Basil van Rooyen

Basil van Rooyen (19 April 1939, South Africa - 14 September 2023) was a South African racing driver, race car developer, inventor, and engineer whose talent nearly led him to the pinnacle of Formula One. He started racing motorcycles in 1957 at the Grand Central track near Johannesburg, aged just 18 after recently obtaining his license. Van Rooyen progressed through touring cars with remarkable success, winning the South African touring car championship in both 1966 and 1967 driving a Ford Mustang. His diverse racing career included motorcycles, Anglias, Lotus Cortinas, Mustangs, Alfa Romeos, Capri Perana Chevrolets, Can-Am cars, Fiat/Ferrari saloons, sports cars, single-seaters, and Formula One machinery.

Van Rooyen was persuaded to race an older ex-John Love Cooper Climax against world champions at the 1968 South African Grand Prix at Kyalami, making his Formula One debut on 1 January 1968. He participated in two Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, retiring from both and scoring no championship points. His second appearance came in 1969, again at his home race. Van Rooyen's driving at the 1969 Kyalami Grand Prix so impressed the Formula One teams that Ken Tyrrell offered him a seat to immediately join his team as second driver behind Jackie Stewart.

Just before departing for Europe, van Rooyen suffered a catastrophic crash during tyre testing in his McLaren M7A at Kyalami when a tyre punctured at 257 km/h. The crash split the car in half, leaving van Rooyen with severe back injuries that required months of recovery, preventing him from accepting Tyrrell's offer. The drive went to François Cevert instead. The deaths of Bruce McLaren and Piers Courage in quick succession convinced van Rooyen that his Grand Prix career should remain in South Africa, where he continued carving out a successful career racing sports cars, saloons, and Formula Atlantic until his retirement in 1981.