LOVE, THE MAESTRO – from 
January 1992
What was it like, running out of fuel just two laps from the winning post in a full international Grand Prix? And that horrendous Clubhouse crash, when he was nearly decapitated by the armco? After flying to Kyalami to try the Audi Trans -Am racer, veteran driver John Love talks to Stuart Johnston…
JOHN LOVE is perhaps the most professional driver to have raced regularly in South Africa, even taking into account the Jody and Ian Scheckters, Sarel van der Merwes and Dave Charltons of this world. Love always conducted himself as a complete gentleman both on and off the track and between 1964 and 1969, the tall Rhodesian (today he calls himself a Zimbabwean) won six South African Formula One driver’s titles.
That last title came when John was already 45 years old. Just seven years earlier he had been in line for a works Formula One drive with the Brabham team, before a Formula Junior accident in Italy left him with a shattered arm and serious doubts about his ability to carry on racing. Already in his late thirties, he decided to return to southern Africa and set about establishing a new level of professionalism in local motorsport.
Many fans will remember Love as the man who came within two laps of winning the 1967 South African Grand Prix in the face of full-blown World Championship competition, before running out of fuel. Others will remember him as the 1962 British Saloon Car Champion, behind the wheel of a Ken Tyrrell-entered Mini Cooper, which he drove during the same year that he campaigned the Formula Junior Cooper for Tyrrell.
CAR: What does it take to keep on winning race after race as you did, notching up six South African titles?
LOVE: You have to have a lot of dedication, a lot of will to win. A lot of people want to go out and get sponsorship first, but first you have to prove yourself and once you prove yourself, you’ve got to keep going.
The way I look at it, when I started motor racing, I had a motor cycle that 1 raced and a push bike to go to work on. And when I graduated to cars, I had a motorbike to go to work and I left the race car in the garage. So, I think you’ve got to be a bit of a nutcase. But it’s the same if you want to be a good writer or a journalist.
CAR: How do you deal with set-backs?
LOVE: Ahh… you have plenty of those. In the old days when we were racing around the streets of Salisbury, I got a bit cocky and I hit a concrete culvert and that was my first car drive. You’ve gotto get over it, you have to make a plan.
CAR: Do you think that you carried on racing at the top level for too long? You seemed to have a succession of accidents in the early ’70s.
LOVE: Yes, I think so, and then we got a couple of bum motorcars – the March and the Surtees. They were a bit better than my previous Lotus 49, probably, but not in the league of the Lotus 72 that Dave Charlton had at that time. Still, he got his act together and he deserved his success.
CAR: So, you don’t feel that your ability as a driver had declined at that point?
LOVE: You know, I enjoyed my motor racing so much that I didn’t mind starting at the bottom of the hill, reaching the top and then going down the other side. I don’t think my ability had gone as such, it was a combination of things.
Racing out of Rhodesia at that time was very difficult, getting the right bits and pieces. But buying the March was definitely the start of the slide. You look at Grand Prix racing today: if you don’t have the right car, the right tires, you can be half a second off the pace and look terrible.
CAR: When was the last time you competed in South Africa?
LOVE: About ten years ago, I drove a Formula Atlantic in Cape Town. I was obviously a bit rusty after a few years’ lay-off, but I qualified well and the race went okay.
I’d officially stopped nearly six years before that and one of the mistakes I made was not getting involved with running a team, after I stopped driving here. It would have been nice to get involved in the way that Geoff Mortimer has done with Ford and helped the youngsters coming up, stayed in the sport.
CAR: You and your team chief Gordon Jones were renowned for the standard of preparation. You ran one Cosworth motor for a whole season, at a time when the DFV V8s were famous for their unreliability. How did you manage this in the backwoods of Rhodesia?
LOVE: Gordon was very good and we looked after it very carefully and maintained it. We didn’t buzz it too high and at that stage, the competition wasn’t as strong as it became later. We had Basil van Rooyen in the Repco and the Formula 5000s with John McNicol.
CAR: Your biggest shunt in South Africa was with the Surtees when you almost decapitated yourself 45-year-old, when you won your fast South African title in 1969- How did you stay in shape?LOVE: Basically, a bit of gym, a bit of jogging, weights. I think it made a lot of difference. I always found that by keeping fit, I could go as quick at the end of the day as at the beginning. It kept me mentally sharp and I could always put a lot of pressure on at the end.
I’m pretty fit now, except I’m carrying just a bit of baggage in the usual place. And I’m now 67. You look back and it seems like yesterday.
CAR: There’s a general feeling that the mid -’60s to the early 70s was the golden era of South African motor-sport.
LOVE: Yes, it was lovely. You know there were such tremendous characters like Doug Serrurier, Sam Tingle, Jackie Pretorius. And when the day was over it was over; there wasn’t anyone saying I should have won because of this and that.
CAR: And apparently there were some great parties after the race.
LOVE: Oh, they were wonderful, we had great fun. There were some, like Dave Charlton and Basil van Rooyen who didn’t really join in; but everyone else was like a member of one great family. I loved my South African racing.
CAR: Would you like to be a Grand Prix driver, in today’s world?
LOVE: It would be very interesting, especially from a technology point of view, and while the cars look easier to drive today, I wouldn’t say they are easier to drive. In the old days, you’d see someone all crossed up coming out of Clubhouse, while today it seems to be on rails. But that’s deceptive. I admire today’s drivers; I think they have to be tremendous people.
There’s so much pressure these days, with the massive sponsorships: Honda versus Renault, Senna versus Mansell and Prost. It gets ugly at times, with a lot of T-boning taking place.
This past year hasn’t been that bad. Then again on the political side, you don’t know if Balestre, being a Frenchman, has been completely unbiased with regards to Prost. Senna has been a little bit outspoken about it all, but I think the truth can hurt.
CAR: How do you rate Senna?
LOVE: I rate him alongside Jim Clark and for me, Jimmy was always the greatest.
CAR: You recently drove the Audi Quattro track car and the Formula GTi at Kyalami. How does the Audi compare against the 400 horsepower Lotus and the 500 horse Lola Chev you drove, back in the late’60s?
LOVE: My cars were much more docile. Once the Audi comes onto its power band, it’s quite impressive and quite frightening. On one occasion I came out of the corner and I was off the power band and as the turbo came in, it gave maximum boost and it went like a rocket.
The Audi is a very impressive motor car. I think because of the four-wheel drive system it’s very forgiving. You know, the last car I raced that was as forgiving {and you’ll probably laugh at this) was the old Mini Cooper. You knew you could catch them in the wet, they were small and so predictable and neutral.
My first impression of the Audi today was that I couldn’t reach the limit of adhesion, it never broke away from me. I made a bit of a nonsense going into one corner, when I hooked the wrong gear momentarily and ran a bit wide while sorting it out. I put the power on and when the turbo came in, I was in the rough and although the car slid a lot, it was still predictable.
CAR: Do you think four-wheel drive is going to be the way in the future?
LOVE: Four-wheel drive is something that’s already accepted by today’s saloon drivers here. For me, having been out for so long, it seems to be the way to go because it makes the car very neutral and very quick.
CAR: Talking about saloons, in South Africa the public seems to prefer saloons to single-seaters. What’s your preference, as a driver?
LOVE: I’ve always liked single-seaters. To have a competitive Formula One car is the ultimate.
But having driven the Quattro today, there’s a lot to be said for a high-powered saloon from a driver’s satisfaction point of view. Saloon car racing is very competitive and high profile, from the marketing point of view.
CAR: The Audi you’ve driven on the track is a fairly sophisticated car. Do you think it’s good for the sport to have cars which reach this level of sophistication?
LOVE: Well, you are not going to stop this, are you? As long as there are manufacturers building motor cars, then they are going to build the latest and the greatest and if it does well on the race circuit, it’s a bonus on their side.
All the manufacturers are looking for sales. Maybe the public don’t realize how easy it might be to drive that particular car, in road form. In forestry conditions, muddy roads, four-wheel drive has to be a tremendous bonus.
CAR: To come back to the single-seaters, obviously there’s a world of difference between the Ashley Formula GTi that you drove and your Formula One Cosworth cars. Did you find any similarities between the two, in terms of required driving technique?
LOVE: I would think it’s much the same. The GTi is smaller, it’s nimble, it’s quick. But the driving technique on a single-seater is much the same, except that you just have to get used to extra power.
On the other hand, the more power there is, the easier it is to drive. You know, these smaller cars have to be driven ten tenths, whereas a Formula One car could be driven down the scale a bit.
CAR: In terms of today’s young GTi drivers, what is your comment on the skill levels?
LOVE: Very impressed. Having gone around today in the times that I did and realizing the speeds that the youngsters are doing, I feel it’s a good grounding for a future South African Champion on the world circuit. And what is also gratifying to know is that they are so young. They seem to have the sponsorship and one 18-year-old was in the first three positions in both heats. I think the drivers of the first 15 cars all have a lot of potential.
CAR: Do you think that any of them have a serious chance of making it overseas, perhaps becoming a World Champion?
LOVE: That’s a very difficult question. They have to have the opportunities to compete over there. But if they are dedicated and keep going, they will make it.
CAR: Finally, as far as Kyalami’s concerned, you obviously remember the old circuit. What’s your opinion of the new track?
LOVE: It’s very nice, ft could probably be a bit longer for a Grand Prix car, but for national events it’s ideal.
I think it’s a driver’s circuit, I think when you get on there you have to have a go, you can’t just boot it down the straight with a quicker motorcar and get results. Obviously for the Grand Prix they will lengthen it and provide better run-off areas because of the speeds, but I think it’s going to be very successful. It has been in the past and I think it will be in the future at Clubhouse. What went wrong and what went through your mind, as you landed up with the armco wrapped around you?
LOVE: Well, there wasn’t a lot of time to think. In those days we would come through Sunset bend at probably about 210km/h and as I went for the brakes for Clubhouse, the throttle stuck on the floor. There was a little bolt on the side of the floor pan that snagged the throttle pedal in the fully-open position.
You know, you take every corner lap after lap and it becomes like religion, you just keep changing at the same point, braking, and you think it’s going to be the same as it was on the previous lap; and all of a sudden, you’ve got a big accident on your nanas.
CAR: So, you didn’t really have time to react.
LOVE: Not really. 1 froze on the brakes, which is bad news, locked the front up and of course the car wouldn’t turn. But it was quick. So quick. When the action stopped, I had the armco barriers pushing my head to the left, but I was fine. I’ve got the armco back at my home in Bulawayo and one of these days, I’ll get round to mounting it in the garden.
CAR: They say one should drive as soon as possible after a big shunt like that. Did you drive again that day?
LOVE: No, I didn’t, but it didn’t affect me all that much.
CAR: Your biggest career shunt was in Europe in 1962, when you were running Formula Junior cars for Ken Tyrrell. Did this effectively rule out your chances of an international Formula One seat?
LOVE: Yes, I broke my arm and had to have a bone graft from my hip. Tyrrell wanted me to go back to Europe the following season and I had test drives lined up with Cooper and Brabham.
I didn’t think that I was going to be good enough after that, and I still don’t have any wrist movement in my left arm. The head of the radius in my elbow is gone, so I can’t straighten the arm and I can’t bend it all that much.
CAR: Because of that accident, you used to rest your left hand on the lip of the wind screen through corners and steer one-handed. Was that just to keep your arm out of the way?
LOVE: Well, I couldn’t catch the slides with two hands. If it went, I just caught it with one hand.
CAR: How did you manage?
LOVE: I got used to it, I had no option. The steering wasn’t heavy but very sensitive.
CAR: You must have answered this next question hundreds of times. How did you feel when you almost won the 1967 South African Grand Prix against a full field of works teams?
LOVE: It was joy and sadness in quick succession. 1 was driving an ex-Tasman Cooper that I had bought from Bruce McLaren and it only had a fuel tank for about 40 laps. We didn’t have enough fuel capacity for the Grand Prix, so we fitted some sponson tanks on the side of the car.
We worked it out that we would be two laps behind at the end, so we planned for 78 laps instead of 80. But it didn’t work out that way. Clark packed up, Hill packed up, and all of a sudden, we were right there in the lead, with the massive crowd going moggy.
CAR: Could you actually see the crowd, while you were driving around?
LOVE: Aah ja, I could just about hear them. Oh, it was a tremendous moment. You know, if I hadn’t had the problem, I could have won a World Championship event, which would have been even better.
The disappointment when I had to refuel with two laps to go was great, but you can’t argue with the results. You finish second, that’s it. Pedro Rodriguez won it in a Cooper Maserati.
CAR: Would you rate that as your career highlight?
LOVE: Oh yes, but then my whole career’s been a bit of a highlight. I’ve enjoyed it all!
CAR: Reading in that excellent book that Adri Bezuidenhout did on you, there were conflicting opinions from other drivers on your attitude to racing. Bobby Olthoff thought you would quit racing in the early ’70s, while Tony Maggs said he didn’t think you’d give up once you got beaten, because you “did it for the fun of it.”
LOVE: I have come to a stop now. About two or three years ago I packed it in. I had a Golf GTi that I got from Geoff Mortimer and I was racing well, in the kind of competition we have in Zimbabwe. But the yen had gone. The urge to climb into a corner and tear everything to pieces. I suddenly thought to myself the time had come, so I put the car on the market.
CAR: How did you manage to run a business and a family and spend so much time racing?
LOVE: Well, to a degree I was a bit unfair as far as that was concerned, because I always left the donkey work to my ex-wife, Murrell, and eventually being away so much broke up my marriage. As far as the business went, I had very good staff who kept things going.
CAR: Did you remarry?
LOVE: No, I’m living with Carol Love at the moment but we aren’t married, we have an agreement.
CAR: You were obviously very fit as a 45-year-old, when you won your fast South African title in 1969- How did you stay in shape?
LOVE: Basically, a bit of gym, a bit of jogging, weights. I think it made a lot of difference. I always found that by keeping fit, I could go as quick at the end of the day as at the beginning. It kept me mentally sharp and I could always put a lot of pressure on at the end.
I’m pretty fit now, except I’m carrying just a bit of baggage in the usual place. And I’m now 67. You look back and it seems like yesterday.
CAR: There’s a general feeling that the mid -’60s to the early 70s was the golden era of South African motor-sport.
LOVE: Yes, it was lovely. You know there were such tremendous characters like Doug Serrurier, Sam Tingle, Jackie Pretorius. And when the day was over it was over; there wasn’t anyone saying I should have won because of this and that.
CAR: And apparently there were some great parties after the race.
LOVE: Oh, they were wonderful, we had great fun. There were some, like Dave Charlton and Basil van Rooyen who didn’t really join in; but everyone else was like a member of one great family. I loved my South African racing.
CAR: Would you like to be a Grand Prix driver, in today’s world?
LOVE: It would be very interesting, especially from a technology point of view, and while the cars look easier to drive today, I wouldn’t say they are easier to drive. In the old days, you’d see someone all crossed up coming out of Clubhouse, while today it seems to be on rails. But that’s deceptive. I admire today’s drivers; I think they have to be tremendous people.
There’s so much pressure these days, with the massive sponsorships: Honda versus Renault, Senna versus Mansell and Prost. It gets ugly at times, with a lot of T-boning taking place.
This past year hasn’t been that bad. Then again on the political side, you don’t know if Balestre, being a Frenchman, has been completely unbiased with regards to Prost. Senna has been a little bit outspoken about it all, but I think the truth can hurt.
CAR: How do you rate Senna?
LOVE: I rate him alongside Jim Clark and for me, Jimmy was always the greatest.
CAR: You recently drove the Audi Quattro track car and the Formula GTi at Kyalami. How does the Audi compare against the 400 horsepower Lotus and the 500 horse Lola Chev you drove, back in the late’60s?
LOVE: My cars were much more docile. Once the Audi comes onto its power band, it’s quite impressive and quite frightening. On one occasion I came out of the corner and I was off the power band and as the turbo came in, it gave maximum boost and it went like a rocket.
The Audi is a very impressive motor car. I think because of the four-wheel drive system it’s very forgiving. You know, the last car I raced that was as forgiving {and you’ll probably laugh at this) was the old Mini Cooper. You knew you could catch them in the wet, they were small and so predictable and neutral.
My first impression of the Audi today was that I couldn’t reach the limit of adhesion, it never broke away from me. I made a bit of a nonsense going into one corner, when I hooked the wrong gear momentarily and ran a bit wide while sorting it out. I put the power on and when the turbo came in, I was in the rough and although the car slid a lot, it was still predictable.
CAR: Do you think four-wheel drive is going to be the way in the future?
LOVE: Four-wheel drive is something that’s already accepted by today’s saloon drivers here. For me, having been out for so long, it seems to be the way to go because it makes the car very neutral and very quick.
CAR: Talking about saloons, in South Africa the public seems to prefer saloons to single-seaters. What’s your preference, as a driver?
LOVE: I’ve always liked single-seaters. To have a competitive Formula One car is the ultimate.
But having driven the Quattro today, there’s a lot to be said for a high-powered saloon from a driver’s satisfaction point of view. Saloon car racing is very competitive and high profile, from the marketing point of view.
CAR: The Audi you’ve driven on the track is a fairly sophisticated car. Do you think it’s good for the sport to have cars which reach this level of sophistication?
LOVE: Well, you are not going to stop this, are you? As long as there are manufacturers building motor cars, then they are going to build the latest and the greatest and if it does well on the race circuit, it’s a bonus on their side.
All the manufacturers are looking for sales. Maybe the public don’t realize how easy it might be to drive that particular car, in road form. In forestry conditions, muddy roads, four-wheel drive has to be a tremendous bonus.
CAR: To come back to the single-seaters, obviously there’s a world of difference between the Ashley Formula GTi that you drove and your Formula One Cosworth cars. Did you find any similarities between the two, in terms of required driving technique?
LOVE: I would think it’s much the same. The GTi is smaller, it’s nimble, it’s quick. But the driving technique on a single-seater is much the same, except that you just have to get used to extra power.
On the other hand, the more power there is, the easier it is to drive. You know, these smaller cars have to be driven ten tenths, whereas a Formula One car could be driven down the scale a bit.
CAR: In terms of today’s young GTi drivers, what is your comment on the skill levels?
LOVE: Very impressed. Having gone around today in the times that I did and realizing the speeds that the youngsters are doing, I feel it’s a good grounding for a future South African Champion on the world circuit. And what is also gratifying to know is that they are so young. They seem to have the sponsorship and one 18-year-old was in the first three positions in both heats. I think the drivers of the first 15 cars all have a lot of potential.
CAR: Do you think that any of them have a serious chance of making it overseas, perhaps becoming a World Champion?
LOVE: That’s a very difficult question. They have to have the opportunities to compete over there. But if they are dedicated and keep going, they will make it.
CAR: Finally, as far as Kyalami’s concerned, you obviously remember the old circuit. What’s your opinion of the new track?
LOVE: It’s very nice, ft could probably be a bit longer for a Grand Prix car, but for national events it’s ideal.
I think it’s a driver’s circuit, I think when you get on there you have to have a go, you can’t just boot it down the straight with a quicker motorcar and get results. Obviously for the Grand Prix they will lengthen it and provide better run-off areas because of the speeds, but I think it’s going to be very successful. It has been in the past and I think it will be in the future. •
Scanned article from CAR January 1992, was software read OCR – please let me know id some mistakes
about John Love
