A red Tyrrell for Scheckter

But not who you think. Ian Scheckter, born 22 August 1947 in East London, South Africa, is a former racing driver. He’s the elder brother of 1979 F1 World Champion Jody Scheckter. Ian participated in 20 Formula One Grand Prix between 1974 and 1977, but failed to score a championship point.

Picture above: In 1976, he participated in one race only, his home Grand Prix at Kyalami, in a Lexington Racing-entered Tyrrell 007. He did well to qualify in 16th position, ahead of Chris Amon (Ensign), Jacky Ickx (Williams) and Emerson Fittipaldi (Fittipaldi), but was forced to retire on the first lap of the race.

Securing enough funds for a full season with the March factory team in 1977 (picture below), his results were disappointing, aided by the fact that in some races, the March team, led by Max Mosley and Robin Herd, had up to five drivers entered, but lacked ressources to provide decent material for them all.

Ian Scheckter’s final Grand Prix would have been the 1977 Japanese Grand Prix, but he was detained and then expelled from Japan, due to only having a tourist visa passport (unlike his brother Jody, who had a working visa) and Japanese objections to the South African apartheid regime.