Date 7 February 1981 Weather Hot | Course length 4.104 km (2.550 mi) | |
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Location Kyalami
Gauteng, South Africa Course Permanent racing facility Distance 77 laps, 316.008 km (196.358 mi) | ||
The 1981 South African Grand Prix was a Formula Libre motor race held on 7 February 1981 at Kyalami.
The race was originally scheduled to be the opening round of the 1981 FIA Formula One World Championship. However, the ongoing FISA-FOCA war resulted in Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA) insisting on a date change which was not acceptable to the race organisers. Approval was ultimately given for the race to go ahead on its original date but as a Formula Libre race rather than as a round of the Formula One World Championship. The downgraded race was supported by the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA) aligned teams but not by the teams of the manufacturers, whose allegiances lay with FISA. Every team present fielded cars which were fitted with sliding side skirts, aerodynamic devices which were illegal in Formula One for 1981 but acceptable under Formula Libre regulations. The absence of the manufacturer and/or turbocharged engine teams (Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Renault, Ligier and Osella) meant that all 19 cars in the race were powered by Ford Cosworth engines.