The best and the worst of Formula One

By Cameron Curwood

Almost always at the beginning of a new year or season, we get bombarded with 'best-of' lists, and 'a-look-back-to' lists, or predictions and thoughts of the future. People giving us the highlights, and telling us what was the best and worst of the year that just passed, or what will come in the upcoming season. This is not one of those lists. Instead, I give you the best and the worst of Formula One since its inception in 1950.

Greatest Driver: Jim Clark
 
When Jim Clark died in an F2 accident in Hockenheim in 1968 he had the most wins ever by an F1 driver, with 25. That record lasted almost six years until Jackie Stewart got his 26th at the Dutch Grand Prix in 1973, but Clark remained in second place for another 14 years, when Alain Prost got his 26th in Brazil in 1987. Even today, 42 years later, he sits seventh all time. Clark scored his wins in an era where there were only about 10 races a year, and cars were not that reliable. He is still tied for third in pole positions, behind only Senna and Schumacher, both of whom had many more race starts (more than double).

 

John Surtees, 1964 F1 World Champion, Jody Scheckter, 1979 F1 World Champion, Mario Andretti, 1978 F1 World Champion, Sir Jackie Stewart, 1969, 1971, 1973 F1 World Champion, Damon Hill, 1996 F1 World Champion, Nigel Mansell, 1992 F1 World Champion

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We can look at the stats of a number of drivers and come up with reasons to call them the best. We can think about how much higher Clark's (and Ayrton Senna's) would be had he lived. We can look at how Clark missed some F1 races so he could compete (and win) in Indianapolis, but there is one stat for me that pushes Clark over the edge. He finished in second place, only once -- yes, just once -- in his entire career. If the car was anywhere near the front, he had it in the lead. If the car didn't fall apart, he'd make it win. He never lucked into any wins.

Most Underrated Driver: Graham Hill
 
Can a two time World Champion, an Indy 500 winner, a Le Mans 24 hours winner, 14 time Grand Prix winner, and five time Monaco Grand Prix winner be underrated? You betcha. Whenever people mention the greatest drivers of all time do you ever hear Hill's name mentioned? Not often enough. He is the only man ever to do the triple of wins mentioned above (the triple crown of racing), and add to that the five Monaco GRAND PRIX wins also mentioned (a feat only matched by Senna and Michael Schumacher) and you have one-of-a-kind accomplishments. We do not hear his name enough when discussing the greatest drivers of all time, especially when we consider racing beyond F1.

Overrated Driver: Giancarlo Fisichella
 
Fisichella has competed in 231 Grands Prix, in some great cars like Benetton, Renault and Ferrari, including a couple that won the championship. His result of three victories are not sufficient for the opportunities he was given. Has there ever been a race where you sat watching, enthralled by his performance? A race where you shook your head afterwards and thought, wow, this guy is a great driver -- a future world champion? A race where you thought he had an outstanding drive but his result was less than he deserved? None come to my mind. Jarno Trulli is similar, with 238 entries and one victory, though he never had a championship winning car, and least had the 1997 Austrian Grand Prix, where he was very impressive, leading the race in the Prost-Mugen-Honda.

Best Ambassador: Jackie Stewart
 
The Wee Scot is perhaps the best-known F1 driver in North America, along with Mario Andretti, and most of that is due to his work and promotion of the sport after he finished racing. While racing, Stewart began his tireless effort to make F1 safer -- for drivers, fans and marshals -- attempting to turn it from a blood sport, a sport where drivers expected to die, to one where everyone expected to go home safely at the end of the day. His commentating, usually for North American fans not completely familiar with F1, was always informative for the novice and expert alike.

He would always say great things about his sport, yet always be honest and critical where needed. Like the great champions of other sports, he never felt he was bigger than F1, was always humble within it, and always thanked it for what it gave him. He carried all of these attributes with him through being a driver, commentator, public relations expert, and successful team owner.

Max Mosley, FIA President

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Worst Ambassador: Max Mosley
 
I could go on a huge rant about each reason Mosley was bad for F1. Instead I will just point out a few of the low-lights. The most boring races in history. The 1994 Australian Grand Prix. Flip-floppy, ridiculous rule changes. Qualifying procedures that seemed to change daily. The smallest fields since the 1950s. European Union Competition law violations. Breakaway series threats. The 2005 United States Grand Prix. His outrageous criticism of Stewart. We are extremely lucky that Schumacher slipped off the track and could not continue at the European Grand Prix in 1997, after trying to knock Jacques Villeneuve out of the race, because I don't think Mosley and the FIA would have done anything to take away the championship from Schumacher had he won it.

Best Pass (Tie): Nelson Piquet - Hungarian Grand Prix 1986
 
Piquet was sitting second behind Senna when he got into Senna's slip-stream on the main straight. Piquet pulled out to the inside of the track, with Senna ever so slightly squeezing him. Piquet got alongside and it was now a matter of who would brake last for the corner, a 180 degree right-hander. Piquet did that, but he carried a bit too much speed as he turned into the corner. The back end of his car slid, and he struggled to maintain control as it went wide, and Senna slipped down the inside and maintained his lead.

On the next lap, Piquet was again right behind Senna as they entered the main straight. This time, Senna protected the inside, forcing Piquet to attempt a pass on the outside. Piquet pulled out and got alongside Senna on the outside. Again, it would come down to who would break last, and who could hold onto the car through the corner. Piquet again braked last, turned in, and again his car slid, almost uncontrollably. He held on, keeping the front end of his car next to the curb on the inside, so Senna could not nip through the inside. Remarkably, it worked. Piquet took the lead, and went on to win the race 17 seconds ahead of Senna and a lap ahead of Nigel Mansell. It was a move (two of them actually) of absolute bravery, skill, determination and car control.

Best Pass (Tie): Jacques Villeneuve - European Grand Prix 1997
 
This was not one of those flashy, spectacular passes where cars are sliding, wheels are locking and smoke is coming off the tires. Instead, it was rather simple looking. However, the repercussions of this pass were like no other. For one, it was a pass to decide a championship. Villeneuve needed to pass Schumacher to win the championship and Schumacher needed to keep Villeneuve behind. On a track that is difficult to pass on, Villeneuve lulled Schumacher into a false sense of security, and made a move from so far back Schumacher could not have expected it. Incredibly it worked. A pass that gave Villeneuve the championship.

 

The start: Michael Schumacher in front of Jacques Villeneuve and Heinz-Harald Frentzen

However, the pass also had other effects. Schumacher, the big star, looked like a fool with his ridiculous attempt to knock Villeneuve out of the race by turning into him and crashing his car against Villeneuve's. Suddenly, the 1994 Australian Grand Prix, where Schumacher crashed into Hill as Hill attempted to pass, didn't look so innocent. A man who was the golden boy of F1 now faced the wrath and ridicule of the world. Never has a pass done that before, or since.

Best lap: French Grand Prix 1979
 
Gilles Villeneuve's and Rene Arnoux's last lap in the 1979 French Grand Prix at Dijon. This one is famous enough I don't need to say anything.

Worst Race: French Grand Prix 1996
 
Nothing happened. There isn't much else to say. Not much happened in the 1995 French Grand Prix either.

Best Race: European Grand Prix, Nurburgring, 1999
 
The race started with a Jordan on Pole Position -- a Jordan, whose driver, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, was still in the championship hunt. A second formation lap led was needed then the race featured: a barrel-roll accident, rain, some cars on dry tires, some cars on wet tires, good pit- stops, bad pit-stops, accident damage, a disastrous retirement for Frentzen, a new leader, more rain, more cars on wet tires, more cars on dry tries, the new leader David Coulthard on dry tires in the rain sliding off to retirement, and another new leader -- Ralf Schumacher -- also on dry tires. Then, Ralf pitted, and Fisichella (see above) became the leader (still on dry tires). Fisichella also spun off, and then Ralf had a puncture.

This put Johnny Herbert into the lead in the Stewart, with Minardis in fourth and seventh. Luca Badoer, the Minardi driver in fourth, broke his gear box, and Villeneuve (also in the points) lost his clutch, and the BAR team's first chance at points. Mika Hakkinen battled and got his way up to fifth, passing Eddie Irvine in the process. Irvine could not pass Marc Gene in the other Minardi for sixth. The two points difference between Hakkinen and Irvine would be huge in terms of the championship. The podium was an unusual Stewart - Prost - Stewart in terms of constructors.

Honorable mention: 1986 Australian Grand Prix had three of the great drivers -- Prost, Piquet and Mansell -- battling for the championship at the last race of the year. The race was eventful, with each guy looking like he would win it at some point, and the one with the least chance, Prost, finally securing it with his win.

Jody Scheckter: From Formula One to life in the slow lane

The former Grand Prix motor racing champion started organic farming as a hobby 14 years ago, but it has since turned into a passion and major business. Susie Mesure meets Jody Scheckter

Being told to "belt up" barely 10 minutes into an interview would normally bode badly but Jody Scheckter means well enough. The one-time enfant terrible of motor racing knows better than most what happens when he steps on the gas and he is not taking any chances. It's hardly Monza, but I swear the needle hits 60 as the grass blurs outside my window.

I need him to slow down because I'm trying to pick out the 31 different herbs, clovers and grasses that Scheckter claims have turned the 2,500 acres on his Laverstoke Park Farm into a "mixed salad" for the various beasts that roam his land. We are heading for a field of water buffalo, which The Independent on Sunday photographer hopes will provide a suitable background for some shots to accompany this piece. The hairy black beasts are a far cry from the Formula One glamour girls in backdrops past, but they look just as beautiful to Scheckter. Where I see flies, he sees hope that his 14-year farming odyssey might yet strike gold. After sinking "an embarrassing amount" of his £60m personal fortune into setting up one of the UK's most impressive organic farms, Scheckter, 60, knows that the clock is ticking on his attempt to make his latest career choice – farming – pay. "Even if I can afford to lose money year after year, it doesn't give me any pleasure. I can have the best food in the world and people can think, 'Wow, this is wonderful,' but if it's not sustainable, it's a failure," the former Grand Prix world champion admits.

What started as a hobby after Scheckter's second wife, Clare, gave him a book on organic farming quickly took over his life. "It became a passion, and then a disease," he says. The pair had just returned to England, Clare's home country, after a stint in the US that ended with him banking millions from the sale of a company he set up after retiring from the F1 circuit in 1980. They needed somewhere to live, and settled on Laverstoke Park, the historic home of the Portal family, which was famous for printing bank notes; it came with 530 acres attached.

"It was a little bit of a fantasy," he recalls, his South African accent still strong despite not having lived there for nearly four decades. "I wanted to produce the best possible tasting food for me and my family without a compromise, and my conclusion was to follow nature very strictly. We have two main keys: slow-growing animals and plants are generally healthy and taste better, and biodiversity is the key to a healthy natural environment."

Scheckter's ecological conversion might seem at odds with his former fuel-burning lifestyle, but he claims he has always been a "foodie and a health fanatic". Something, certainly, has been burning the calories he's been consuming: he is as trim a sexagenarian as you're likely to encounter. His white shirt (with Laverstoke Park Farm logo) is tucked tightly into belted Boss jeans and is hiding nothing. There are, however, enough wheels on the farm to help compensate for the Ferraris he drove when he won the world title. In addition to his Mercedes 4x4 and the countless tractors that are dotted about, two bulldozers are busy shifting the 25,000 steaming tons of compost he is licensed to produce.

Although his original intention was to stock his family's larder, not his local supermarket's shelves, Scheckter says he quickly realised that killing a cow meant eating beef for six weeks, and he was keen to apply the diversity principle to his diet as well as his fields. The farm, he says, "just got bigger and bigger to try to make it work commercially". As well as the buffalo, today he has beef cattle, Jersey cows, boar, pigs, ewes and assorted poultry. He also grows a wide variety of fruit and vegetables, as well as hops and vines. Many of his livestock are rare or traditional breeds; he prefers them because they are smaller, grow slower and taste better. He has added salami, bresaola, pâté, sausages, nitrate-free bacon, burgers, and biltong to the fillet steaks he sells in an attempt to use up the other "800 pieces" you get from a carcass. All the animals are killed on site in what I'm told is the abattoir equivalent to turning left on a plane, even if the livestock concerned have only a one-way ticket.

Happily, for this vegetarian correspondent, Friday wasn't killing day at Laverstoke Park, much as Scheckter would have liked it to be. "We kill two to three days a week, but we should be doing five. You can't run a place like this financially with two days," he says, gesturing to the gleaming machinery in the purpose-built abattoir below us. The five-star service is not intended as a sop to the animal welfare movement but because the more relaxed an animal is before its death, the tastier the meat. Apparently. "If you stress an animal in this environment, you get bad meat. If they get scared, the meat changes its colour. It changes its pH. It gets tough, and it tastes different, so we do a lot to keep the animals as calm as possible in here. That's nature's way of making us be kind to animals." Not kind enough not to eat them, though? "No, no. I'm not vegetarian. I'm lazy. They collect all the vitamins for me for years and then I..." he trails off, then gestures to an apple tree. "You can go to extremes; you can say you don't want to eat things that grow like apples, because they're alive. That's not what I'm about."

Moving on, physically as well as philosophically, Scheckter's next stop on our whistle-stop tour of his farm is the dairy, where he has recently added ice-cream to the things he is doing with buffalo milk. Despite feeling queasy from the speed of his corners, I'm treated to a full tasting session: eight flavours in all, spanning liquorice to dolce, the sweet, burnt-caramel version made to his mother's own recipe. I normally take my buffalo milk mozzarellaed, but Scheckter's ice-creams are possibly an improvement even on his much vaunted Italian-style cheese. Sweet, creamy, and no doubt hideously calorific, all eight are a triumph, although peppermint stands out to my mind, possibly because it cuts through the richness of the buffalo milk.

Scheckter knows he's taking a gamble by adding ice-cream to his repertoire, but he just can't help himself. "I probably was arrogant. I started eight start-up companies at once and that's been the biggest problem, because I can't spend enough time on any of them. I can't find the right people. It took me eight years in America to get a good team, and I thought that now I know what I'm doing it's going to be shorter, but it hasn't been. It's all so diverse. Each one is different, from making mozzarella and ice-cream, to salami and bacon, to farming and compost," he says, speaking nearly as fast as he drives. Then there's the soil-testing laboratory that has turned Laverstoke into the "University of Organics", he adds. The farm boasts a full-time microbiologist as well as a microchemist, adding to the complexity of Scheckter's project, as well as his selling points. "We follow nature but we use science to try to understand it a little bit better."

Although most of his produce is organic, Scheckter prefers to style himself as a "natural" rather than an organic farmer. What is clear is that he's no Soil Association acolyte, muttering something about the organic standards body being "too political" for him. He thinks organic food, which has had a tough time of late with shoppers choosing cheaper, conventionally grown alternatives, has a "bad image". He adds: "The more you understand about it, the more you understand the reasons why you should be eating organic. Why would we be putting synthetic things into our body? But I think organic has got a bad image – it's got a Gucci image. It's not at all. It's natural."

Either way, it's an exciting ride, even if Scheckter will have to hand himself his own bottle of bubbles when – if – he finally gets his farm into the black.

Curriculum vitae
 
1950 Born in East London, in South Africa's Eastern Cape, where his father owns a Renault dealership. Goes to the nearby Selborne College.

1970 Moves to Britain, where he rapidly ascends to the ranks of Formula One.

1972 Makes his F1 debut with McLaren at the US Grand Prix.

1973 Uses up several of his lives in one of the most colourful crashes Silverstone has ever seen. His car runs wide to the exit at the end of lap one and skids across the track into the pit wall. Eight following cars pile either into his McLaren or each other. Although the Grand Prix Drivers' Association demands that he be banned, he misses only a few races.

1977 Joins the Wolf team and finishes second to Niki Lauda in the championship.

1979 Signs for Ferrari, pairing up with Gilles Villeneuve. Wins the drivers' championship. Retires the next year after struggling very badly in his 1980 title defence, managing only two points. Moves to the US and sets up a company that created hi-tech simulators to train law enforcement officers and the military.

1996 Moves to England with his second wife, Clare. Buys the 18th-century house at Laverstoke Park, in Hampshire, and 530 surrounding acres to start an organic farm.

Jody Scheckter Launches His Own Range of Organic Pet Food

Scheckter, formerly Formula One world champion, now heads one the UK’s largest and most diverse organic food suppliers from his Laverstoke Park Farm.
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After ten years spent in the white hot atmosphere of the Formula One circuits of the world, driving for some of sport’s leading teams, including Ferrari and McLaren, South African born Jody Scheckter has settled down incredibly well to the rural lifestyle of England where he owns and operates .

After building a successful business in the United States, which he took public, Scheckter returned to the UK in 2003, with a dream of buying some land and becoming self-sufficient in food supply. Jody and his wife Clare may have gone a bit over the top, at the outset buying a parcel of land more than 500 acres large. However, it didn’t take them long to realize that they did have the capability at their fingertips to produce enough food not just to feed themselves and their family but to sell to local outlets.

Within the space of five years, the Scheckters had sold off that first parcel of land and bought the adjacent Laverstoke Park Farm, which was five times larger, which they  gradually turned into a paradise of organic farming, hailed by organic food  experts as a model for 21st-century farming, while the food that the farm produces has earned the praise and admiration of the UK’s  top chefs and food writers.
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Laverstoke Park Farm is home to  1,500 head of water  buffalo, which is the largest herd in  Europe. According to Scheckter, the mozzarella  cheese produced from water  buffalo is healthier  than that produced from cow’s milk  while the meat of the animal is leaner.

In addition to his large and unusual dairy cattle herd, Laverstoke Park Farm is also characterized by the  130,000 trees and 31 different varieties of grass that grow there, as well as the revolutionary methods of farming that the Scheckters are strong believers in.

According to Schechter their principals are  based around breeding, slow growing animals and cultivating plants that  are generally healthier and taste better.

We go to extremes in every way to follow these two principles,” summed up the ruddy ex-South African.

These same standards led the Scheckters to enter into a partnership agreement  with Sharon Daly, a canine nutrition advisor, where they agreed  to develop a range of pet food product, in which a principal ingredient will be  lean raw minced water buffalo meat.

Ms. Daly, who had heard about Jody’s prowess in breeding water buffalo for their lean meat visited the farm, more or less on chance, with a view to purchasing some  raw fresh meat to feed her dogs. One thing led to another, and now the Scheckters find themselves with another string to their bow, marketing  a completely natural diet for pets, with the meats produced exclusively from Laverstoke’s own abattoir.
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Jody Scheckter was born in South Africa, but moved to the UK  in 1970 to further his career as a racing driver, joining the McLaren team in 1971, and making his Formula 1 in 1972.

Jody stood out on the Formula 1 because of his aggressive style of driving.  Aggressive driving  was more  common place in those days, although Scheckter was more aggressive than most. During his first season on the circuit, Jody was deemed responsible for causing a multi-car pile up during  the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, which saw McLaren “ rest” the South African for four races to prevent the  Grand Prix Drivers Association demanding his immediate banishment from the circuit.

Jody Scheckter became a regular feature on the Formula I circuit during the Seventies, racing for the Tyrell and Walter Wolf teams, with little success before signing for Ferrari for the 1979 season.

Season 1979 was undoubtedly Scheckter’s best, winning the World Champion for Ferrari. However the following season, Jody Scheckter  struggled badly to maintain his form and he finished the season with just two points, enough to bring him to the decision to retire from the sport. Jody’s contribution to motor racing in particular and sport in general was recognized in 1983 when he was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

After retiring, Scheckter’s founded FATS in 1984. FATS were involved in the  design and construction of  firearms training simulators for military, law enforcement and security organizations. The company went public in 1996, and Jody  used some of the funds raised  to  purchase  Laverstoke Park Farm, with a view to  specializing in  organic farming.

Jody Scheckter - Better than trophies

Silverware doesn't mean much to me but the cars I raced through the '70s do. They are prized relics of my old life and each has a story of its own. They're not a bad investment, either

By Damien Smith

The past is of little relevance to Jody Scheckter. He lives in the moment, so buffalo, mozzarella and ice-cream fill most of his waking thoughts — and probably his dreams, too. Laverstoke Park, his organic farm business, is an all-consuming passion.

But lack of enthusiasm for his racing past is patently an exaggeration. Bound volumes of motor racing magazines line the book shelves of his magnificent stately home, and while he's kept only one trophy — his 1979 title-winning silverware — there are jaw-dropping treasures to be discovered. Behind the house, in a converted stable block, sit 10 of the single-seaters in which he built a formidable sporting reputation, firstly as a wild youngster in a Merlyn Formula Ford and latterly as a wily old stager who could deliver a coveted championship for Ferrari.

The 312T4 is the obvious choice as his most prized racing 'relic'. "I bought the Ferrari after I won the title, and it was the only car I had," he says. "When I came back to England in the mid-1990s I started buying the others. Kerry Adams, who uses a workshop up the road, helped me collect the cars. They came up for sale, and Kerry would seek them out. But he'd keep quiet about the buyer's identity, to ensure I didn't have to pay too much.

"I thought they'd help my sex life!" he jokes. "Bring some young girls here to show them what I used to do... but it doesn't seem to have worked. I use them to show customers when they come around, and they seem to enjoy looking at them."

There's one car notable by its absence: the Tyrrell P34 six-wheeler in which Jody won the 1976 Swedish GP. His apathy for it is well known, although he says: "I wouldn't mind one. But I've spent all the money on the farm now. The cars are a good investment. I've also got the Porsche 917/10 I raced in Can-Am and that's nearly restored. It's just an incredible car. It's a seat put on an 1100 horsepower engine. I bought it for £500,000 and it's probably worth about £4m now. When I die the kids will probably flog them all off. The younger ones don't really relate all this to me."

As we walk around his collection, the familiar nonchalance fails to hide his connection to these machines. They do mean something to him. "Maybe I look back more as I get older," he admits. "I suppose I should write a book some time. But I'd find it very boring because I'd have to spend time looking back."

Still, he agrees to indulge us today. For a few minutes, he allows farming matters to take a back seat to reminisce on his old life and the cars in which he courted both fame and infamy.

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Merlyn MK11A

In March 1971, 21-year-old South African Jody Scheckter pitched up in cold and wet Britain on the back of a 'Driver to Europe' scheme. He'd shown promise in Formula Ford at home, but now he'd really find out what he was made of. First, he needed a car. Step forward Colin Vandervell, who'd just come off the back of a successful season with this neat and tidy racer, built by the little constructor from Colchester.

"I bought the Merlyn from Colin Vandervell, second-hand. This is the 'Magic Merlyn', which Emerson Fittipaldi drove before Colin and I. Back in '71, I said to Colin, 'Deliver it to Brands Hatch, please'. I didn't have any spanners, nothing at all. We did the first race at the Race of Champions. I think I was on the second row, spun and came through the field to second. That was the first time I'd run in the rain. My style made people interested in what I was doing. I crashed a lot in the Formula Ford, and getting to the circuits was always a task. In South Africa you had such open roads. A journey that would take 30 minutes there would take two hours here. I was learning the circuits in 20 laps to get on the grid. It was all good practice."

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Merlyn MK21

Jody didn't hang around long in Formula Ford. Finding work at Merlyn's workshop, he was soon eyeing a step up into Formula 3. He'd already earned his wild man reputation, but there was no doubting his speed. Wins at Oulton Park, Mallory Park and Thruxton would follow.

"I was a bracket-maker for Merlyn, then became a welder. This car was lying around so I asked if I could use it. I borrowed a set of tyres from Firestone, Holbay lent me an engine, I put it together and it was very quick. I also raced an Ehrlich that year and won a heat at Silverstone, but then switched to this."

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McLaren M21

At the end of a promising first year in England, Scheckter was on the establishment's radar. Both McLaren and Team Surtees offered him Formula 2 deals, and he chose the former, attracted by the prospect of a quasi-works campaign that would concentrate on him alone. But the Ralph Bellamy monocoque design would prove a tricky proposition. Formula 1 aces Denny Hulme and Peter Gethin would be drafted in to help sort the car, but plans to put

the M21 into production were shelved and Scheckter would win just a single race.

"It was my first car after joining McLaren's, and it was a big step for me. I have good memories, despite it not being an easy time. There was a guy who used to shine the cars every day, which was nice but we weren't competitive. We went to test at Goodwood and they said I was taking the wrong line, that I was coming into the corners too early. Eventually they found that one shock absorber at the back was broken. But at least the car was very shiny...

Then Denny (Hulme) went out and did a 14.2sec lap. My best was a 15.5 or something. Then I got in, and did a 13.8. Boy, this car was much better now. He'd set it up properly, plus we'd found the broken shock. The next race was Crystal Palace, which I won.

Even in Fl I benefited from Denny's experience, although he didn't tell me everything. We had no data then, it was all on the driver. One of my skills was that I could drive around anything, but that was both good and bad, looking back."

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McLaren M19A

Jody's first F1 car enjoyed moderate success in 1971 and '72, in the hands of Denny Hulme. The Kiwi took one win and a string of podiums in the Ralph Bellamy design. At the end of '72 Lotus had come knocking at the door, and to prevent Scheckter opening it McLaren offered him an F1 debut at Watkins Glen. Barely 18 months after his UK Formula Ford debut at the Race of Champions, Jody conjured a third-row grid slot. He ran as high as fourth before a sudden shower caught him out. Still, he recovered to finish ninth — not bad. He'd reappear in a revised M19C at the start of '73 for his home GP at Kyalami, where he qualified on the front row.

"Watkins Glen, 1972. That was my first one, and nobody knew who I was, which was nice. This was a good car. I came in right at the end of its race life, of course. McLaren was one of the more advanced teams. At Tyrrell I felt they were behind McLaren. And if you look at the cars now you'll see how refined they were compared to cars that came even much later."

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McLaren M23

Despite the promise shown in Kyalami, Scheckter had doubts about how '73 would turn out. McLaren had canned its F2 programme, and with Hulme and Peter Revson the first choices in F1, only occasional GP outings were on offer. When opportunities arose, he needed to make the most of them.

At Paul Ricard — just his third GP — Scheckter found himself in Gordon Coppuck's new M23, a car that would turn out to be one of the most successful in F1 history. In France, Jody led sensationally until 12 laps from the end, when Emerson Fittipaldi made a move and the pair ended up in the catch fencing. If they hadn't already noticed before, they knew now: Scheckter had arrived.

But his rise would be pulled up short at Silverstone in July, when he triggered the infamous nine-car pile-up that decimated John Surtees' team. Jody hid in the team motorhome.

After a couple of late-season appearances, Scheckter moved on from McLaren, frustrated by the lack of opportunity. As for the M23, it would rack up 16 GP wins over four seasons and carry James Hunt to the '76 world title.

"People think of me in this car at Silverstone, with the big pile-up, but I prefer to think of Paul Ricard that year. I was competitive. It was the only time I had a senior driver in the same team as me, in Denny. When I got to Tyrrell in 1974, I was the senior driver. That didn't worry me at the time, but I wonder if I could have become more competitive by al continuing alongside someone like Denny."

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Motul M1

Perhaps the most surprising car to find in Scheckter's collection, given how brief his encounter would be with this pug-faced Formula 2. Without a full-time F1 deal, Jody signed to join Ron Dennis and Neil Trundle at Rondel Racing for some F2 in '73. The smart, ambitious multi-car team had performed strongly in previous years with customer Brabhams, but its step up to constructor status would prove Rondel's undoing. A lack of funding stymied Ray Jessop's design, named in deference to the team's title sponsor — which didn't pay up. Scheckter would withdraw after just two races, although Henri Pescarolo and Tim Schenken would win a race each. Bob Wollek, Tom Pryce and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud were also on the driving strength.

"It wasn't great. I don't really remember working with Ron, but I remember there were five cars and Tim Schenken was the lead driver. He was always joking around, which I thought was a pain in the arse. I wanted to be serious. The car never seemed to work, it had no downforce at all. I don't have any good memories. I thought it was horrible."

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Trojan T101

After the Silverstone debacle of '73, Jody flew out to the US, back to his dual campaign in Formula 5000 and Can-Am. The F5000 Trojan, run off the back of a trailer by Sid Taylor, would bring his first major international title after a season-long battle with Brian Redman. Scheckter's wild reputation would follow him across the Atlantic — and he didn't exactly dispel it with his antics in the big single-seater. In all, he would complete 19 races in the States during the most varied season of his career.

"You could really throw this car around. It was a time in my career when I was wild as hell, I suppose. I got to America and we won the championship, but crashed a lot too. At one race Brian Redman caught me up and I kept that thing sideways the whole time to keep him behind me. But a bolt had come out of the rear suspension, which was why it was sliding so much. And you had the tyres to do it in those days, too.

I didn't compare it to F1. I just drove it as fast as I could. American tyres seemed to be different from those in Europe. But with this, I was very fast in the and it would stay like that for the rest of the 9, opening laps. So I would pull 10 seconds ahead race. That's how I won the championship."

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Tyrrell 007

Without a permanent berth at McLaren in F1, Jody had welcomed Ken Tyrrell's advances for '74. It was all hush-hush, but Jackie Stewart was about to retire and Tyrrell wanted a promising youngster to join new team leader Francois Cevert. But after tragedy at Watkins Glen, everything would change. For Scheckter, the apprenticeship was over.

In the circumstances — following in the footsteps of a three-time champion and in the wake of Cevert's devastating loss — Jody was little short of brilliant in 1974. Victories in Sweden and Great Britain were the highlights and Scheckter finished an impressive third in the standings. A third win in 007 would follow in South Africa in '75, but little did he know that Tyrrell's long, slow decline to mediocrity had begun.

"Derek Gardner wanted to build a car that was easier to drive than the 006. Was that a mistake? I don't know. But we were competitive. We left Italy one point off the World Championship lead in that first year with Tyrrell.

Following Jackie Stewart wasn't easy. Ken would say 'Jackie did this, and Jackie did that', which I guess is normal. I was a young driver, after all. But look how sophisticated the M23 is compared to the 007. For example, how the engine cover is flush to the block compared to the Tyrrell, keeping the airflow to the back wing clean. And how the radiators are tucked away neatly on the McLaren. With what they know now about aerodynamics, I'm sure one of the modern guys could come and make a couple of tweaks and find a couple of seconds on either of these cars."

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Wolf WR1

The six-wheeled P34 was the final straw for Scheckter at Tyrrell and by the end of '76 he was ready for a change. Enter eccentric Austrian-born Canadian Walter Wolf.

He pieced together the equivalent of an Fl `superteam'. Peter Warr was hired from Lotus to run the operation, with former Hesketh designer Harvey Postlethwaite producing a conventional, but tidy, Fl car. A young Patrick Head assisted him, before leaving to rejoin Wolf's ex-partner Frank Williams, who'd quit the team or been forced to leave, depending on who you believe (they went on to enjoy quite a bit of success at their next team). Jody completed the picture for a one-car attack, bringing with him Roy Topp, his mechanic from Tyrrell. None of them could have guessed what would happen next.

The striking deep blue and gold car caused a shock by winning on its debut in Argentina. Further wins in Monaco and Canada, plus a string of podiums, left him a distant runner-up in the championship to Niki Lauda's Ferrari.

But in these early days of ground-effect Fl cars, Wolf was about to be left behind. Jody would be winless in '78 for the first time since his maiden part-season with McLaren, five years earlier. Still, from the third race in, he had a new deal in the bag — the biggest and most important of his career.
"It was fabulous in 1977, because there were just 20 people in the team. It was so tightly knit, but we were leading the championship halfway through the season. It was a lovely little car.

We won first time out, but we were consistent rather than fast. I came up behind Carlos Pace, who was taking funny lines, but he'd been sick in his helmet. I was very fit and we won the race by keeping going. I remember James Hunt saying it didn't matter, that those points wouldn't make any difference. At Long Beach we were very competitive. We should have won there. We were leading most of the way, then I got a slow puncture eight laps from the end. The rubber squeezed over the hole, so I kept going but eventually Andretti and Lauda passed me. I had something like eight pounds of pressure in the tyre by the end.

I worked really well with Patrick Head. He did quite a lot of th design for this car. I got along well with Harvey, too. We seemed to relate to each other."
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Ferrari 312T4
In the era of ground effects, Mauro Forghieri's T4 was forever compromised by its 'boxer' flat 12 engine. Still, it was effective. The combination of Jody, Gilles, the proven 312T series and, vitally, Michelin rubber proved the class of the field. Lotus lost its way after the dominance of '78 with its porpoising Type 80, Renault and Williams scored their first wins, but couldn't string together enough form to collar the championship, and Ligier started strongly with a pair of wins for Jacques Laffite, but then faded badly as the season progressed. Scheckter asserted himself over team-mate Villeneuve as Ferrari's title hope with back-to-back victories at Zolder and Monaco, while strong reliability allowed him to score regularly and well.

"Ferrari didn't have the magic for me when I came over, but it was something I discovered. I had a fantastic time and it was great fun. Everybody said I was a difficult guy and it would be the most disastrous combination, and it was the opposite. I suppose I'm as full of bullshit as they are. The food was fantastic, and Gilles (Villeneuve) and I got on really well together. It was hard work, but fun. In Italy they try to make you fight each other, but Gilles and I were close enough to avoid that. We were mature, I suppose.

There was one time at Silverstone where they gave me one lap to go and it wasn't right. John Watson passed me because of it. I complained when I came in and the next thing, it was all over the Italian papers. So the Old Man called us all in for a team meeting on Monday morning. I'd spoken to Gilles and we used this meeting to our advantage. We didn't have much in the way of ground effects on the Ferrari with the flat 12 any space under the car was taken up by the exhaust pipes. But (Mauro) Forghieri didn't want to listen. So I said to the Old Man that we shouldn't be fighting among ourselves. He asked what we needed and I replied 'ground effects'. No one else would say it because they were all scared of him. Then we went to Monza and found we had more revs and more downforce. People don't realise what that means to a driver it's the most exciting thing you can get.
The feeling of being World Champion lasted all of a week because Ferrari wanted me to drive at Imola in a non-championship race, and I really didn't want to. I'd spent eight years trying to win the championship. Now I'd won it, there was relief more than anything else. But looking back today, I'm glad I bought the car."

Jody Scheckter: Ferrari favourite

After 21 years without success, Ferrari finally crowned a Formula One world champion in 2000 when Michael Schumacher won the prestigious title. Ironically, it was thanks to this lack of success that the previous Ferrari champion first became known to the new generation of racing fans. He was South Africa's Jody Scheckter.
Born in East London in 1950, Scheckter earned his first Formula One drive with McLaren as a 22-year-old. In 1972 he enjoyed one Grand Prix drive and in 1973 he certainly made an impact - though not the kind he would have wanted to make. Competing in the British Grand Prix, Scheckter ran wide coming out of a corner and spun back across the track. A huge pile-up followed and the race was stopped with half the field wiped out in the crash. That season Scheckter started five grands prix but failed to register a championship point.

Moved to Tyrrell

The next year, 1974, Scheckter was signed by Tyrrell following the retirement of three-time world champion Jackie Stewart and the death of driver Francois Cevert at the end of the 1973 season. It proved a good move for the South African and for Tyrrell. Scheckter finished third in the championship, winning the Swedish Grand Prix and the British Grand Prix - a major win for British team Tyrrell. In 1975 Sheckter won once, in front of his home fans, at the South African Grand Prix. He accumulated 20 points for the season and finished in joint seventh place. The following year he drove the unorthodox six-wheeled Tyrrell-Ford Type P-34. Scheckter took the car to its only win in its first outing in Sweden. Nonetheless, the South African ace enjoyed a consistent season and finished third in the world championship standings.

Runner-up

In 1977 Scheckter joined the newly founded Wolf team of Austro-Canadian oil millionaire Walter Wolf. Despite the team being newcomers to Formula One, Scheckter performed exceptionally. He won the Canadian, Monaco and Argentinian Grands Prix and finished runner-up in the championship to the great Austrian Niki Lauda. 1978 was not as successful a year for Scheckter. He failed to win a race and scored 24 points to tie for seventh in the championship.

World champion

Scheckter joined Ferrari for the 1979 season and things went much better for the South African. He won in Italy, Monaco and Belgium and was crowned world champion. He raced one more season in 1980, but did not have a good year and retired. During his career he took part in 113 grands prix, won 10 of them, finished second 14 times and third 10 times. His 1979 success was something for Ferrari fans to hold on to, because it would take the famous Italian team with the prancing horse another 21 years before they celebrated producing a world champion again.