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South Africa: Nine Hours of Classic Kyalami Action
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Business Day (Johannesburg)
22 November 2007
Posted to the web 22 November 2007
Johannesburg
FOLLOWING what was described by organisers as a resounding success last weekend, motorsport body the FIA has inscribed the 50th anniversary of the Kyalami 9-Hour into its calendar for international historic racing.
The event will take place in November 2008. This comes after Kyalami hosted the Classic Car Africa 9-Hour meeting on Saturday, which saw international entries mixing it up with local enthusiasts.
Everyone at Kyalami was treated to a stunning day's classic racing to commemorate those legendary races of the '50, '60s, '70s and '80s. The 9-hour revival saw a pit area crowded with 100 legendary race cars, excited competitors and classic-racing fans prepared for a trio of racing classes in three heats apiece over nine gruelling hours.
Racing began with a classic Le Mans-type start in the first heat of the Pre-1966 Grand Central Trophy, and by the end of the evening, former Daytona 24-hour winner and ex-SA Drivers' Champion Tony Martin was ecstatic to lift the original Rand Daily Mail Kyalami Trophy. He and teammate Ressel Westuzen's Backdraft Cobra had started from third on the opening 45-minute heat behind Richard Ransome's similar car and David Piper and Mario Casoni in the Ferrari 250 LM Piper had won the 1964 Kyalami 9-hour in.
Perhaps the most exciting race of the Pre-66 day was the half-hour night race that saw a race-long duel between Classic Car Africa editor Stuart Grant's 1958 Protea Triumph, Edwin Green's '59 MGA Twin Cam, Brett Peachey's Alfa Sprint, Massimo Astegno's Alfa Giulia and Star Motoring scribe Jesse Adams' Ford Cortina GT. Martin used his night racing experience to take a commanding win and assure himself Kyalami 9-hour glory.
The biggest field of the day ensured the most action and it was Pretoria attorney Andre Bezuidenhout who survived best in the Pre-77 9-hour Trophy. A 44-car grid formed behind the pace car for the rolling start of the first heat with the Peter Bailey/Rui Campos Porsche 917 ahead of Mike Nel and Colin Frost's stunning Ford GT40s, the Porsche 911 RSR trio of John Greve, Bezuidenhout, Warren Bricknell/Mervyn Fiebeger, Peter Lindenberg and Anthony Corin in the ex-Olthoff BG Ford Capri Perana, and the Chevrolet Camaros of Hennie Groenewald/Cobus Pienaar and Michele Lupini/Willie Hepburn.
The Kyalami Trophy for Post-76 cars brought high-profile action in the form of a Porsche 956 vs Porsche 962C battle at the head of the field, but it was a Group 5 racing Porsche from a few years earlier that best survived the modern-class action. Kyalami fans will long remember Saturday's car-to-car dice between Vernon Bricknell's Porsche 962C and the earlier but similar 956 driven by Franz Pretorius.
A delayed pit stop put paid to Pretorius' chances in Heat 1, while Bricknell's second heat came to an end after contact with Citizen Motoring editor Andrede Kok's VSP Opel.
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Pretorius' victory in the combined Pre-77/Post-76 night race wasn't enough to take overall honours though as Thomas Reib's consistent drive in his Porsche 935K3 was enough to secure overall Kyalami Trophy victory for the day by two laps.
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