South Africa Testing

The Kyalami circuit in March provided the last opportunity of testing before the season started at Rio. New to the Brabham team, Teo Fabi (top left) performed well in the BT 53, achieving fourth fastest time, while Toleman were pleased with both their Hart engine and their new recruit Ayrton Senna (far left middle). Team Renault Elf suffered continuing overheating problems in the high temperatures, and Patrick Tambay (bottom left) was lucky that no damage resulted front a huge spin he experienced. Some minor problems with Brabham’s BMW engine (below left) were also due to the heat, but designer Gordon Murray was confident that they remain “potentially the quickest team”, as was shown by Nelson Piquet’s top time, beaten only by Keke Rosberg (below) in the Williams-Honda. Manfred Winkelhock (above) was very happy with his times in the ATS-BMW, commenting favourably on the new Pirellis.