John Love

Interesting facts

He started out on motorcycles, racing a Triumph Grand Prix bike, then gave that machine to Jim Redman in gratitude for his help preparing and maintaining Love's Cooper - effectively launching Redman's own racing career. A crash at a Formula Junior race in Albi, driving a Cooper-Austin for Ken Tyrrell's team, left him with a badly broken arm that effectively ended his chances of a full-time Formula One career. In 1964 he came close to a works drive, nominated as Phil Hill's replacement in the Cooper team for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, though the opportunity never materialised. At the 1967 South African Grand Prix in Kyalami he was leading the race when a misfire forced a precautionary stop for extra fuel, dropping him back to second place - the best result of his Formula One career. After his racing days he ran the Jaguar dealership in his hometown of Bulawayo and started his own stock car racing team in the 1980s. He died of cancer in Bulawayo in 2005, aged 80, in the town where he had lived his entire life. John Love raced in Formula 1 from 1962 to 1972, across 9 seasons as a Rhodesian driver. He scored a total of 6 championship points over his career.