{"id":492006,"date":"2011-09-01T18:00:54","date_gmt":"2011-09-02T01:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=32784"},"modified":"2024-03-06T15:44:30","modified_gmt":"2024-03-06T15:44:30","slug":"basil-van-rooyen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/basil-van-rooyen\/","title":{"rendered":"Basil van Rooyen"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='memberful-global-teaser-content'>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><i>Despite hailing from a family essentially unconnected to motorized vehicles, Basil van Rooyen soon discovered motorcycles and after a brief fling in two-wheeled competition, switched to the relative safety of cars. Almost immediately he became involved in the manufacture of performance parts, and then began racing a Ford Anglia sedan. A particularly successful union with a Lotus Cortina followed, and a racing Mustang came after that. He was helping Alfa Romeo with development of its GTA when the opportunity came to race in his home South African Grand Prix, and he quickly became an open-wheel driver. After establishing himself as a front-runner in South Africa\u2019s national F1 series he was sidelined by a nasty testing crash, but upon recovering did return to racing touring cars. Eventually a business opportunity meant he relocated to Australia where VR\u2019s Patrick Quinn caught up with him to chat about his racing career.<\/i><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_556150\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-556150\" style=\"width: 810px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/INT201109-p1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-556150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/INT201109-p1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"810\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/INT201109-p1.jpg 810w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/INT201109-p1-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/INT201109-p1-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/INT201109-p1-75x100.jpg 75w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/INT201109-p1-770x1027.jpg 770w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/INT201109-p1-293x391.jpg 293w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 810px) 100vw, 810px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-556150\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Basil van Rooyen<br \/>Photo: Patrick Quinn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b><i>Where did it all start?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n        .memberful-global-teaser-content p:last-child{\n            -webkit-mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent);\n            mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent);\n        }\n    <\/style>\n<div class='memberful-global-marketing-content'>\n<div class=\"a07online-global-marketing-content-wrapper\">\n<h2 class=\"a07online-global-marketing-title\">No Subscription? You&#8217;re missing out<\/h2>\n<p class=\"a07online-global-marketing-content\">Any Text Here<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"a07online-global-marketing-prompt\" href=\"https:\/\/supercars.memberful.com\/checkout?plan=86696\">Get Started<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"a07online-global-marketing-signin\">\n<h4 class=\"a07online-global-marketing-signin\">Already a Member? <a href=\"https:\/\/supercars.memberful.com\/account\">Sign in to your account here<\/a>.<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite hailing from a family essentially unconnected to motorized vehicles, Basil van Rooyen soon discovered motorcycles and after a brief fling in two-wheeled competition, switched to the relative safety of cars. Almost immediately he became involved in the manufacture of performance parts, and then began racing a Ford Anglia sedan. A particularly successful union with a Lotus Cortina followed, and a racing Mustang came after that. He was helping Alfa Romeo with development of its GTA when the opportunity came [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":192,"featured_media":556152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11272,18114],"tags":[18323,65,597,18435,12038,16462,11471,132],"class_list":["post-492006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-members-only","category-people","tag-2010s-all","tag-ford","tag-general-motors-gm","tag-people","tag-frank-gardner","tag-interview","tag-can-am","tag-vauxhall"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Basil van Rooyen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Patrick Quinn speaks with the South African racing star about his start in touring cars and his quick rise to Formula One.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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