05/02/2009
NEWS STORY
The Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit is gearing up to host its biggest motor racing weekend in years, the South African round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. It will be the first time the series has visited the home of South African motor sport.
Kyalami, 24 km north of central Johannesburg in the province of Gauteng, has hosted many of the world's premier motor racing formulas, including Formula One, MotoGP and World Super Bikes. The newly-formed Gauteng Motor Sport Company, headed by former Formula One test driver Stephen Watson, are the promoters of the A1GP event and will also be bringing the sixth round of the FIM World Super Bike (SBK) championship to Kyalami on May 15, 16 and 17.
The circuit measures 4.26 km and is laid out in an anti-clockwise direction. There are 11 turns, which include three of the corners of the original grand prix circuit, built in 1961 and rated internationally as one of the great circuits in the world. These are the fast right-hander called Sunset (turn 4), the tight left-hander known as Clubhouse (turn 5) and the fast downhill Esses (turn 6).
The current circuit layout was built in 1991, with only one minor addition since, the building of a chicane at the penultimate corner (turn 10). It also features the intimidating downhill section known as The Mineshaft that links turns 7 and 8. The lap ends with a slow left-hander (turn 11) that leads on to the short pit straight and across the start/finish line before diving into the fast turns 1 and 2. Kyalami remains one of the most recognised names in world motor sport.
The fastest recorded race lap on the current circuit is 1 min 34.776 sec, set in 1998 in a Sports Racing World Cup event. Appropriately, it was in the legendary Ferrari 333 SP driven by Italian Mauro Baldi and should be bettered by the Powered by Ferrari A1GP cars.
The fastest single seater race lap on the current circuit was set at the GP Masters event in 2005 by Nigel Mansell in a Reynard with a time of 1:36.390.