Over the past week I have been trying to research a South African Hotel that was the playground of the jet set up until the eighties. Although a motor racing fan, my quest was not for an expose on the lives of the many Formula 1 drivers who based themselves at the Kyalami Ranch for the South African Grand Prix, but as it was an International Hotel, the subject of my biography also stayed there.
Kyalami Ranch, from my research was set up by a former bomber captain who had served in WWII and saw the need for a modern hotel, where International Airlines could accommodate their cabin crews when on layover before there next assignments. The fact that it was a short way from the Kyalami race track added to its mystique.
Wandering the manicured grounds in the sixties, sharing luxurious accommodation and the heady mix of exotic people from all over the world must have been similar to attending a party thrown by "The Great Gatsby". Which after the end of apartheid, may be why the hotel has slipped out of the reach of the internet.
I have left a few links for those who are as intrigued as I am.
https://www.mclaren.com/racing/heritage/south-africa-72---40-years-ago-today/
https://www.pinterest.dk/pin/308778118195061902/?nic_v1=1aSylGRAhlWcq4zC45%2FJBNhZ55SofaUEJEYHb2Al56oZi9PXrt1NjslRXfndFWppqH
http://www.thepaddockmagazine.com/rip-kyalami/
https://www.classicdriver.com/en/article/cars/golden-years-kyalami
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