Race Track: Durban (street circuit)
Location: South Africa
Race Day: Sunday, 29 January 2006
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The all-new Durban street circuit that has been built especially
for the seventh round of the inaugural A1 Grand Prix series centred
on Durban's elegant ocean frontage looks set to provide drama
aplenty at the first corner.
The 3.2 kilometre layout has its start/finish line opposite Natal
Command in Snell Parade, lying between Natal Command and the beach.
Running in a clockwise direction, the circuit offers a blast down
to a very tight first corner. This is a right-hand hairpin out of
which the cars will then accelerate flat-out back up Snell Parade
and then snap left into Argyle Road with a left/right chicane
breaking its westward flow.
A faster right-hand corner feeds the cars onto what is normally NMR
Avenue for the longest straight on the course. This kinks to the
right just before its conclusion, then the track turns sharp right
and thus east onto Battery Beach Road, ducking under the M4
freeway. Another right follows, with the track then entering a
long, arcing left past the Suncoast Casino, complete with a chicane
just before it starts to arc. Finally, the lap is completed with an
openish right onto the start/finish straight on Snell Parade.
Much like at the world famous Monaco street circuit, the amount of
space available around Durban's temporary street circuit is limited
by the downtown landscape, but still the organisers have fitted in
temporary grandstand seating for 22,000.
SOUTH AFRICA'S MOTORSPORT HISTORY
South Africa has a long and strong motorsport heritage that would
be stronger still but for its period of near sporting isolation
during the years of apartheid.
The country's first motor race was at East London in 1934, around a
15-mile long lay-out around the outskirts of the city, with
American driver Whitney Straight winning that first South African
Grand Prix in a Maserati. The circuit was gradually shortened and
the grand prix remained there until a new circuit was built closer
in to town in 1959, its setting in a natural amphitheatre making
its exceedingly popular. This attracted a round of the F1 World
Championship for the first time in 1962, with Graham Hill
triumphant for BRM.
However, after two more visits, the World Championship moved inland
for its visit in 1967, alighting to the Kyalami circuit on the
outskirts of Johannesburg. And there is stayed through until 1985
when Nigel Mansell won for Williams. After a seven-year hiatus
triggered by the teams being uneasy about South Africa's prevalent
system of Apartheid, the World Championship was back again in 1992
and Mansell won again. But this return was shortlived and South
Africa hasn't hosted a grand prix since 1993, although this has
largely been for economic grounds, as well as the fact that the
Kyalami circuit has been chopped in size and much of its original
layout is now under a housing development.
Through the 1950s, there were also circuits at Grand Central in
Johannesburg, Gunner's Circle in Cape Town and the Roy Hesketh
circuit in Pietersmaritzburg. The first two failed to last through
the 1960s and have long since been replaced by the Killarney
circuit near Cape Town, the Phakisa Raceway at Welkom in the Orange
Free State, Aldo Scribante outside Port Elizabeth and the Zwartkops
circuit.
A POTTED HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA
The Republic of South Africa is the richest country on the African
continent, a country whose component forms are best illustrated by
the national flag on which the black, green and yellow segments are
the colours of the African National Congress and its red, white and
blue segments are the colours of the former Dutch republics.
The Dutch East India Company established a colony at Cape Town in
1652, using it as a port of call for its ships as they rounded the
Cape of Good Hope on their way to the East Indies. France then
displaced the Dutch before the British laid claim to the Cape in
1795, going on to buy the hinterland from the Dutch in 1814. The
indigenous Zulus rose up to defend their lands, but the might of
the Dutch was shown between 1836 and 1838 as 10,000 Boers (Dutch
for farmer) made the Great Trek inland to escape British rule.
British influence increased in 1843 with the formation of the
colony of Natal and the power struggle between British and Dutch
continued through the remainder of the 19th century, culminating in
the Boer War in 1881 in which the Boers came out on top. War flared
out again in 1899, but this time the British came out ahead and
took over Transvaal and Orange Free State, with the Union of South
Africa being formed in 1910.
While all this battling was going on, the black majority was being
repressed and the African National Congress was formed in 1912,
something that became all the more important when South Africa's
population became classified by race in 1950, with segregation
according to colour ensuing. South Africa was expelled from the
Commonwealth in 1961 and massed relocation led to the formation of
black homelands. By 1986, the rest of the world had imposed
economic sanctions on South Africa.
The tide turned in 1989 when FW de Klerk replaced PW Botha as
president and political prisoners were released, with some such as
former ANC leader Nelson Mandela having served as many as 25 years
behind bars. With Apartheid having been repealed by 1991 and the
ANC winning the 1994 general election, the nation's economy has
blossomed with the population of more than 40 million people
benefiting thanks to the combination of South Africa's considerable
natural resources - it's the world's leading producer of gold,
coal, diamonds, natural gas and agricultural products - as well as
inward investment. South Africa's burgeoning tourism industry also
brings in a considerable amount of money.
Durban itself has two main functions. It's a holiday resort and
it's the nation's principal port, the point of egress for the goods
produced by its province of KwaZulu Natal as well as the heavy
goods and mined products from the Orange Free State and
Transvaal.
