Basil van Rooyen (born 19 April 1939 in Johannesburg) is a former racing driver, race car developer, inventor and engineer. His career comprised racing a motorcycle, Anglia, Lotus Cortina, Mustang, Alfa Romeo, Capri Perana Chevy Can-am, Fiat/Ferrari saloon cars, sports cars, single seaters and F1. (Formula 1) Participation Puch 250. He started racing motorcycles in 1957 with the 24 hour race at Grand Central track, a narrow race track near Johannesburg. At the time he was 18 year old, having just gotten his license. Sprint racing Ford Anglia 105E. Home modifications and some imported parts brought many class wins and overall places in 1961 and 1962 on the newly inaugurated Kyalami Racetrack. Upgraded to a Cortina 1200cc in 1963. In 1964, Ford Motor Company SA donated two Lotus Cortinas to the most successful SA Ford racers. (1 to BvR and Superformance, a performance shop where he was Managing Director, to race in the new countrywide SA Saloon Car Championship and 1 to Willie Meissner, talented ex-GSM Dart engineer, of Meissner Motors and driver Koos Swanepoel, who raced an Anglia 1500). BvR car at first could not keep up and Swanepoel won the 1964 SA Saloon Car Championship. In 1965, BvR development skills surpassed Meissner, his nemesis, and he was faster and won all or nearly all the races. SA Saloon Car Championship racing became so popular with race fans that in so 1966 Ford SA donated the new Ford Mustang V8s to the same pair. BvR car was consistently faster and he won all the races to become 1966 and 1967 SA Saloon car champion. 1968 Alfa Romeo, had imported an Auto Delta Alfa GTA but it was not fast enough, so they persuaded BvR to develop. (He had been racing Alfa GTVs since 1966 in the Onyx Production Car Series, additional events at the Kyalami venue.) BvR developed a short stroke 2000cc engine which soon lapped faster than his Mustang and started competing very successfully against Meissner’s and Ford SA's new Escorts with 1800cc and 2000cc 4v engines. Arnold Chatz took over later on, when BvR became involved in Single Seater Racing. He had been persuaded to race the older ex John Love Cooper Climax against world champions in the 1968 South African Grand Prix. Enjoyed single seaters debut so much that he imported a newer Brabham to enter in the rest of the SA events for the balance