John Love – F1 and SA F1 Championship | The “forgotten” drivers of F1

1961 – Killarney at the V Riebeeck Trophy in 1961. John Love leads Ernie Pieterse on his way to victory

1964 Roy Hesketh with Ernest Pietrse and Trevot Blokdyk. Photo John Myers via source FB

1965 John Love and his Cooper T55 Climax rush to victory in the Rhodesian GP. Info and photo Michele Lupini

1965 – The Bulawayo Bullet John Love put the finishing touches to his dominant 1965 South African Driver’s Championship, his second of six in a row, with his tenth win of the season aboard his new Tasman Cooper T79 Climax 2.7 at the Kyalami Rand Spring Trophy today in 1965. He was helped by Peter de Klerk struggling to get his car to match what Brabham had promised when the car was bought, to end second in the title race from Doug Serrurier, Sam Tingle, Brausch Niemann, the hapless Tony Maggs, and rising stars Dave Charlton and Jackie Pretorius. This Ivor Hanes image photograph of is another of many splendid images soon to be found in the forthcoming book Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit – 60 Years of Memories, due for release on 4 November. Visit facebook.com/kyalami60years to learn more and order your copy. Auto’s Moment of the Day is brought to you by the Franschhoek Motor Museum. Book your next visit at www.fmm.co.za. Photo and info Michele Lupini

1967 John Love on pole at the start of the 1967 Rhodesian Grand Prix. Photo and Nigel Owen

1967 History in the making. John Love lines up for the start of the Rhodesian GP at Kumalo in his Repco Brabham BT20, today in 1967. It was the first time Love’s car and fellow Rhodesian Sam Tingle’s LDS carried their iconic orange and brown Team Gunston colours. This was also a first for a major company to brand a Formula 1 car in its corporate colours. Love and Tingle also raced in the South African Grand Prix at Kyalami in Gunston colours a month later to become the first drivers ever to race in sponsor’s colours in a F1 Grand Prix. That’s contrary to common belief that Lotus were cigarette company pioneers five months later at Monaco. How’s that for proper Southern African first! Photo and info Michele Lupini

1967 Team Gunston Leads the World
There was something quite significant about the Rhodesian Grand Prix today in 1967. While home hero John Love and his Brabham Repco BT20 wrapped up his fourth South African Driver’s Championship on the trot with his third home Grand Prix win over Brabham Repco BT11 men Dave Charlton and Jackie Pretorius, the big story was that Love and Rhodesian teammate Sam Tingle’s LDS 3 Repco were the first cars ever to carry tobacco sponsorship branding and colours. The two would famously go on to fly the Team Gunston flag in the South African Grand Prix at Kyalami a month later, making them (not Graham Hill’s ’68 Monaco winning Lotus 49) the first ever cars to race a world championship Grand Prix in cigarette colours. Their appearance in the non-championship Rhodesian Grand Prix 55 years ago on this day, was the world first that would see tobacco cigarette sponsorships carrying F1 for almost 40 years anon. Tobacco advertising would be banned on health grounds in the late 2000s. Sam Tingle’s LDS 3 now back in its original Climax guise, and its separate Repco V8 engine, as well as much SA F1 and Team Gunston memorabilia, are on display at the the Franschhoek Motor Museum. No trip to the Cape is complete without a visit to the museum and the magnificent Franschhoek Valley. Book your holiday visit now at www.fmm.co.za. Auto’s Moment of the Day is brought to you by the Franschhoek Motor Museum. Photo and info Michele Lupini

1967 John Love and his men, Keith Starling and Gordon Jones, celebrate ending an incredible second in the South African Grand Prix, today in 1967. And what could have been…source https://www.grandprix247.com

1967 Rand Autumn Trophy Kyalami with Dave Charlton #7. Photo Joshua Joshua via FB

1967 F1 SA Championship Roy Hesketh. Photo Peter Waldburger

1968 John Love 1st in the Lotus-Cosworth during the 1968 Easter race meeting at Hesketh. Photo and info via FB Nigell Owen

1968 SA GP with Paul Hawkins. Photo Johan Jaybee Pretorius

1968 SA GP F1 Championship. Photo Wimpie Lombard

1968 F1 SA John Love, Lotus 49 followed by Sam Tingle, Repco Brabham. Photo Joshua Joshua via FB

1968 SA F1 Chapionship. Photo André Heiberg via Karl De Villiers

1968 John Love steers his Lotus 49 Ford to victory in the Coronation 100 at Pietermaritzburg’s Roy Hesketh. Photo and info Michele Lupini for https://www.facebook.com/groups/autoandsport/