It was as if the clock had suddenly been turned back a quarter of a century; rather than placing the emphasis on primitive British singles and (rarely) twins or the insanely complex multi-cylinder Grand Prix bikes of the 1960s, fascinating as they are, the organisers of the 2012 SA Tourist Trophy series - which reached its climax at Cape Town's Killarney circuit at the weekend - had placed the spotlight on the howling two-stroke Grand Prix bikes and sledgehammer-style endurance machines of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
These were indeed the last of the privateer racers, before electronic fuel-injection and computer mapping changed the game so that only factory-supported bikes were competitive.
And they're recent enough so that most (adult) motorsport fans could remember when they were the state of the art - and they were being run hard enough (by their original riders, in some cases!) that those who were too young to remember them could get some idea of how intimidating they were, both to ride and to ride against.
AWE-INSPIRING SOUND LEVELS
Perhaps the most evocative was eight-times World champion Phil Read's 1976 Suzuki XR14 - the original RG500 square four. It was revolutionary in its day but doesn't even have end cans on its expansions boxes, which not only results in a power-band like a light switch but also awe-inspiring sound levels - no matter where on the circuit you stood you could hear Read all the way round.
By contrast, former British champion and TT winner Mick Grant's 1983 RG500 Mk8 (ridden that year in Grands Prix by Dutchman Boet van Dulmen and still in his distinctive livery) sounded almost civilised - until you realised just how fast Grant was circulating on it.
Grant's second bike started life as a very civilised sports-tourer - an MV Agusta 750S America - before being converted to 800cc endurance-racing trim in 1976 by former MV race engineer Arturo Magni. Later bikes boasted as much as 851cc but this early effort has the elegant engineering (including a chain-drive conversion that's actually neater than the original shaft drive) and signature four swoopy pipes of Magni at his best.
For the record, there is absolutely nothing inside those pipes and the music they make is almost overwhelming at close range.
Then there were two 1981Heron Suzuki XR69 1000cc “semi-works” endurance racers (the direct ancestors of the iconic GSX-R750) for Robby Burns and Steve Maxwell, which were quieter than the MV but even faster, while six-times World champion Jim Redman - who turned 80 in November - was uncannily smooth and deceptively quick on a rumbling Ducati TT2.
Also deceptively smooth was the 1991 works Honda RS250 Grand Prix machine of Yoshiaki Nakamura, then a factory rider, now the managing director of Honda Southern Africa.
SILVER SLEDGEHAMMER
But the two biggest noises at the final round of the 2012 SA Tourist Trophy were destined to be a pair of local Suzukis: Danie Maritz's 1985 GSX-R750, being ridden on this occasion by older brother Frans, and Big Bertha, David Bolding's authoritative 1983 Suzuki Katana.
Bolding put the silver sledgehammer on pole for Saturday's Race 1 with a qualifying lap of 1min22.509, 3.5 seconds quicker than anybody else, with Maritz, John “Konstabel” Kosterman (1986 Suzuki GSX-R750) and Burns making up the front row.
Bolding, however, fluffed the start completely, and wound up third behind Maritz and Kosterman. He relegated Kosterman on lap two and by mid race was all over Maritz like a rash. Twice Bolding got past the smaller, younger machine before making the decisive pass on lap six, but even then Maritz wasn't about to hand him the silverware without an argument and chased the Katana all the way home, finishing only four seconds adrift.
Kosterman finished third, 10 seconds further back, ahead of Sparg, with Tony Jones (Cagiva 650 Alazzurra) fifth after a superb dice with Burns.
Visitor Etienne Louw picked up a rear-wheel puncture on his Kawasaki Z900 during the parade laps, borrowed Kosterman's Honda CB1100R for the race, finished seventh (just ahead of Nakamura-san on the Rothmans RS250) and then suffered a rear-wheel puncture on the slowdown lap.
The man must be magnetic.
OVERNIGHT REBUILDS
Maxwell's XR69 blew its engine, and Maritz complained that the GSX-R was down on power so, when the sun came up on Sunday morning, both bikes were in pieces. The BSR Fabrications crew built a complete new engine for Maxwell overnight while Danie Maritz borrowed a set of valves, re-did the head of the Gixer - and both bikes were up and running by 1pm!
Maritz was nearly three seconds a lap quicker in Sunday morning's warm-up than he'd been in Saturday's race and outsprinted Bolding into Turn 1 again at the start of Race 2. Bolding, however, slotted in right behind him and the battle was on.
The two Suzukis swopped the lead on almost every lap, carving each other up into and out of every corner, neither willing to concede an inch. In the closing stages Maritz seemed to have a slight advantage but Bolding was ready to stake it all on a last-corner move. He outbraked the smaller bike, just held advantage up the hill on to the final straight and crossed the line 0.233 seconds ahead of Maritz.
Third, more than half a minute adrift, was Kosterman, with Sparg a lonely fourth, while Jones held off a late challenge from Nakamura to finish fifth.
Seventh was Alan Westman, in a striking performance aboard the AWR Yamaha, a late-seventies 500cc single; his was, in fact, the first single home in both races.