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| PHOTO CREDIT: SkySports F1. |
South Africa has a very rich motorsport heritage, with the likes of Formula 1, and MotoGP having raced on the continent in the late 90's to early 2000's, but after a 24-year absence of any form of international motorsport, the first FIA sanctioned championship, World Rallycross broke the mold, and raced in the Mother City from 2017 to 2019.
The COVID-19 pandemic saw the cancellation of many international motorsport events in South Africa and across the world, including the FIA World Rallycross Championship, which is set to return to Cape Town later this year.
The iconic Kyalami Grand Prix circuit is yet another draw card, with it’s own rich history having hosted Formula 1 Grand Prix from 1967 to 1993, however, after the circuit fell into disrepair, it was auctioned off, and Porsche South Africa were the lucky bidders. After significant upgrades were completed, the circuit received FIA Grade 2 certification, which allows every championship to race around the circuit apart from F1. And, whilst local motorsport took advantage of the new facilities when the revamped Kyalami opened it's doors, a few years later, in 2019, it was then announced that the Kyalami 9 Hour would be revived thanks to a collaboration with the Intercontinental GT Challenge.
Since the return of racing at Kyalami, there has been a renewed interest and push to bring Formula 1 back to South Africa, with bids and promises, ranging from a Cape Town Grand Prix to the revival of F1 at Kyalami, but nothing has materialized as yet. However, South Africa is soon to electrified, as a dream is about to become reality.
In 2021, e-Movement announced their intentions to bring the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship to Cape Town, and despite a number of obstacles, the championship is heading to the Mother City later this month (on 24 and 25 February).
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| Grandstands have been erected ahead of the inaugural Cape Town E-Prix on 24/25 February 2023 PHOTO CREDIT: Cape Town E-Prix (Supplied) |
Schiff is a professional racing driver, who was born in Belgium, but grew up in South Africa, where she developed and homed her driving skills. In 2019, she competed in the inaugural WSeries championship, before becoming an ambassador and presenter for the series last year. Naomi then became an analyst for SkySports F1, and presents their ‘Any Driven Monday’ show.
“I started my racing career in South Africa and I have many fond memories of Cape Town, specifically where I had some really good results, although they were just in karting. It's a very special place in my heart. And yeah, I get to see my friends and family and yeah, it's going to be my first Formula E event that I'm working on. So that's also exciting. And what a better place to to have that opportunity,” she said.
Along with her commentary role, Schiff will be part of another project taking STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects to the local communities in South Africa.
“I'll be part of a project that I can't say too much about just yet because it hasn't been announced yet, but we are taking STEM subjects and bringing that to young girls in local communities,” she said. “And I think it's so important to be able to have people that look like you doing things that you might want to do or things that you never even considered for yourself because people like you, maybe you've never seen them doing those things. So, it's super important to me to be bringing, you know, not just the race, but also everything that comes around it, all the topics of sustainability and the environmental awareness topics, all of that is really important.”
“Coming to South Africa, there's a huge opportunity to raise awareness, to bring so much stuff to the to the local communities that can help them, you know, enhance their futures potentially.”
The Belgian born racer turned analyst has long been an ambassador for diversity and inclusion in the WSeries, and when asked if Formula E, could soon have it’s own female-based championship, she said: “Not that I've heard of, to be honest. I think what's a good thing is obviously, as you said, WSeries exists. Formula One have now launched their F1 academy. Extreme E obviously has one female driver, one male driver in the cockpit. So, it's a general conversation that's happening around most schools about how we can support our female talent. I do recall a couple of years back and almost every year I would say during the rookie test of Formula E, they always include some female drivers.”
“I'm hoping that it won't necessarily need to be a separate championship for women because in my opinion, I still fully believe that women can race equally against men, particularly in a sport like Formula E, where physical barriers aren't that much of an issue,” she said. “And therefore I would hope that we would see one of these girls in the cockpit in the lineup on Formula E, not necessarily a separate championship.”
Through the years, there has been numerous attempts to bring Formula 1 to South Africa, with bids aiming to bring the championship to Cape Town, Soweto, and Kyalami (Johannesberg), but unfortunately, none of these attempts were successful, despite visits from F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali last year.
Schiff believes that Formula E is a great step for South Africa, after missing out on an opportunity to bring Formula 1 back to the country.
“[South Africa] came so close to getting Formula One to come, especially last year, which didn't happen. So that was really disappointing. But you know, to have the Formula E is already a great step. It's such a fantastic event!,” she said.
Tickets for the inaugural Cape Town E-Prix are going fast! Get yours today at TicketMaster to avoid disappointment, because it's definitely going to be electric in more ways then one.
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