The 1962 Formula One World Championship season closed with the 9th South African Grand Prix at East London. Although this is the 9th South African Grand Prix, it is the first Championship event in South Africa and the most important International event yet staged in this pleasant country. East London is situated in the south-eastern corner of the vast continent of Africa. The sea front faces south-east, while a little way down the coast lies the circuit on gently sloping ground which runs right down to the Indian Ocean.
The track is over open roads especially closed for the race. It is 3.919 kilometres long and is not over-wide but has adequate room for passing of Formula One cars. The start/finish line is opposite the control tower, on the main straight. This straight is flat and not very long, and is followed by Potters Pass Bend, a level right-hander on to a long downhill with an almost flat-out corner called Rifle Bend. The drivers then brake for a wide-ish hairpin called Cocobana Corner. Here the road flattens out on to Beach Straight, Butts Bend, and on to the esses.
The esses consist of a fairly fast right, two slow lefts, followed by a fast accelerating right on to the back straight. The two slow lefts are taken as one long carve although on the map they look like two corners. The back straight rises to the Beacon Bend hairpin and so on to the main straight The pits lie back from the track and have their own approach road which starts just after the hairpin.
