John Maxwell Lineham Love (7 December 1924 – 25 April 2005) was a Rhodesian racing driver.
He participated in 10 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 29 December 1962. He achieved one podium, and scored a total of six championship points. Info from Wiki
Bio by Peter Hopper
Rhodesian John Love came over to the UK in 1961, at the ripe old age of 36, to drive in Formula Junior for Ken Tyrrell.
The following year, he was back for more, also driving a works Mini in the British Saloon Championship, which he won. Thereafter, work and business commitments kept him in South Africa for the remainder of his career. But every year, alongside the local races, he was a regular competitor in the SA GP.
From 1962 to 1972, he could be seen on the grids at East London and Kyalami, driving Cooper, Brabham, Lotus, March and Surtees cars. The 1967 race so nearly produced a fairytale result. Driving his old Cooper, fitted with a 2.7L Climax engine, Love qualified a superb 5th. With his car carrying extra fuel tanks, Love started steadily, dropping back to 10th place, but with others having problems,, he moved up, and when leader Denny Hulme pitted with brake problems, Love sensationally took the lead! Sadly, it wasn’t to be. Love had to pit for a fuel top up just a few laps from the end, dropping him to 2nd.
He never came as close again. In his latter years, he is probably more remembered for a remarkable escape from a terrifying accident in a local championship race at Kyalami in 1971, his Surtees forcing its way between the barriers, with Loves head tight up against the armco. Another few inches, and…… He remained in Rhodesia, later, after independence, Zimbabwe, until his death from cancer in 2005.
Bio by Stephen Latham
South African F1 Champion six times on the run from 1964 to 1969, plus victorious in the Rhodesian GP six times, John Maxwell Lineham Love was born on the 7th December 1924 in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia. He competed in 10 F1 World Championship Grands Prix, with all but one in races in Africa, either as championship or non-championship races, and he also won 1962’s British Saloon Car Championship.
After leaving school he became an apprentice electrical fitter and at the start of the War was called up and served with the Armoured Car Division in the Middle East and Italy. This gave him an early experience of driving, though in a tank, and while at Monza he and other servicemen managed to lap the GP circuit on a Zundapp motorcycle. He would later become a dispatch driver, travelling between a number of Italian towns and the Swiss border.
After the War he returned to Bulawayo and completed his apprenticeship and in 1947 his racing career started, though on motorbikes rather than four wheeled machines. He raced a variety of bikes, including a TT-replica Rudge, Norton, AJS, Triumph and Velocette, until 1954 when he purchased a Cooper Mk III JAP, which would later be Norton powered. After writing it off in an accident, he purchased another Cooper-Norton and during this time he scored five victories each at Umgusa Speedway and Salisbury’s Coronation Park.
1956 saw him race a Ferrari 225S though he retired from the three events contested, the GP South Africa at Katlehong, an East London Handicap and a Sports Handicap event at Johannesburg. He then branched out and began to compete in South Africa and racing a Riley-Special he won the Heany Summer Handicap race and strong results started to be achieved in 1958. This included third at Johannesburg’s Transvaal Autumn Handicap and second place finishes at the False Bay 100 at Cape Town, the Coronation 100 (Roy Hesketh, Pietermaritzburg), the Union Day Handicap and a Formula Libre event at the Belvedere Circuit in Rhodesia. He was third with the Riley Special in the GP Angola and second with George Pfaff at the 9 Hour Endurance race at Grand Central in an Austin-Healey 10, with Autosport magazine reporting how “John Love of Rhodesia lost his number plate part way down the straight, halted, dashed across the track in font of an oncoming bunch to retrieve it, and proceeded to the pits to replace it.”
In 1959 he and fellow racer Jimmy Shields left for England to further their racing careers but a lack of support eventually made him decide to return home. However, while in England he purchased an ex-works Jaguar D-type and he took it back and began entering races with it back in Rhodesia, taking second place finishes at the GP Lepoldville and GP Angola. He also competed in a 9 Hour Johannesburg race and was thirteenth with Dawie Gous in a Porsche Carrera. Continuing with the D-Type in 1960 he was seventh in a non-championship South African GP at East London, which was the first GP there since the end of the War and a number of sportscars were entered. He followed this with victories at Grand Central and the GP Angola and was also victorious in a return to the Johannesburg 9 Hours (titled the Rand Daily Mail South African Nine Hour Endurance Race) taking the win with D.Gous in their Porsche 550 RS. Dawie later told how “After our very first race in ’59 when we raced the Carrera Speedster, I was still a beginner as it was my first year of racing and I was completely inexperienced. I will never forget when John Love came to me after the race and said, ‘you will become a very good racing driver, I can see that’. Encouraging words indeed from a great racing driver!”
After a meeting with Eric Broadley of Lola, he was offered a place in the Fitzwilliam Formula Junior team and performed well, taking podium places at Reims, Albi, in the Copenhagen Cup and at an Eifelrennen meeting. He had also come to the attention of Ken Tyrrell and after testing for him at Goodwood raced for him in a Cooper T52-BMC at Pescara and Goodwood. Back in South Africa in the December he contested two races for Scuderia Lupini, racing Gigi Lupini’s Cooper T51-Maserati in the Cape GP and the South African GP.
He continued with Ken Tyrrell in 1961’s European Formula Junior Championship, with Tony Maggs as team mate, and the two, along with Jo Siffert, dominated that year. He won a Heat and set fastest lap at a race at Cesenatico, Italy and then took his first outright victory at Chimay, with more victories following at Caserta, La Chatre, Nogaro, Roskildering and Monthlery. He returned to Africa at the end of the European season and, reunited with Scuderia Lupini’s Cooper T51-Maserati, took second place at the Rand Spring Trophy and there were two races in a Porsche for Arthur Pillman, including victory in the 9 Hour Kyalami with D.Gous. He returned to the UK and undertook a third season with Ken Tyrrell, racing a FJunior Cooper T59 but there were only wins at Roskildering, Magny Cours and Karlskoga. However, competing in the British Touring Car Championship with a Mini Cooper, he took seven class wins from the eight races to take the Championship. There was also a third place finish with the Mini in a non-championship race at La Chatre in France. Unfortunately, while contesting a FJunior race at Albi he had a serious accident when he crashed into a barrier while trying to avoid a spinning car. This resulted in him breaking his left arm and having to have a bone graft from his hip and from this point on he was forced to adopt a different driving style due to being unable to bend his arm properly. He had no wrist movement so would rest his left hand on the lip of the windscreen though corners while steering with one hand but adapted to this new technique. He told how “Tyrrell wanted me to go back to Europe the following season and I also had test drives lined up with Cooper and Brabham, but I didn’t think that I was going to be good after that.”
He returned to Rhodesia to focus on his business interests and to concentrate on racing at home, obtaining a Cooper T55-Climax which he used at the Natal GP and South African GP in the December. Into the following year, he was racing well in the South African Drivers’ Championship in the Cooper and this saw the the start of his him dominance in racing there. Later in the year he contested the 9 Hour Kyalami in a Lotus Cortina with Sir John Whitmore and following this he led from start to finish to take a popular win in the Rhodesian GP. At the start of 1964 there was a podium at Kyalami’s Rand Autumn Trophy and he went on to take victories at the Coronation 100 and the Royal Show Trophy races (both at Roy Hesketh), the Border 100 at East London and the Rand Spring Trophy at Kyalami. The Rand Spring Trophy was his first South African Drivers’ Championship title and that year also saw the South African motorsport authorities award him Springbok (national) colours. In the September he was called up by the Cooper team for the Italian GP at Monza but during qualifying the distributor broke and he was would not make the race as Cooper had no spares for the broken engine. In the following month there was a second place result with Peter de Klerk in a Ferrari 250 GTO at the 9 Hour Kyalami.
Racing his Cooper T55, despite retirement in the South African GP he was then second at the Cape South Easter Trophy race at Killarney, at Cape Town, and took five victories on the run at the Rand Autumn Trophy, the Coronation 100, SA Republic Day race, the Natal Winter Trophy and the Border 100 (the latter in a Cooper T79). At that year’s Kyalami 9 Hours he and Mike Spence had a second place finish with David Piper’s Ferrari 250LM. He continued with the T79 for 1966 and though he was only sixth in the non-championship South African GP he then had seven victories and took his second Drivers’ Championship. There was a retirement from the 9hr Kyalami with Peter Sutcliffe though he had a sixth place finish in England at Mallory Park with a Lotus Seven.
In the following year the South African GP moved from East London to Kyalami and was again given World Championship status. He qualified impressively in fifth position though had a slow start and dropped several places but a strong drive and others retiring saw him in second place behind Denny Hulme. John eventually took over the lead on lap 61 and looked set for victory when his engine began to misfire and his team brought him in for fuel. However by the time he rejoined he had lost his lead to Pedro Rodriquez and had to settle for second place. Although he would later describe it as his “best performance and also his biggest disappointment” he was magnanimous about it, stating “Of course, if it was not for the misfire we could have completed the race without the pitstop, but those are the ifs and buts of motor racing. I suppose, in all fairness, you could say it was a bit of an inheritance because a lot of cars packed up in the race. I was bitterly disappointed that I couldn’t win, but for a South African or a Rhodesian to even get that high up… well, we didn’t believe it would happen.” Soon after that race, the season opening South African Drivers’ Championship race was held at Killarney and he took victory there, followed by second in the Rand Autumn Trophy and wins in the Coronation 100 and the Bulawayo 100. Then came a switch from his Cooper to a Brabham-Repco BT20 and he went on to win the remaining races, though problems with a jammed throttle saw a third place at the Rand Spring Trophy but he still achieved his fourth drivers’ title, ahead of of Sam Tingle and Dave Charlton.
He and Paul Hawkins teamed to take a second place finish with a Lola T70 in 1967’s Kyalami 9 Hours and returned for the following year’s race to finish third with Team Gunston’s Ferrari 350P4. 1968’s South African GP saw a ninth place finish plus retirement at Killarney’s Cape South Easter race but he then changed from the Brabham to a Lotus 49/R3 (used by Graham Hill in that year’s South African GP). There were problems at the Bulawayo 100 where he was second after a faulty spark plug caused him to run on seven cylinders while a broken brake pipe and broken ball joint saw retirement at the Natal Winter Trophy and the Rand Spring Trophy. However, ably assisted by his long serving chief-mechanic, Gordon Jones, there were six victories that year and he achieved his fifth drivers’ title. That year’s South Africa GP saw two notable landmark occasions, the first with John being the first privateer to use a Cosworth DFV engin. Also he (and fellow racer Sam Tingle) made history as their cars featured the Gunston cigarette company’s colours, which opened the doors for other tobacco companies to follow. Team Gunston had launched at the previous year’s Rhodesian GP and the reasoning behind this sponsorship was to attract foreign currency to Rhodesia (the world’s foremost tobacco producing country at the time) and the John and Sam Team Gunston outfit would continue from 1968 to 1970.
He continued with the Lotus 49 for the new season but it started with a retirement in both Cape Town and the South African GP due to car problems. He faced tough opposition that year and was second in the Coronation 100 but wins at the Rand Autumn Trophy and the Bulawayo 100 revived his campaign. There were later wins at East London and Lourenco Marques, though retired from the Rand Winter Trophy while Cape Town saw him claim pole position and a race win. At Kumalo, a slippery circuit saw him have a number of spins, plus a pit stop to fit wet weather tyres, and he ended up sixth. Coming into the season ending Rand Spring Trophy at Kyalami, John McNicol only needed a second place finish to become Champion and break John’s Championship winning streak. However, a chassis fracture was discovered on McNicol’s car on the warm up lap but in a sporting gesture the other drivers asked that the race be postponed till later in the day, to give him time to repair his car. The drivers even assisted in the repair work, and Doug Serrurier, helped by John, Jackie Pretorius, Paddy Driver and Sam Tingle, immediately began welding repairs on the car. When the race took place, his repaired car ran second and challenged race leading John for most of the race. But several laps from the end of the race, he crashed due to a right-hand rear wheel and suspension failure and John took his sixth drivers’ title by a mere two points. Racing Team Gunston’s Lola T70 he retired from the 3 hour Lourenco Marques race in Mozambique but took second at the Cape Town 3 Hour and won both the Bulawayo 3 Hour and a 3 Hour event at Roy Hesketh at Pietermaritzburg. There was a return to contest the Kyalami 9 Hours, this time teamed with Brian Redman, though they retired from it.
Into 1970 and John faced Dave Charlton, who would take his title plus go on to equal his achievements by winning six Drivers’ Championship titles himself in the following six years. The year started with a win at Killarney though D.Charlton began starting to dominate and after contesting five rounds with his Lotus, John switched to a March 701. Unfortunately the car proved unreliable and although he won in his first race with it, at the Bulawayo 100, he suffered a number of retirements and his only finish was a second place in the Rhodesian GP.
He was eighth in the South African GP in Team Gunston’s Lotus 49 while in sports cars he and Richard Atttwood retired their Porsche 917 from the 9 Hour Kyalami though he took first and second place at 3 Hour races at Bulawayo with B.Redman in a Chevron B16 Spyder and in Karl von Wendt’s Lola T210 with Helmut Marko. Going into the following year with the March, he only won the Goldfields Autumn Trophy, but following this he bought Mike Hailwood’s Surtees TS9 from John Surtees. The first two races with it saw pole positions but results were disappointing and he only took a fourth place finish at Kyalami though had a victory in the Governor General Cup race at Lourenco Marques. Unfortunately, he had a major accident at Kyalami and was almost decapitated after crashing into the barriers when his throttle pedal jammed. Recounting the incident, he told how, “With the throttle wide open, I froze on the brakes, locked the front up and of course the car wouldn’t turn. It slid between two layers of Armco. When the action stopped, I had the Armco barriers pushing my head to the left. The car was nearly destroyed, but I was fine.” He went back to his March 701 and surprisingly took victories with it at Killarney and Bulawayo, plus second at Goldfield Raceway’s Welkom 100 and at the season end took the title ahead of Jackie Pretorius.
Alternating between a Lola T210 and a T212 in 1971, he and H.Marko retired at Goldfields though won at Cape Town and were third and fourth at Lourenco Marques and a later race at Goldfields. There was also a fourth place finish with Eddie Keizan at Bulawayo, third place in a 6 Hour event at Roy Hesketh with Andre Verwey plus a win racing solo at a later Roy Hesketh 3 Hours. He drove a Chevron B21 in two races in 1972 and was fourth when teamed with Gerry Birrell at the 3 Hour Goldfields race and fifth with Peter Gethin in the Kyalami 9 Hour. The year saw him in his repaired Surtees TS9 in the F1 Series but despite qualifying on the front row for the Highveld 100 at Kyalami he spun off. March that year saw him contest his last World Championship GP but he ran towards the back of the field and then had a heavy crash after suffering a puncture. In order to better challenge D.Charlton’s Lotus 72, he bought a Brabham BT33/1 and contested the Coronation 100 at Roy Hesketh with it though took his first win with in the Summer at Natal’s Winter Trophy race. Then came a win at the Rhodesian GP, after a strong battle between him and D.Charlton, and he followed it with second places at the Rand Spring Trophy, the Rand Winter Trophy and the Welkom 100. He eventually finished second in the Championship behind D.Charlton.
1973 would be his last season, as he was now approaching 50 and had been racing for almost three decades. Team Gunston ran three Chevron B25s, for John and Ian Scheckter, with the third for a nominated guest driver during the year but the Chevrons were no match for D.Charlton’s dominant Lotus 72. He took 10 of the year’s 12 races while John’s best results were third in the Highveld 100 and fourth in the Goldfields Autumn race, plus some fifth and sixth places and he ended the year sixth in the Championship. Some years later, he was invited to compete in two Formula Atlantic races in 1979 and finished in the top six with a March 77B at Killarney. He contested saloon car races during the 1980’s in Zimbabwe and proved competitive in Geoff Mortimer’s VW Golf GTi before finally hanging up his helmet. After retiring he spent most of his time at his garage business but kept an interest in the sport and would often be seen at race meetings. Sadly, John was diagnosed with cancer and though terminally ill he made an appearance at a Historic meeting at Zwartkops that was held in his honour in January 2005. John passed away in Bulawayo on the 25th April 2005.
Credit to Marius Matthee.
John Love – The last Rhodesian hero – from 
Love, the Maestro – from 
John Love: Formula one Champion 1964 – from
