John Love (racing driver)

{{short description|Rhodesian racing driver (1924–2005)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}

{{Infobox F1 driver

| name = John Love

| image = John Love Surtees TS9 2019 Silverstone Classic (48557776041).jpg

| caption = John Love's Surtees TS9

| nationality = {{flagicon|Rhodesia and Nyasaland}} Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland ({{f1|1962}}–{{f1|1964}})
{{flagicon|RHO|1964}} Rhodesian (1964) ({{F1|1965}} and {{f1|1967}}–{{f1|1968}})
{{flagicon|RHO}} Rhodesian ({{f1|1969}}–{{f1|1972}})

| birth_date = {{birth date|1924|12|7|df=y}}

| birth_place = Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia

| death_date = {{death date and age|2005|4|25|1924|12|7|df=y}}

| death_place = Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

| Years = {{F1|1962}}–{{F1|1965}}, {{F1|1967}}–{{F1|1972}}

| Team(s) = Cooper, privateer (Cooper, Brabham, Lotus, March, Surtees)

| Races = 10 (9 starts)

| Championships = 0

| Wins = 0

| Podiums = 1

| Points = 6

| Poles = 0

| Fastest laps = 0

| First race = 1962 South African Grand Prix

| First win =

| Last win =

| Last race = 1972 South African Grand Prix

}}

John Maxwell Lineham Love (7 December 1924 – 25 April 2005) was a Rhodesian racing driver. He participated in 10 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 29 December 1962. He achieved one podium, and scored a total of six championship points. He also won the 1962 British Saloon Car Championship, now known as the British Touring Car Championship.{{Cite web|url=http://touringcarracing.net/Pages/1962%20BSCC.html|title=British Saloon Car Championship - 1962|website=touringcarracing.net|access-date=17 March 2020}} All but one of his Formula One entries were in races held within Africa, either as championship or non-championship rounds.

Love was born in Bulawayo. He attended Gifford High School.{{citation|editor=I.P. Maclaren|year=1981|title=Some Renowned Rhodesian Senior Schools 1892 - 1979|publisher=Books of Zimbabwe|location=Bulawayo|page=155|isbn=9780869202005}} He started his car racing career in a single-seat Cooper F3 with a Manx Norton 500 cc engine after racing a Triumph Grand Prix motorcycle, which Love then-allowed Jim Redman to ride when starting his race career, in recognition of Redman's assistance in preparing and maintaining Love's Cooper.Carrick, Peter. Motor Cycle Racing Hamlyn Publishing, 1969, p. 72; {{ISBN|0 600 02506 3}}; retrieved 13 February 2014.

Six times South African Formula One Champion in the 1960s, he had originally shone in the European Formula Junior firmament back in 1961–62 at the wheel of a Cooper-Austin from Ken Tyrrell's team. An unfortunate accident at Albi resulted in a very badly broken arm and effectively thwarted his chances of moving into full-time Formula One, but he came close when he was nominated as Phil Hill's replacement in the works Cooper team for the 1964 Italian Grand Prix at Monza.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}}

He was a regular contestant in the South African Grand Prix from 1965 to 1972. He was leading the 1967 South African Grand Prix at Kyalami in his 2.7 L Climax-engined Cooper, when a misfire prompted him to make a precautionary stop for extra fuel. He dropped back to finish second behind the works Cooper-Maserati of Pedro Rodríguez.{{cite book |title=Kyalami: A Reflection on the History of the Original Circuit 1961-1987 |last=Loubser|first=André |publisher=Aquarius Publishing|page=66|url=https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/6656035/website-more-pages-aquarius-publishing}}{{cite web |url=http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1967/561 |title=1967 South African Grand Prix |website=formula1.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219104524/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1967/561 |archive-date=19 February 2014}}

Love would dominate racing in southern Africa in the 1960s, winning the South African Formula One Championship six times in succession from 1964 to 1969. He would also win his home race, the Rhodesian Grand Prix, six times.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}}

He owned the Jaguar dealership in Bulawayo and had his own stock car racing team in the 1980s.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}} He died in 2005, aged 80, from cancer, in Bulawayo.{{cite web|last=Jenkins|first=Richards|title=Where are they now – John Love|url=http://www.oldracingcars.com/driver/John_Love|publisher=OldRacingCars.com|access-date=7 December 2012}}

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