South African Champion tells SA’s colourful race history

A new coffee table book, South African Champion, tells the story of single seater, Formula 1 and Grand Prix racing in Southern Africa. 

The hard cover, large-format book strives to deliver a representative timeline of single seater, specials and Formula 1 history, said author and publisher Michele Lupini.

“The book tracks an incredible history, much of which is no longer freely available,” he said.

Extensively illustrated with photos and the author’s colour drawings, the 304-page tome tracks the history of open-wheeler racing from the early 1900s up to modern times. It harks back to the golden years of motor racing where spectators thronged local circuits in their tens of thousands.

It covers the 33 Grands hosted in SA at Kyalami and East London contested by racing legends such as Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Mario Andretti, Niki Lauda, Gilles Villeneuve, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna.

Also featured is the country’s own Formula 1 championship held between 1960 and 1975, and the single seater formulas that carried the title of SA Drivers Championship including Formula Atlantic, Mazda rotary and Formula GTI.

For motorsport enthusiasts it is an extensively researched history that brings to life both well-known and forgotten stories. It includes a database of statistics covering more than a century of racing history in SA.

The foreword is by Jody Scheckter, SA’s only Formula 1 champion, who won the 1979 title with Ferrari and raced in SA extensively in local and international events.

South African Champion tells Scheckter’s story as well as the racing exploits of other local heroes such as Tony Martin, Graham Duxbury, Ian Scheckter, Dave Charlton, Trevor van Rooyen, Wayne Taylor and Zimbabwe’s John Love.

The limited edition book, available from www.southafricanchampion.com, is priced at R2,750 including delivery inside SA. Each copy is individually signed and numbered by the author.

droppad@arena.africa