Page 153 - Bulletin 9 2005

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By noon on Saturday 16 some 15 000 – 20 000 spectators had arrived and the grandstand
was full. Frequent trains delivered passengers to Steenberg Station and buses ferried them

to the track. “City workers who left their offices at noon and at the lunch hour arrived in
droves of cars that filled the air round the track with dust. A blustering south-easter swept

over Muizenberg Mountain …… and the sky was streaked with wind clouds. The wind

died down slightly at noon, but as the afternoon drew on it grew more and more violent.
The Press stand, which had been built overnight, rocked in the wind, and 20 reporters

wondered, as they wrote, whether they were going to be precipitated to the ground.” (Cape
Times 16/1/1937). Shortly before the start an 1897 car appeared driven by a man in a

battered top hat and morning clothes.

An international field of 15 cars had assembled: 5 British, 2 German, 2 Italian, 1 Swiss, and

5 South African. All the drivers were males except for dainty Mrs. Kay Petre from England.
As engine capacities ranged from 750cc (Baby Austins and MGs) to six litres (Auto

Unions) each driver was handicapped, the starts would be staggered, with the slowest

(Clayton) starting first at 2.30 pm and the Auto Unions last, nearly 40 minutes later. Ahead
lay 45 laps and a total distance of 340km – over which the Auto Unions were expected to

emerge the winners. (Figs 3.47 - 3.49.)

Snippets selected from the press reports on the race capture something of the atmosphere
that afternoon:

The Cape Times, 18 January 1937:

The first thrill of the afternoon came soon after two o’clock when the Auto Union
pits suddenly sent out a noise like the roaring of some caged beast, and the crowd stirred
with excited anticipation; Clayton roared off sharp at 2.30 … his exhaust barking
menacingly; Douggie van Riet shot away … established a long lead over Chiappini; Bobbie
Bothner stalled at Mac’s Waggle; Mrs. Kay Petre, small and attractive in egg-shell blue
overalls and a big celluloid face shield, took off in great style in her blue Riley … and was
cheered every time she hurtled past the stand; Cyril Paul’s battered aluminium Riley shot