31 Aug Rear-view Mirror
A regular look back at old motoring and motor sport items…
In his early days, South Africa’s one and only Formula 1 World Champion Jody Scheckter was soon nick-named ‘Sideways Scheckter’ because of his flamboyant tail-out driving style of his Renault R8 – even to once being black-flagged for ‘dangerous driving’. But this ‘tail out’ ability stood him in good stead when, in January 1971, Ford invited him to take part in a five-race series to help establish Formula Ford racing in South Africa. As Jody explained in his book ‘Jody – An autobiography’:
To illustrate the point, here is a picture of Jody in the Lola leading Richard Sterne, Peter Hull and Mick Formato through Clubhouse Corner at Kyalami. The race was the first of the five that took place on successive weekends and to bolster the competition, drivers came from overseas to take part. And at the end of the series, Jody was the highest placed South African, which meant he won a Racer To Europe sponsorship. In March he was on his way to the UK and the rest, as they say, is history…
At the end of 1971, Jody was back in SA taking part in the 9-Hour sports car race at Kyalami, sharing a Team Wynn’s Chevron B19 FVC with Dutchman Ed Swart. They got as high as third place before the car’s clutch burnt out with an hour to go, but they had covered enough distance to be classified 14th. Pic shows Jody entering The Esses ahead of the Team Gunston Chevron B19 FVC of Mike Hailwood/Chris Craft and the Renault R8 Gordini of Alan Lavoipierre/Bob Delport.
(NB: No copyright infringement is intended with any of the images used to illustrate these articles.)
