On Wednesday 12 January, FMM Curator Wayne Harley addressed members of Cape Town’s historic Crankhandle Club on museums. With the aim of preserving the country’s national and cultural heritage, he went into the definition of a museum and what the responsibilities are for such an...
On January 8 at a sizzling hot Kenilworth racecourse, Jet Dark stormed down the inside rail to win the prestigious Grade 1 L'Ormarins Queens Plate for the second year in succession. Bred at Drakenstein Stud and ridden by S’manga Khumalo, Jet Dark won the most...
On December 12 the GSM Car Club held its morning Christmas Picnic at the Franschhoek Motor Museum. The day was a great success with 32 people attending, bringing with them 16 cars ranging from GSM Darts and Flamingos to Mustangs to Ferraris – and even...
Ever since the COVID pandemic emerged and South Africa instituted rolling restrictions including limits on gatherings, the FMM Slot Car Championship has complied in every way, leading to restricted meetings when allowed. This year, a limited number of meetings have been held and enough races...
As of the date this newsletter is issued, plans have not been finalised regarding the running of the annual L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate on Friday 7th and Saturday 8th January 2022 due to uncertainty of what Covid restrictions will be in force at that time. Although...
On October 17, FMM once again sponsored and hosted the Crankhandle Club’s annual Oily Rag Run, an event for unrestored vehicles built before 1970. Twelve cars took part along with 13 spectator cars from the same period. The ‘Oily Rag’ entries comprised John Ryall’s 1911...
A new exhibit on view at FMM is a Viper GT2 Competition Coupe currently belonging to Cape Town’s Harp Motorsport. Following Dodge's official end of its factory-backed racing programme in 2001, as well as the redesigning of the Viper in 2003, the first generation GTS-Rs...
While on a regular visit to South Africa, UK classic car celebrity Iain Tyrrell and his fiancée Melanie recently made an impromptu call at FMM that coincided with some of the museum’s race cars being exercised on PlaasPad. So, a plan was made for the...
Jet Dark, the only three year-old in the 2021 L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate, delivered a knockout blow to accomplished older horses in a 1 600-metre epic run at Kenilworth Race Course on Saturday January 9. Ridden by Grant van Niekerk, on the finishing straight Jet Dark...
L’Ormarins has confirmed that the country’s year-opening horse racing event, the Queen’s Plate Racing Festival, will take place on Friday 8 and Saturday 9 January 2021. It will be a landmark event in more ways than one – 2021 not only marks the 160th running...
