Retro racing celebrates speed at Zwartkops
Car enthusiasts headed inland for their annual fix of thrills and motor racing nostalgia.
SOUTH Coast petrol heads wandered inland recently, on their annual pilgrimage to watch the 16th annual ‘Passion for Speed’ event at Zwartkops Raceway near Pretoria. This historical festival of speed, a retro day of nostalgia and thrills, started out as the ‘David Piper Day’ when he and Mike Knight inspired the series in 1988 as the pre-1970 International Sports Prototype Club.
For South Africans this has evolved into the international ‘Passion for Speed’ series that attracts iconic cars and racing car drivers from many different countries every year. It also pays homage to our country’s rich motor racing heritage that once included spectacular motor races like the South African Grand Prix and the legendary Nine Hour race.
The ‘Passion for Speed’ programme included a number of Legends of the Nine Hour events that hark back back to the Kyalami Nine Hours, an endurance sports car race contested in South Africa from the late 1950s until the late 1980s.
These races were SKF pre-1968 ‘Little giants’ races for production and sports cars, the ‘Battle of the giants’ events, featuring pre-1966 ‘big banger’ saloons and the 16th South African Tourist Trophy for pre-1968 Le Mans Sports amd GT cars, a particularly thrilling 45-minute race and one of the highlights of the day.
There were also events for SA single seaters of the 1950s, 60s ansd 70s, Lotus challenges, races for pre-1984 historic saloons and pre-1974 racing prototypes, GT Ferrari Challenges, ‘wings and slicks events and extreme supercars races.
With so much speed, action and motoring history to offer it is not surprising this event is considered one of the biggest motor racing happenings in South Africa today.
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