Kyalami sale boosts SA motorsport
Chandrea Gerber
28 July 2004
The home of South African motorsport, the Kyalami International Raceway, has been sold to a consortium for R42-million. MJF Associates now owns 40% of Kyalami, with Imperial Bank and Imperial Motor Holdings each holding 30%.
MJF Associates will run and manage the circuit, and managing director Mike Fogg says Kyalami will remain first and foremost a motorsport icon.
Imperial Bank and Imperial Motor Holdings will cast their focus on developing all facets of motoring, including advanced driver training (where better to do it than at a world class high speed racing track?) and motor vehicle retail. Plans have even been mooted for a limited exclusive residential development.
Tak Hiemstra, CEO of Imperial, emphasised the importance placed on the motorsport character of Kyalami by saying: "We see Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit and its environs as a national motor industry heritage site."
Aerial view of the Kyalami International Raceway
The circuit is located on 72 hectares of prime land in Midrand, Johannesburg. The potential for future development is huge, and this is where the consortium will differ from the previous owners of Kyalami, the Automobile Association (AA).
AA managing director Ed Kok is happy to have sold the circuit to the consortium. "It was always our intention to sell Kyalami to a company which had the best interests of motor sport at heart", Kok said, adding that the sale would "take AA Kyalami - and motorsport - into an exciting new phase of development".
While there are no plans to change Kyalami's layout, there are plenty of plans to increase the number of motorsport events it hosts - and negotiations have already started to make the dream a reality.
The biggest dream is, of course, to host a Formula One Grand Prix again. That last happened in
1993.
In the meantime, Kyalami is offering an appetiser in the form of the first-ever two-seater Formula One Grand Prix - see Kyalami's F1x2 spectacular.
Source: City of Johannesburg
| 
