Cape Town – It’s fitting that the first meeting of the season at the Killarney circuit should be the international Historic Passion for Speed festival, the second and final leg of an international historic racing series that started at Zwartkops, south of Pretoria, on January 31.
The series attracts some iconic names from the golden age of Grand Prix racing, including six-times World Champion Jim Redman, now a sprightly 83 years old, who’s down to ride Ian Groat’s replica Honda four-cylinder 250cc Grand Prix machine in the classic motorcycle parade, along with Grand Prix star of the 1970s and 80s, eight-times Isle of Man TT winner Yorkshireman Mick Grant, eight times who has entered a Suzuki RG500 ‘square four’ two-stroke, South African Jimmy Guthrie (Manx Norton) Peter Labuschagne’s ‘wagon wheels’ G50 Matchless (reputed to have been the first Grand Prix machine to run on cast-alloy wheels) and Team Incomplete principal Ian Groat on the team’s superb McIntyre AJS.
Also entered are multiple South African champions Rodney Gray, on the infamous Yamaha 1.1 he converted from shaft to chain drive in the late 1970s, and Graeme van Breda on an mid-80s Suzuki GSX-R1100, as well as Scottish road racers Ian Simpson and Rob Burns, each on a Suzuki XR69 endurance racer, the forerunner of the iconic GSX-R750.
On of the headline events of the series is the SA Tourist Trophy for historic, production-based road-racing machines, with the final two legs to be run at Killarney on Saturday. This is a racing series, not a parade, with an international championship at stake.
Defending title-holder Ian Simpson, an Isle of Man TT race winner and former British Superbike Champion (Suzuki GSX-R750) will come under pressure from the softly-spoken Grey – one of the hardest riders ever in South African production-based motorcycle racing – local veteran David Bolding on the Suzuki Katana ‘Big Bertha’ and the Springs father-and-son combination of Les and Graeme van Breda.
Adding spice to this contest will an ‘honour challenge’ - a race within a race - between four-man teams of former champions from Scotland and South Africa, each on a ‘golden era’ production-based Suzuki – either a classic Gixer, a Katana or a GS1000 ‘Ice Cream Machine.
Scotland will be represented by Simpson, his father Bill, five times Scottish champion and British endurance champion Gordon Grigor and another multiple Scottish champion and former European 600 Supersport champion, Howard Selby.
Local pride will be defended by the Van Bredas, ably backed by Gray and Van Breda; with a father-and-son pairing in each team, there is more than just national pride at stake here; expect fireworks.