A1 Grand Prix Kyalami
Sunday’s A1 Grand Prix at Kyalami proved to be a great spectacle with plenty of action and noise. The ZAR 500 ticket price was justified in part by the excellent vantage point we had near the first two corners after the start/finish straight and by the fact that the event organization was spot on.
The few spectators attending certainly indicated that the ticket price for an event like the A1 is still too high. I was most impressed by the overall cleanliness of the venue: a constant flow of rubbish collection bags ensured that no unsightly litter piled up.
As a one-armed bandit, I was unfortunately unable to try out the 5D MkII at high-speed photography. Instead, I fell back to using the HF-10 camcorder to capture some footage.
The two A1 races were the obvious drawcard, though some mayhem at the start of the CanAm class provided some entertainment – 8 cars out of the race in the first few seconds. Though I’m no expert, the marshaling activities seemed somewhat misplaced. On more than one occasion, stricken cars were left in seemingly dangerous positions at the entry point to run-off areas.
Formula Ford was of little interest, as was the parade of road-going supercars making their way around the circuit. To see the A1 races, however, the day-long visit to Kyalami was certainly worthwhile.
