The South African Classic TT Series (also known as the Sunshine Series in-country) takes place in January and February at three popular circuits within the currently summer-warm South Africa. It is a classic motorcycle racing series featuring some of the best two-wheeled racers and the most important motorcycles in the sport’s history.
Three races are the general rule, with one each at East London’s GP Circuit, on 22 January, at Pretoria’s Zwartkops Raceway, during 28 – 30 January, and Cape Town’s Killarney Circuit, during 5 – 6 February, and this year will not change that. Each year the promoter brings in more fabulous personalities with the TT Legends tour that accompanies the Classic TT Series, and 2011 is shaping up to be the best ever.
Mick Grant, seven-time winner of the Isle of Man TT, has managed to pull together a larger and more diverse group of former racers to fill the TT Legends group than has ever been party to the series previously. These racing celebrities will be bringing along some of the bikes which took them to the pinnacle of the sport as well, making for a truly historic experience. Alan Walker will be bringing over an MV Agusta 500 Grand Prix bike and several examples of Suzuki and Honda two-stroke GP racing motorcycles will also be taken to the track.
Not all invitees are from the sport’s past; many current racers, both international and local, will also be on the circuits using classic machinery. Riders scheduled to attend include legends such as Phil Read and Jim Redman, current stars such as Steve Plater, Maria Costello, Paddy Driver, Jimmie Guthrie and Peter Labuschagne, and local race champions Keith Zeeman, Kevin Hellyer, Les van Breda and Dave Petersen among many others. The skill and excitement on display during the Classic TT Series is enough to bring joy to even the most jaded race fans’ hearts.
Taking the event almost to the extreme will be the additional support received from The National Historic Racing Museum in Deneysville. Museum chief John Boswell has arranged for several machines, some new to the collection, from “Team Incomplete” to join the festivities. That includes many vintage bikes from the likes of BSA, Norton and AJS Matchless which once raced on the famous circuits of the 1960s and 1970s. As these motorcycles represent a ‘golden age’ of racing, expect a deafening noise to arise from the assembled iron which will either remind you of days gone by or give you a new memory of what racing 
once was – and how important ear protection is to your sanity.
The overall extent of the three race schedule will not leave much time for the visiting celebrities to see the local culture between events, but it will sure help many of those from the Northern Hemisphere get past the winter blues. For race fans that either live in or can make it to South Africa, though, it will be a rare chance to see, smell and here machines from the past and to see and actually chat with the stars that made the sport what it is now. The 2011 South African Classic TT Series and the TT Legends kick things off on 22 January at East London, South Africa.
