LIGHTS TO FLAG: How 1979 F1 champion Jody Scheckter 'hustled' his way to F1 and ended up farming

Lights To Flag is a new series that explores the challenges that drivers overcame to reach Formula 1, how their careers unfolded and ended, and – crucially – what retirement from F1 held in store for them. Jody Scheckter, 1979 world champion, tells us how he went from racing Renault saloons to taking on the likes of Gilles Villeneuve, before finding his feet in the world of firearms and farming.

Beating the works Renaults

Scheckter comes from a racing family, his uncle, Tom, having entered the pre-war 1937 South African Grand Prix and his father having owned garages in his home town of East London. Scheckter got his start in karts around the age of eight after his parents challenged him to better his failing grades.