KING OF KILLARNEY

For four decades, Denis Joubert was directly involved with the creation, development and ongoing success of Cape Town's international motorsport venue, Killarney. Having just celebrated his 90th birthday, we talk to the man whose contribution to South Africa's motor-racing heritage is priceless....

- Mike Monk

Ever since South Africa's first motor race in Cape Town on 1 October 1900, the Mother City has been a major centre for motorsport. In the ensuing years, races took place in the Cape Town area at several different locations, including Rietvlei, Noordhoek Pan, Pollsmoor, Paarden Eiland, Gunner's Circle, Sacks Circle and Eerste Rivier, before Killarney began holding sprint races and speed trials. In 1960, it was established as a permanent racing circuit, and although the pre-and post-war headline Grands Prix - including Formula 1 - were held in other parts of the country, competitors still readily visited the Cape to participate in events that quickly grew in status to rival the best the sport could offer. For the last 65 years, Killarney has been successfully run by a club; much of that time - almost four decades - headed by one man, Denis Joubert.

Named after a pub run by an Irish immigrant, which was located on a section alongside the original Malmesbury Road, Killarney actually began in September 1951 as a venue for speed events. The Metropolitan Motor Cycle & Car Club (Mets) and the Amateur Automobile Racing Club (AARC) were Killarney's principal promoters. Killarney began as a 1.05 km short circuit before being extended to 1.8 km about a year later, and then, around 1954, to 2.689 km.

After Denis qualified as an architect in 1958, he began his racing career. He was a member of the Mets and when he was appointed secretary in 1959, he quickly bought into the club's ambition of developing Killarney into a leading motorsport operation. Soon, he joined forces with road engineer Edgar Hoal to design a new 3.268 km layout for the venue that met the Formula 1 standards of the time. In 1960, Denis took a scale model of the concept to the Cape Divisional Council, which passed the proposal. Club president Stanley Damp negotiated a lease and a loan of £20 000 (R40 000) was granted to allow development to proceed.