South Africa became part of the international calendar in the early 1960s with the new 1.5-litre F1, and such was the country’s enthusiasm for motor sport that new circuits at Kyalami, East London and Killarney all opened at the turn of the decade. The grand prix was included on the world championship schedule and, due to the lengthy journey to get there in the first place, other top-level races were staged, the European teams taking in three or four weekends of action. Up against them were the local privateers, their stories at first glance seeming to be of building up their labours of love in dusty mining towns using parts they found lying around.
But among this was inventiveness rivalling anything in Europe. First, the engine of choice tended to be the four-cylinder Alfa Romeo: they were plentiful, and could be modified to offer performance not far adrift of the hard-to-obtain – and costly – Climax powerplants used by the likes of Lotus. In the chapter on Syd van der Vyver’s Cooper-Alfa, it is said that Stirling Moss invited the ex-speedway ace to Rob Walker’s Surrey premises to sort the handling on his Lotus 18, and even provide one of his Alfa powerplants.
Special Brew
Robert Young
Evro Publishing, £50 ISBN 9781918070026
Then there’s Doug Serrurier with his series of LDS chassis. Much mention is made of ‘Doug’s tape measure’ being put to good use as he studied the visiting proprietary chassis, even if there is no doubting his technical prowess. And why not copy, say, Cooper and Brabham? “Doug will continue to be remembered as a remarkable engineer who achieved something that few others can claim – to have built their own grand prix car, albeit with a little help from we Aussies!” remarked Jack Brabham in a foreword to a separate book Young wrote on the LDS cars.
Peter de Klerk, of Alfa Special fame, had already returned to South Africa after a stint working at Lotus, where he prepared the engines of Graham Hill’s and Cliff Allison’s F1 cars; his intended 6000-mile hitch-hike from Durban to Hornsey is probably worth a book in itself… Several years later, Lotus chief Colin Chapman would commend de Klerk on having “the fastest four-cylinder car in the world”.
Tape measure-wielding Serrurier was racing his LDS in the 1963 South African GP
LAT
The text, painstakingly recording the modifications, is scholarly, but the stories are colourful and the 400 images provide insight into a fascinating motor sport sub-culture that Young was determined should not be forgotten. Gordon Murray, South Africa’s most celebrated car designer, agrees: he wrote the foreword and, as we learn, went from his own special to Brabham fan car in just 12 years.