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Crawl, walk, run . . . and then only race, cautions new Kyalami owner

PIT STOP Pit stop in the 1983 Castrol 1000 endurance race for the Martini Racing Lancia LC2–83 of Ricardo Patrese and Alessandro Nannini

Photo by Roger Swan

PORSCHE HISTORY A line-up of three Rothmans Porsche 956s before the start of the 1983 Castrol 1 000 km race, the last round of the World Endurance Championship. The drivers in the photo are Jacky Ickx, Jochen Mass, Stefan Bellof, Derek Bell, Al Holbert and Vern Schuppan. Bell and Bellof in Car No 2 won the race from the Martini Racing Lancia LC2–83 of Ricardo Patrese and Alessandro Nannini, with the Porsche 956 (Car No 1) of Ickx and Mass third

Photo by Roger Swan

NUMBER 18 Close racing at the start of the 1984 National Panasonic South African Grand Prix. This was the eighteenth SA Grand Prix to be held at Kyalami. Ricardo Patrese in the Benetton-sponsored Alfa Romeo here leads the way into Clubhouse corner, followed by Manfred Winkelhock (ATS-BMW). Niki Lauda, in a McLaren TAG-Porsche, eventually won the event. This was a critical win for Lauda who ended up winning the 1984 world Formula 1 Grand Prix driver’s championship by half a point from his teammate Alain Prost, who finished second at Kyalami after starting from the pit lane in his spare car and driving through the field

Photo by Roger Swan

Toby Venter Venter made his R205-million bid for the iconic race track via telephone

Photo by Duane Daws

17th October 2014

By: Irma Venter

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

  

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It is second time lucky for Toby Venter. Ten years ago, he negotiated to buy the Kyalami racetrack, but “the deal did not materialise”.

“When the opportunity came around again, I told my team that this was our last chance to secure the track. I didn’t think we’d succeed, but we did,” says Venter.

The 72 ha Midrand track and associated buildings sold at an auction in July in less than two minutes. The final price tag was R205-million. Venter made his bid via telephone.

The property was put up for auction because its holding company was being liquidated.

The plan for the track the first time round was the same as what it is now, says Venter – possibly housing the headquarters of Porsche South Africa (PSA), of which Venter is the CEO, and ensuring the now urbanised venue remains a race track.

PSA is not owned by the German sports car manufacturer, but imports the brand into South Africa.

Moving to Kyalami – misspelled, but meaning ‘my home’ in Zulu – will, however, not close the Porsche Centre in Paulshof, in Johannesburg, developed when Venter could not secure the race track the first time round.

Built in 2008, it was, before being overtaken by the Chinese, the largest Porsche dealership and service facility in the world.

A property company owned by the Venter family is the official owner of Kyalami, and not PSA, he notes.

PSA is “running out of space, especially storage space” in Johannesburg, explains Venter, and Kyalami will be a valuable addition to the family portfolio for potential future developments to support the Porsche business.

PSA has done well in South Africa, with the locals giving the German sports cars a firm jawohl. The company had its best year yet in 2013, selling 2 443 Porsches on the local market.

This year has seen much more caution in the market for luxury vehicles, with Porsche projecting to sell 1 050 units.
Venter says much of this decline is due to the weaker rand, which makes importing euro-priced stock more expensive, while the local economy has also cooled significantly.

“We are not pushing volume.”

However, he notes that PSA expects to see 2014 profit – including used cars, workshop and parts, tyre sales and bodyshop repairs – up on 2013.

Venter expects an improvement in new Porsche sales in 2015, owing to the cyclical nature of the automotive business, which has seen and will see some new and revived models surface at Porsche centres countrywide.

The new Macan crossover has just made its appearance, while PSA’s biggest selling model, the Cayenne, is on run-out this year, with a refreshed model arriving in November. The new Panamera is also expected in 2016.

A new PSA Porsche centre will open in Pretoria in 2015, adding to the ones in Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Venter believes Porsche’s appeal lays in its high resale value, compared with its competitors, as well as the thrills, safety and swagger the German-engineered sports car brings.

“Plus, it’s practical. You can go shopping in a Porsche.” What Went Wrong?
Transfer of the Kyalami property should take place in the next month, enabling Venter and his team to start the move to the racetrack.

Kyalami will remain a racetrack, confirms Venter. It will not morph into apartments of shopping centres, as has been the case with most of Midrand in recent years as urbanisation in Gauteng continues apace.

Where once Kyalami, located on the farm Bothasfontein, was out in the sticks, it is now surrounded by high-value property. Nestled between the fast-growing nodes of Sandton and Centurion, and next to the multibillion-rand Waterfall Estate development, it has become any property developer’s dream, while motorsport enthusiasts have been dreading its loss to urban creep.

Half of Kyalami was already sold off in the 1980s as an industrial site.

“We need to try to preserve the track,” says Venter.

Newspaper reports from 1961 tell of the objective of the newly formed South African Motor Racing Club to establish Kyalami, with the help of the mayor of Johannesburg, Dave Marais.

Funding for the construction of the track came from big corporates, such as Coca-Cola, South African Breweries, United Tobacco Company and the Rand Daily Mail newspaper.

Since 1961, the track has seen a number of owners, including the Automobile Association (AA), and the conglomerate from which Venter bought Kyalami, which included the Imperial and Nedbank groups.

In 2004, Kyalami sold for a ‘mere’ R42-million.

The track has hosted a number of great events, says motoring journalist Roger Houghton, whose sons have both won national motorsport championships.

He attended the first race at the new track in November 1961, as well as all 17 Grands Prix and motor champion motorcycle races held subsequently.

Events held at Kyalami in the past five to ten years have mainly been international motor- cycle races – five rounds of the World Superbike Championship – but the track also hosted two rounds of the A1 Grand Prix Series (2008/9), a Grand Prix Masters race (2005) and a round of the Superstars Series for production-based cars (2009/10).

The first Formula 1 (F1) Grand Prix to be staged at Kyalami was in 1967, with the last of 17 of these races held in 1993.

Alain Prost (Williams Renault) set the fastest time in qualifying and won the race, but had a monumental battle with Ayrton Senna (McLaren Ford), who finished second,” says Houghton.

“Other well-known drivers in a field of 26 who took part in the last race were future world champions Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill, as well as F1 commentator Martin Brundle, Rubens Barrichello and Gerhard Berger.”

With big names such as these associated with the South African track, why does it seem that Kyalami continues to struggle financially?

Motorsport commentator of 41 years Roger McCleery, who also served 17 years on South Africa’s Formula 1 Grand Prix committee, says Kyalami remains a “great, iconic track”, with challenging corners and a long straight, offer- ing great visibility to spectators.

Motorsport has become expensive, however. Running a Grand Prix used to cost around R75 000, but this is now close to R600-million, with safety measures at international events increasingly expensive, he adds.

McCleery believes Kyalami’s latest financial woes can be attributed to its failure to attract sponsors. Government aid is also required to host international races. In addition, a weak rand makes it difficult for ticket prices to recoup a significant percentage of event costs.

“Kyalami needs to get its crowd back. Motorsport in South Africa, in general, also needs to be rebranded, and made more exciting. We need motor manufacturers back at the races, and we need live broadcasting of race events.”

McCleery adds that it is important to preserve South Africa’s sport arenas and not allow property developers to change their purpose.

“This is true for Ellis Park, Loftus and the Wanderers, for example.”

Houghton believes Kyalami’s recent financial difficulties sprouted from the owners being more of a commercial property company, with “apparently little interest in motorsport”.

He says high rental costs and deteriorating facilities saw the departure of many tenants, such as advanced driving schools, to other race tracks, such as Zwartkops Raceway.

Does this mean the odds are stacked against Kyalami returning to its former glory?

McCleery says Venter will need to consider quite a number of options in order to make the venture financially viable. These may include luring advanced driver training schools and established driving schools back to the track. Ordinary South Africans can also pay to “do loops” at the track at speed. Other money- makers may include motor shows, exhibitions, cycle races, cycle training and car launches. Also on the list are historic, motorcycle, single seater and standard racing events.

Houghton believes Venter is the right man for the job to bring Kyalami back to life as a fully fledged race track.

“It is very important for the future of motorsport in South Africa that Kyalami succeeds under its new ownership, as few quality circuits remain in the country, especially as the economic downturn bites.

“Toby Venter is a highly rated businessman who is also a motorsport enthusiast. He now needs a strong manager to take over the running of the circuit as a business proposition. Making it viable means catering for the local market first, as major international events can put the track at risk again owing to the very high cost asso- ciated with these races,” says Houghton.

“Kyalami can become the centre of motorsport in South Africa. It can also become a Porsche World, such as the Ferrari World seen in Abu Dhabi. It can be used for advanced driver training and other events, such as exhibitions, to generate income. Admittedly, Kyalami is in a residential area, but the track was there first. There are noise control regulations in place, with a limited number of so-called noise days each year.”

Multifaceted Approach
“I can’t bear to see the track become a housing or commercial development,” says Venter. “We need to preserve it.”

Venter’s first visit to Kyalami was before his tenth birthday. He also attended the track’s first F1 Grand Prix in 1967, at age 12.

“My family was friends with [Zimbabwean] John Love, and I was in his pit on the day he nearly won in his Cooper Climax against the F1 cars from Europe.”

A loose fuel pump wire prompted Love to make a precautionary pit stop for extra fuel, pushing him back to second place, with Pedro Rodrigues taking the chequered flag. Ironically, Love lent Rodrigues a fuel pump before the race.

Venter also won his first major Porsche Cup race at Kyalami in 1988. “I was completely unknown. I came out of nowhere to win that race.”

With a history such as this, the question in every motorsport enthusiast’s mind is whether Kyalami can do it again. Can it host an F1 race?

“We would love to bring F1 back, but it is not realistic at this stage, unless government assists. That is F1. Other international races are possible, but before we can consider these we need to fix the place up, and that is our first priority,” notes Venter.

While the track is in good shape, the buildings and parking areas “need TLC”.

The second priority is to make the track a financially viable operation and to appoint a CEO and management team to look after Kyalami.

“We cannot run before we walk, or even walk before we crawl. We are taking baby steps here,” emphasises Venter.

He adds that the Venter family company is not a race promoter, but that it will work with anyone willing to promote motorsport.

“Maybe we will get into that business one day, but that financial risk must never jeopardise the track’s business plan.”

What is the business plan? In short, it includes track hire, driver training, hosting new-vehicle launches and other motor-related activities and business ventures.

It is also possible to race go-karts and hold 4 × 4 events at Kyalami.

“We’ll also look at nonmotoring events, such as cycling and shows. Kyalami is a great venue,” says Venter.

He has no specific budget in mind to spruce up Kyalami.

“We’ll look at different models around the world, at similar racing tracks, taking best practice and implementing it at Kyalami.”

Venter is cognisant of Kyalami’s poor financial record.

“The previous business models were all flawed for one reason or the other.

“Now, for the first time, Kyalami will be given a solid platform on which to operate, underpinned by the existing Porsche business in South Africa. All the ingredients are there, with exciting synergies between the businesses.”

Venter notes that the local motor industry is welcome to use Kyalami, and that he wants to provide all its role-players with an “open, transparent platform”.

And don’t forget, he says, Kyalami is still Kyalami – it remains, in its essence, an iconic racetrack. “It remains in big demand.”

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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