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National championship race drivers and teams have a wonderful surprise awaiting them when they arrive at Port Elizabeth’s Aldo Scribante race track for the fifth round of the Extreme Festival roadshow Saturday 14 July. The circuit renowned for its tyre-killing abrasive surface will be fully recapped in time for raceday — once again with the assistance of the Scribante family.

The circuit was named after family patron, the late Aldo Scribante, who was behind the facility being built back in 1974 and now almost half a century later, the Scribantes are once again fully behind the resurfacing project, with the family concern Scribante Construction’s Asphalt Division taking care of the transformation under the watchful eye of Aldo’s son Celso Scribante and grandson Aldo, both of whom are regular competitors in the local modified saloon car series aboard a pair of ex-production car Audi S4s.

“We are in the process of completing a full resurface of the Aldo Scribante Racetrack to latest international standards thanks once again to the input of the Scribante family,” Algoa Motorsport Club Chairman Ashwin Harri confirmed. “The circuit had become known as somewhat of a tyre killer over the past few race seasons as the surface aged and became quite abrasive, but Celso and Aldo Scribante and Scribante Construction stepped in to assist us in returning the racetrack named after their respective father and grandfather to its halcyon glory.

“We have in essence ripped up the scratchy old track and re-laid an all new surface to the very latest international specification as used in the best grand prix circuits in the world thanks to the expert input of Scribante Construction’s Asphalt Division. "The Club would once again like to thank the Scribante family for its ongoing support and contribution to motorsport in the Eastern Cape and we can now look forward to hosting our annual national championship meeting on a brand new, world class surface in a month’s time.”

Aldo Scribante was a legend in South African motorsport in the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s when not only did his cars, the likes of Lotus 49C and 72D and a McLaren M23 carry Dave Charlton to six erstwhile South African Formula 1 championships on the trot from 1970 to ’75, but his and the family’s support has underpinned motorsport in Port Elizabeth for over half a century, including generous contributions to both the Aldo Scribante Race Track and the Celso Scribante Kart Raceway in the area.

The Aldo Scribante round of the Extreme Festival will host the fifth rounds of the Sasol GTC, Engen Volkswagen Cup and Investchem Formula 1600 championships along with a most entertaining supporting cast of national challenge and local PE races. The action will feature the likes of local heroes Michael Stephen, Simon Moss and Daniel Rowe, all of whom have won races in GTC this year, as well as local teams including the Audi and Volkswagen factory team — sounds like a great reason to cross off your diary for Aldo Scribante right now!