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This race was apparently ran to the 1966 "up to 3-litre" Formula One rules (as was the 1966 South African series) with Love's Cooper being 2-litre, so wouldn't that technically make it a Libre race rather than a Formula One race as the 3-litre regulations weren't the international Formula One regulations at the time? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.210.52.228 (talk • contribs)
This race was held on 9 January 1965 - I'd be really surprised if it was run to the 1966 regulations. Are you sure you're not confusing this race with the 1965 Rand Grand Prix, held on 4 December 1965? DH85868993 (talk) 22:18, 19 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]
http://forums.autosport.com/topic/82319-cape-easter-formula-1-trophy-january-9th-1965/?p=2144330 references a contemporary source stating John Love was running an engine which would have been illegal for a Formula One race. Further up thread there's mention of South Africa bringing the new Formula forward; presumably this was so national drivers worked on bigger capacity cars throughout the season so when the South African season ended with the South African GP in Jan 66 they'd have something to take on the Europeans (of course, the Europeans dithered, the FIA caved and the race was held as an NC event, but I digress). Non-championship Formula One races could take place with many (or, even in the case of one of the Cornwall races IIRC, all) of the machines being less than the Formula One engine capacity, but if there's a car openly running with a larger capacity engine it surely must be a Libre race by definition.
You must forgive me if I'm a bit ranty, I'm currently working on a race by race blog of every Formula One Grand Prix (http://second-a-lap.blogspot.co.uk/) and I'm currently trying to find any reason why this race should actually be classified as a Formula One event other than a load of older sites (Chicane, GEL, etc) have it listed as one. Not sure if I'm reading too much into things but it's curious that this article (unlike every other Wikipedia NC race I've checked out) doesn't have a reference to Thompson's Record Book ascribed. I feel somewhere along the line - in the dial-up days or something - someone has added this race to a list of Formula One events and it's just sort-of stayed there.
PS: Yes, sadly I know all about the Rand Grand Prix with its' pitiful European coverage and untracable lunatics running homemade cars! The sooner the flipping Rand Grand Prix goes the happier I'll be with my project ;) 85.210.51.155 (talk) 23:53, 19 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]
(sorry, clarification - either they started the 3.0l regs a year earlier OR the race wasn't a Formula One race) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.210.51.155 (talk • contribs)
As far as I'm aware, the new Formula One regulations came into force on 1 January 1966, so if Love was running a 2 litre engine, then it wasn't a Formula One race. I suspect our classification of the race as a Formula One race comes from its classification as such at sites like ChicaneF1, silhouet.com and formula2.net. DH85868993 (talk) 00:17, 20 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]
