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| Young and new riders learn survival skills at Hesketh track. |
Kyalami racetrack in Gauteng may face the same future as Hesketh in Pietermaritzburg, where urban sprawl put an end to all racing. Instead, driver and rider safety training days are encouraged, as was hosted by the Roy Hesketh Motor Racing Foundation and bikers’ club, 100s Riders, on Saturday, when Hein Jonker of ‘Bike Talk’ magazine showed 18 new riders how to avoid collisions.
The historic Kyalami race track will be auctioned on July 24.
I asked Mike Fogg, who once owned Kyalami and is still
involved in the preservation of the equally historic Hesketh Race track in
Pietermaritzburg, his views on the issue.
Despite having information that Kyalami is a currently a profitable
venue for motorsport events, Fogg has a dire prediction for the track’s
future.
“Shareholder conflict has resulted in a constructive liquidation of
the Kyalami Circuit and this strategy to attain 100% control is about to
backfire badly and tragically result in the conversion of the circuit into an
Industrial and Housing Estate and [its] total demise,” he said.
The Kyalami race track is built on about 72 hectares in the centre
of a burgeoning residential and commercial suburb in Midrand, north of
Johannesburg.
Fogg said his family had owned the Kyalami Circuit solely at first
and then with other shareholders from 2003 to 2006, following an initiative of
the Roy Hesketh Motor Racing Foundation to save the circuit through a new
business plan. He said he is advised Kyalami remains highly viable as a motor
racing venue to this day.
The High Street Auction Co., South Africa’s premier auction house,
said the sale of the iconic race track will be the largest no-reserve auction in
the history of South Africa. The event also marks South Africa’s first race
track auction.
Lance Chalwin-Milton, joint managing director of High Street
Auctions, said the fact that there will be no reserve price means the property
will definitely be sold on Thursday, July 24.
“The High Street Auction Co. was only instructed by the liquidators
last week, but we have already received quite a number of inquiries from
America, London and Europe,” said Van Reenen.
High Street Auctions will be targeting two kinds of buyers over the
next two months, said Chalwin-Milton: Investors who will be looking at the
development rights of the track itself, and buyers who are interested in owning
a race track trophy.
The track has seen world-famous drivers, including Nigel Mansell,
Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, who over the years mastered the circuit of 4,26 km
and a total of 13 turns.
