How an F1 world champion’s sale of his collection fits a career driven by pragmatism

For a world champion who showed scant sentiment when he was racing, it was no surprise when Jody Scheckter walked away from the sport and completely disappeared 12 months after winning the title in 1979. That seemed in keeping with the surly South African. Jody went racing to do a job – and do it in spectacular fashion. But he had little time for the peripheries. And even less for the motorsport media.

In 1975, Scheckter was in his second full F1 season. The mood at Barcelona’s Montjuïc Park that year was edgy following the discovery that barriers on the scarily fast street circuit had
been put together in a haphazard fashion. Many bolts had not been tightened; some pieces of Armco had no bolts at all.