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Historic Racing in the spotlight with events in Germany and South Africa

Michele Lupini05.02.2020

The motor racing season is waking from winter hibernation, in Europe, with some excellent historic events for aficionados starting with the Retro Classics car show in Stuttgart from 27 February until 1 March and the Techno-Classica Essen from 25 to 29 March 2020.

In contrast, down on the tip of Africa the historic season is in full swing in the sunshine of the southern hemisphere summer where the action is on track which Michele Lupini is monitoring for Paddock Legends.

Historic F1 Celebrating a South African Legend

The Historic Grand Prix Car Association is on tour on South Africa, having thrilled the Pretoria crowd at the weekend’s Zwartkops Passion for Speed races, with the circus now enjoying a glorious safari en route to Cape Town in time for the second round of the series at Killarney on Saturday

The  HGPCA salutes five decades of Grand Prix glory by racing the cars that actually competed back in the day, from the Bugattis, Alfa Romeos, ERAs and more of the 1920s and ‘30s through the Maseratis, Vanwalls and Altas of the ‘50s to the splendid ‘sixties 1.5-litre Lotuses, Coopers. Brabhams and more.  

The series celebrates history and technical innovation as much as it strives to educates new generations of motor racing fans about the past, when legends the likes of Nuvolari, Farina, Ascari, Fangio, Hawthorn, Brabham, Clark and Surtees once roamed the earth.

Grand Prix racing however has a great history in South Africa, not just from the classic East London races of the 30s and 60s and on throuh the Kyalami era until the early 1990s, but the country also famously hosted its own Formula 1 championship through the 1960s and ‘70s dominated by local heroes, Rhodesian John Love, Dave Charlton and the like.

Racing 250F an African First  

So, the Historic Grand Prix Car Association’s not only brings a bit of grand prix history to Africa, but it recalls a great and tragically almost forgotten domestic Grand Prix and Formula 1 era, but to those who do so fondly remember, these races certainly do pull more than just the old chord.  

The line-up this year includes some race cars quite familiar to longer in the tooth local race fans, but there is also some machinery they will find quite unique and exciting

Christian Dumolin’s 1956 Maserati 250F is one very special car never seen in race action in SA before. Earlier straight-six 250Fs like this took Juan Manuel Fangio to six grand prix wins in his two stints at Maserati, including his legendary final victory when he overcame a 48-second deficit in 22 laps, to pass Mike Hawthorn on the final lap before taking the flag the old at the Nürburgring. Stirling Moss still says that the 250F was the best front-engined Formula 1 car he ever drove.

The oldest car on tour, Ian Nuthall’s '52 Formula 2 Alta is another unique car to local fans. Altas raced in five FIA World Championship Formula 1 grands prix races between 1950 and 1952, as well as old school Grand Prix events prior to that and the company also supplied engines to other grand prix and Formula 1 other constructors including Connaught and HWM.

The rest of the  African Tour HGPCA grid will however be well appreciated by South African race cognoscenti, with most all of the cars not only having raced in South African Grands Prix, but many are indeed cars that actually competed in the local championship back in the day.

Anti-Convention Coopers

Designed by Owen Maddock, the four-cylinder Coopers followed the company’s early 500cc single-cylinder Formula Junior cars and played a crucial role in late-50s and early-60s Formula 1. Maddock ignored conventional thinking to ‘put the horse behind the cart’ in a lightweight mid-engined layout versus previous, relatively cumbersome front-engined F1 cars.  

Featuring an adaptable gearbox and differential mounted, the Cooper also had fuel tanks each side of the driver to maintain balance whatever the fuel load and advanced wishbone front, but old school leaf spring rear  suspension.

The T45 evolved out of the T43, which Stirling Moss drove to Cooper's historic first rear-engined Formula 1 win, while Syd van der Vyver took a T43 to the 1960 SA championship, The T45 also won races, but the T51 Climax carried Jack Brabham to the first-ever rear-engined Formula 1 Drivers World Championship in 1959.  

If the Cooper T51 was a success, the sleeker ‘lowrider’ T53 with its all-independent suspension would prove sensational as Brabham went on to utterly dominate the 1960 F1 world championship with the help of teammate Bruce McLraren, who also won a couple of races.

Coopers of course played a major part in the then South African Formula 1 championship, where the tough and wieldy machines became a staple, so the visiting cars are set to strike a chord with older local race fans, especially considering his T55 and T79 contributed to four of John Love’s six South African championships.  

The touring party includes James Willis’ T45, Stephan Jobstl and Rod Jolley's T45/51s and Steve Hart's Cooper 51 Maserati — similar to the Scuderia Lupini version that Love drove to one of his first SA Formula 1 race wins. Justin Maeers and Will Nuthall are racing a pair of Cooper T53s, Geoff Underwood an Alfa Romeo-powered T56/59 Formula Junior and Chris Drake his unique '64 T71/73 Ford.

Fetherweight Loti

Perhaps Cooper's biggest rival in early ‘60s Formula 1, Colin Chapman's trademark featherweight Lotus 18 was introduced for the 1960 Formula 1, 2 and Junior seasons. Super lightweight, simple and most often comprising a rear-mounted 2.5-litre Coventry Climax FPF engine on a triangulated tube frame with supple independent wishbone suspension and flimsy body panels, the 18 was most famous for Stirling Moss racing Rob Walker Racing's car to four grand prix victories in 1960 and ’61.

Syd van der Vyver, Ernest Pieterse and Neville Lederle also also won South African F1 titles in Alfa Romeo and Climax propelled 18/21s too. Andrew Beaumont has his 18 in SA, while Brad Hoyt has an Alfa Romeo-powered version and Erik Staes and Peter Horsman are racing their 1961 18/21s in Africa. The 21 by the way denotes cars that were built to the later 1.5-litre Formula 1 regulations introduced in 1961.

Another interesting car one again racing in the African sunshine is John Romano’s 1964 Repco Brabham BT11 built as a compeitiive customer car for Formula 1 by privateers and occasionally also used by the Brabham works team. Dan Gurney’s second in Mexico in ’64 was the BT11’s best world championship result, but SA fans will rememebr BT11s and similar Repco Brabhams and LDS  that starred in the local series by driven SA champions John Love, Dave Charlton and others.

Real African Heroes

The final two cars racing at Zwartkops and Killarney are of particular South African interest — Eddy Perk's Heron-Alfa Romeo was a prototype Formula Junior designed by Les Redmond and Syd Diggory, which found its way to SA, where Tony Maggs fitted it with a Climax engine, but he hit problems in the  ’60 SA grand Prix.  

Ernest Pieterse then replaced the Climax with a Conrero Alfa Romeo 1.5-litre and raced it with some success in the local series where it also contributed to his ’62 SA title.

Last but not least, Arnold Herreman’s 1962 LDS 06 Alfa Romeo makes a welcome return to home soil. There is some dispute as to how many LDS were actually made versus the greater number said to exist, but Louis ‘Doug’ Serrurier’s home brewed Alfa Romeo 1.5-litre Mark 1 and Mark 2 models like Herreman’s car, were based on Cooper designs, whilst the later Mark 3 was based on the Brabham BT11.

Eight LDS cars participated in five South African Grands Prix and while none scored world championship points, Pieter de Klerk ended third to John Surtees and Lorenzo Bandini’s Ferraris at the non-championship ’63 Rand Grand Prix and ended a close second to John Love on that year’s SA championship and LDS also found regular success in the SA championship.

Racing at Zwartkops

Saturday’s races at Zwartkops saw Will Nuthall drive his Cooper T53 to victory over Andrew Beaumont and Peter Horsman's Lotus 18s to not only revive 1960 world championship memories of Brabham fending off a young Clark and Moss, but also of great South African tussles between the likes of Love, van der Vyver, Lederle and Pieterse.  

The LDS, Heron and Cooper-Maserati meanwhile tussled a little further back and that Maserati 250F and Alta made for some rather belated, yet stunning first impression. (Photos: Paul Bedford)

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