Please help save the East London Grand Prix Circuit - South Africa

[Grant V]

Gentlemen,

Please assist us in saving the historic East London Grand Prix Circuit in South Africa. The lease has ended and there are plans to build a university on this site.
East London was the first South African circuit to host a round of the World Championship. This tight little track, only 2.44 miles in length, was constructed on the seaside and was a great place for spectators. Built into a natural amphitheatre, the circuit officially opened its doors in 1959. In fact racing had been going on in the area for years and the original circuit configuration included several sections of the original Prince George track that had seen service before the war
The international crowd first arrived here in 1960 when a pair of Formula 1 events were staged, one at each end of the year. The Belgian Paul Frere won the first in a Cooper, while Moss won for Porsche in the second. In 1961 the F1 circus came to town and Jim Clark won the event for Lotus, although the race did not have World Championship status
That honour arrived in 1962 when the circuit hosted the final round of the season. In a straight fight Graham Hill edged out favourite Jim Clark after Clark's car failed to make the distance. When the teams returned in 1963 Clark was already the champion but that did not stop him putting on a faultless display as he took revenge for the previous year
After a two year wait the circus returned to East London for the third and final time. Once again Clark came out on top having started from pole and led the entire distance. In 1966 the circuit hosted a non-title race that saw Mike Spence winning for Lotus
This is also the first circuit in South Africa on which a competitor of colour (Des Ally) competed with great success to the delight of the home crowds
I was privledged enough to race my Fintail Racer on this track in December last year, the first time a Finny had raced again on this circuit since Errol Kobus raced his 220S there in 1964.

Please go to this petition and add your name to the list - please stipulate where you are from:

http://www.petitiononline.com/ELGP2008/petition.html

Thanks
Grant

[scraf]

Done.

This sold it for me, btw...

We are all for a new university but not at the expense of the race track.

[s class]

Its a bad site for a university anyhow - too close to the beach - the students wouldn't study enough.