Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit is a 4.529 km motor racing facility located in Midrand, Gauteng, South Africa, just north of Johannesburg. The circuit's name derives from the Zulu phrase meaning "my home." The original layout, which hosted Formula One South African Grands Prix from 1967 through 1985 as well as a brief return in 1992 and 1993, was a sweeping, fast track built on undulating terrain in the mid-1950s.
The circuit was rebuilt in 1989 as part of a commercial development, creating a narrower and more technically demanding layout that retained elements of the original configuration — including Sunset Bend, Clubhouse Bend, and the Esses — but replaced the long flowing main straight and its attendant high-speed corners with tighter sections and new pit facilities. A further round of modifications in preparation for the WorldSBK rounds included the removal of a chicane for the 2009 race. Under new management following a 2014 auction for R205 million to buyer Toby Venter of Porsche South Africa, approximately R100 million was invested in upgrading the circuit to FIA Grade 2 standard.
The Kyalami Superbike World Championship round ran initially from 1998 to 2002, with WorldSBK also bringing the Supersport World Championship to the venue in 1998, 1999, 2002, and associated years. The South African round provided the championship with geographic diversity and a high-profile venue outside Europe during a period when WorldSBK was actively expanding its global calendar.
The late 1990s and early 2000s WorldSBK era at Kyalami coincided with the intense competition between Ducati and Honda, with Carl Fogarty's dominant Ducati campaigns through the late 1990s giving way to Colin Edwards winning back-to-back titles in 2000 and 2002 aboard the Honda VTR1000 SPW, with Troy Bayliss interrupting for Ducati in 2001. The Kyalami rounds were contested in this competitive environment, with the South African circuit providing a distinctive late-season character given its position in the Southern Hemisphere's late summer.
After a seven-year absence the championship returned to Kyalami for 2009 and 2010. The WorldSBK rounds were accompanied again by the Supersport World Championship. These seasons saw Kyalami updated for the returning series with chicane removal and fresh circuit modifications.
The 2009 and 2010 WorldSBK seasons were contested under the championship's Pirelli control tyre era, which had been introduced in 2004. Ben Spies won the 2009 title riding a Yamaha, the first American to claim the WorldSBK crown, while Max Biaggi won for Aprilia in 2010.
Beyond WorldSBK, Kyalami hosted twenty South African Formula One Grands Prix, making it one of the continent's most historically significant racing venues. The 1977 South African Grand Prix stands as perhaps the most sombre race in Kyalami's history, principally remembered for the fatal accident that claimed the lives of race marshal Frederick Jansen van Vuuren and driver Tom Pryce. More recently, international GT racing returned to the circuit with the Kyalami 9 Hours joining the Intercontinental GT Challenge calendar in 2019.
The WorldSBK South African rounds at Kyalami demonstrated the championship's ambition to reach audiences across multiple continents. For South African motorcycle racing fans, the Kyalami WorldSBK round represented one of the few opportunities to watch the world's top production-based motorcycle racers compete domestically. The circuit's mix of Formula One heritage and distinctive Highveld setting — at an altitude of approximately 1,500 metres — made it a memorable and technically demanding stop on the WorldSBK calendar.