Killarney Time Attack
Who doesn’ t like racing in the Cape? Africa’ s most popular tourist city has a deep motorsport history, with one of the world’ s most iconic legacy circuits on its northern urban border.
The Killarney International Raceway has hosted everything from Formula 1 back in the 1960s to international supertrucks. It is home to one of the most dedicated local motorsport communities and is known for its narrow, technical, high-speed layout.
Most Efficiency Motorsports team members are in Gauteng, but two of the team’ s drivers are Cape Town locals. For the MD Motorsport Time Attack event at Killarney, it was time for Efficiency Motorsports to load the Alfas and an Audi TT onto the car carrier and make the cross-country journey to the Western Cape.
Autopitstop did all the preparation, and the Efficiency Motorsports cars, looking splendid in their new competition colourways, were loaded with great excitement for their journey to the Cape.
The technical challenge
What makes the Killarney Time Attack so interesting is that it’ s run counterclockwise. That means drivers unfamiliar with the circuit don’ t have a real disadvantage against locals and racers with hundreds of conventional Killarney laps in their driving memory bank.
The reverse-flow Killarney Time Attack event layout is just 2.2 km long. It launches drivers straight into one of South African motorsport’ s most technical corners: the double-apex Sarel’ s Sweep, better known by its legacy name of‘ Malmesbury’.
Cape Town’ s notoriously volatile weather affects everything outdoors. Experienced Killarney racers know how unpredictable the weather can be, and how important it is to watch Blaauwberg Koppie conditions as a precursor. Predictions for the Killarney Time Attack event were for stormy conditions, but fortunately, as the car carrier and team arrived in the country’ s oldest city, the weather cleared.
Killarney’ s charm
In the King of Streetcars category, Efficiency Motorsports Cape Town driver and experienced Killarney specialist, Andre Steenkamp, took an excellent sixth place overall. Andre’ s jet-black Alfa Romeo 4C is always a crowd favourite. Fellow Cape Town Efficiency Motorsports driver, Nico Nicolaisen, secured 3rd place in the CL-X Class at the Killarney Time Attack.
Beyond the timesheets, what made the Killarney Time Attack so valuable for Efficiency Motorsports was the organisational excellence and that unique Cape Town motorsport feel. A city geared for tourism also extends those skills to motorsport eventing, and MD Motorsport ran the Killarney Time Attack wonderfully.
WORDS IN ACTION 34 OCTOBER 2026