at the age of 12, I sat in John Love’s pit at Kyalami when he led the South African F1 Grand Prix with a Cooper Climax for many laps. He was going to win it, but the car ran low on fuel near the end and he was forced to stop for a really quick refuelling stop. That let Pedro Rodriguez win the race in his Cooper Maserati, but I will never forget the crowd being almost hysterical while our champion led a F1 Grand Prix. I was hooked for life – on Kyalami itself and motorsport as a whole,” Venter says.

Over the years, he raced in various categories, ranging from Motocross,  via Group N saloon cars, to the Porsche 944 Turbo Cup series. He has fond memories of the Turbo Cup series that saw drivers doing battle in identical Porsche 944 Turbo models.

“I won that championship, beating drivers like Sarel van der Merwe, Nico Bianco, Chris Aberdein and Wayne Taylor,” Venter says, pointing at a turbocharger-shaped copper trophy – one of the few personal effects in his almost Spartan office. He went on to race a works Porsche 911 GT2 in South African Extreme Supercar events, holding the overall lap record at various South African circuits for a number of years. “We retired her after running out of ways to keep making her quicker,” Venter says.

He is still passionate about local motorsport and believes the return of the 9-Hour will boost both South African spectator numbers and the number of potential race car drivers. “The fact that three South Africans in the 9-Hour will be in factory team cars from overseas will show aspiring South African drivers that motorsport dreams can become reality.

“If the 9-Hour helps to start one professional driver on his or her way, we will have done a really good thing.” That apart, the 9-Hour will incorporate other activities like a large music concert. If three percent of the concertgoers watch some of the racing, decide they enjoy it and return to race circuits next year, it will be another big win for motorsport.”

Picture: Neil McCartney

Venter is a huge MotoGP and Brad Binder fan and does not rule out the possibility of Kyalami one day hosting such events. The interview concluded, he climbed into a Porsche 991.2 GT3 RS – the fastest Porsche road car available in this country. Not for Mr Venter an air-conditioned, chauffeur-driven Bentley. “Hell, no,” he says.

“We make awesome toys like this and it would be a sin if I did not drive it, since I can. I will return to the racetrack next year and the Extreme Supercar people will sit up and take notice.”

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