Kyalami racetrack up for auction

Legendary South African racetrack to be sold in July with no reserve
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Senna, Prost, and Schumacher at the 1993 South African Grand Prix. 

The Z-shaped Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit in South Africa hosted some of the most dramatic Formula One racing in the 20th century. It was where Lauda beat Hunt by just 1.3 seconds; it was where Alain Prost fought Piquet and Rene Arnoux and lost his head for it. It was the last victories of Jim Clark and Jack Brabham; the former his last F1 race before his untimely death, the latter his last win before his retirement. It hosted the South African Grand Prix from 1967 to 1985, and its 6,000-ft altitude gave the track one last gasp of speed with the turbocharged engines, which could produce as much as 150 hpv over the naturally aspirated ones. It was a track for the brave, with dramatic elevation changes and a bunch of straightaways, punctuated by 90-degree corners both sweeping and hairpinned.

1985 was the last year of the "classic" Kyalami circuit, having garnered a reputation for danger over 24 years. It didn't go out without drama. Keke Rosberg spun through spilled oil and still nearly caught up with Nigel Mansell, even managing to pass Prost (who then won his first World Championship with McLaren).

Danger begets tragedy, and Kyalami is where the brilliant Peter Revson lost control while testing his Shadow DN3 for the 1974 event. Three years later, it saw the end of the promising Welsh driver Tom Pryce and race marshal Frederick Jansen van Vuuren, only 19 years old, cut to pieces by Pryce's car.

Kyalami was always threatened by the forces that prevailed in South Africa, be it the encroaching suburbs of Johannesburg or the growing dissent over apartheid in the early 1990s. (The aforementioned 1985 race was boycotted by teams and even governments over the issue.) Abandoned, rebuilt and rerouted unto disfiguration, the track never returned to its former glory after the end of the 20th century.

"The magnificent old track had been laid to rest, and what we had in its place was just another 'modern circuit,'" said Nigel Roebuck, editor in chief of Motor Sport Magazine. "Inevitable, perhaps, but no less sad for that."

Is it any surprise, then, that the track is now for sale?

Beleaguered by bad investments and deteriorating returns, the track will be auctioned to the highest bidder, without reserve, on July 24 by High Street Auctions. "This will be the largest auction with no reserve price in the history of South Africa," said Joff Van Reenen, the company's lead auctioneer. No prices have been set or estimated, but no matter what you pay, you'll get the following: 72 hectares; your very own 2.5-mile track; nine turns; the infamous Mineshaft Straight; a go-kart track; a skidpad that occasionally floods from the swamp underneath, and the ire of encroaching neighbors whose condos and business parks jut dangerously close to the center of South African motorsports history.

If you buy Kyalami, you'll get to make a bid to bring back Superbike racing, which last occurred here in 2010. You'll play host to next year's Extreme Festival, hopefully. You can even sell the naming rights for another Maserati -- the original Maserati Kyalami was a cut-rate De Tomaso Longchamp, introducing the boxy look of 1980s Maserati to the Quattroporte III and the Biturbo. If you have any car to blame for those, look to the Frua-designed Kyalami. But we digress.

Encroaching developments are one thing, but another track threatens to keep the South African motorsport tradition alive: The $16-million Phakisa International Raceway 180 miles southwest of Kyalami, unrestricted by noise and able to accommodate 60,000 spectators could very well resurrect a South African Grand Prix that hasn't been held since 1993.

So, here's your chance to buy some genuine Formula One history and drive on it at the same time -- having your Agip and drinking it, too. But if you tear down the track for condominiums, may the ghost of Peter Revson haunt you until the end of your days.