KILLARNEY AND THE CHANGING TIMES

KILLARNEY RACING CIRCUIT

Circuit length: 3.267km
Country: South Africa

City: Cape Town Area: Killarney Gardens

All those who were serious about racing and wanted to make some spare money new all to well where to find themselves on Wednesday late afternoons. Organized by the SACF, different groups depending on your classification would race ‘Kermesse’ around the motor racing track in Milnerton.

It was flat fast and 99% of the time there were very strong winds. One thing that I had learned was that I had a climber’s body frame, so I was to use it to my advantage, I would make myself as small as possible, push light gears and not resist the wind and since then I never feared racing in the wind again.

From Cl

aremont to Simonstown into the wind I would train against the strongest winds they called the Cape Doctor and on Wednesdays at Killarney.

This was racing at its best, lots of spectators, and all the best riders even the likes of Willie Engelbrecht occasionally.

Mark Florence was there too, so too all the riders I have mentioned thus far in this blog.

The racing consisted of:

1 hour + 1 lap. 3.267km circuit usually did about 45km, sometimes higher, average always between 40 and 45km/h.

By the time the racing was over and we cycled home I would easy cover 150km just on that day alone. When I got home I was high as a kite, a natural high that felt so good and these guys know of what I speak.

For what it is worth these races STILL happen but are dominated by the teams rather than individuals. This has made them very cut-throat rather than straight hard-core, which is good for racing standards but unattractive to the more casual riders.

And even in the days when we were racing the casual riders suffered, so racing here has always been hard and it doesn’t seem to be slacking down.

I think of these times as if it were yesterday, the times we’ve had and shared but the merciless progression of time has crept up on us all.

I looked at the teams racing the Giro Del Capo this year and the only ones I personally know are Malcolm Langer, Moolman Welgemoed, Peter Wheeler, Nick White and Manni Hymans I don’t know personally but I know who he is.

As for the rest I don’t know who they are at all but that stands to reason as I no longer stay and live in ZA. How times have changed…

Its amazing the way time moves, forward, constantly, endlessly yet so very still, immovable, just here, this one single moment.

Motorcars: Photo courtesy Fantastic Racing