autoevolution
 

Kyalami Circuit in South Africa Sold to Porsche for $19.5 Million

Porsche has paid a great deal of money to enter into possession of the most famous race track on the continent. As opposed to other ill-intentioned bidders at the auction event that took place in Johannesburg, the Stuttgart-based manufacturer won't demolish the landmark motorsport venue in order to build office buildings or a shopping mall.
"Track map for Kyalami" by Will Pittenger (Wikipedia Commons); original photo by autoevolution; edited by autoevolution 1 photo
Photo: "Track map for Kyalami" by Will Pittenger (Wikipedia Commons); original photo by autoevolution; edited by autoevolution
The bidding opened at $19 million and was the last of 25 lots that were sold at the event. After a single former bid, Porsche South Africa went to win Gauteng's iconic Kyalami race track for $19.5 million. Although there are slim chances for the track to host Formula 1 events in the near future, the German automaker's modernization plan might attract lower tier motorsport events here.

In its actual configuration, which was penned in 1992, the asphaltic strip measures 4.26 kilometers (2.65 miles) and boasts 13 turns in total. Roughly translating to "my home" in the Zulu people's language, Kyalami circuit has seen its last Formula 1 Grand Prix race 21 years ago, when Alain Prost (Williams), Ayrton Senna (McLaren) and Mark Blundell (Ligier) were the fastest drivers over the finish line.

In more recent years, the Kyalami race track has played host to several motorsport event such the Superbike World Championship (from 1998 to 2002; 2009 and 2010), the final round of the 2009 and 2010 Superstars Series, as well as the A1 Grand Prix (2008 and 2009). It's unknown if Porsche will use this track as its own testing facility, but hats off to these guys for saving the track from degradation.
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories