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The Most Famous

RACING DRIVERS from South Africa

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This page contains a list of the greatest South African Racing Drivers. The pantheon dataset contains 888 Racing Drivers, 17 of which were born in South Africa. This makes South Africa the birth place of the 17th most number of Racing Drivers behind Netherlands and Austria.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary South African Racing Drivers of all time. This list of famous South African Racing Drivers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of South African Racing Drivers.

Photo of Jody Scheckter

1. Jody Scheckter (1950 - )

With an HPI of 61.19, Jody Scheckter is the most famous South African Racing Driver.  His biography has been translated into 43 different languages on wikipedia.

Jody David Scheckter (; born 29 January 1950) is a South African business proprietor and former motor racing driver. He competed in Formula One from 1972 to 1980, winning the Drivers' Championship in 1979 with Ferrari. Scheckter is the first and, as of 2024, only driver from the continent of Africa to have won a Formula One race or the World Drivers' Championship.

Photo of Ian Scheckter

2. Ian Scheckter (1947 - )

With an HPI of 47.41, Ian Scheckter is the 2nd most famous South African Racing Driver.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Ian Scheckter (born 22 August 1947 in East London, South Africa, and educated at Selborne College) is a former racing driver. He participated in 20 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 30 March 1974. He scored no championship points.

Photo of Tony Maggs

3. Tony Maggs (1937 - 2009)

With an HPI of 44.17, Tony Maggs is the 3rd most famous South African Racing Driver.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Anthony Francis O'Connell Maggs (9 February 1937 in Pretoria, South Africa – 2 June 2009) was a racing driver from South Africa. He participated in 27 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 15 July 1961. He achieved three podiums, and scored a total of 26 championship points. He was the first South African to take part in a Formula One Grand Prix. The son of a wealthy farmer and businessman, Tony Maggs was part of Ken Tyrrell's Formula Junior, Cooper-BMC team in 1961 and shared the European Championship with Jo Siffert. He was invited into the Cooper Formula One team for 1962–1963, finishing second in the French Grand Prix both years, but was dropped at the end of 1963.Maggs then moved to Scuderia Centro Sud for 1964 and despite the fact that their BRM P57s were not current machinery achieved two points finishes out of three race starts. He also returned to Formula Two with an MRP Lola and with David Piper won the Kyalami 9 Hours race in the latter's Ferrari GTO.In 1965, Maggs raced only once in Formula One, for Reg Parnell Racing, in the South African Grand Prix at East London but continued with success in both Formula Two and sports cars. However, in a national race at Pietermaritzburg he crashed his Brabham and a young spectator standing in a restricted area was hit and killed. Maggs immediately retired from motor sport to concentrate on his business interests.Maggs died on 2 June 2009, from cancer.

Photo of Paddy Driver

4. Paddy Driver (1934 - )

With an HPI of 43.86, Paddy Driver is the 4th most famous South African Racing Driver.  Her biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Ernest Gould "Paddy" Driver (born 13 May 1934 in Johannesburg) is a South African former professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and a racing driver.

Photo of Jackie Pretorius

5. Jackie Pretorius (1934 - 2009)

With an HPI of 42.96, Jackie Pretorius is the 5th most famous South African Racing Driver.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Jacobus "Jackie" Pretorius (22 November 1934 – 30 March 2009) was a racing driver from South Africa. He participated in four Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 1 January 1965, and scoring no championship points. Pretorius competed in Formula One at national level in his home country of South Africa, enjoying some success throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s. After racing a Lotus and a Lola, he won two races in 1971 driving a Brabham. Jackie Pretorius died in Johannesburg aged 74, on 30 March 2009, after being in a coma for three weeks. He was attacked in his home early on a Friday morning by burglars. His wife Shirley died in a similar incident in the same house several years earlier.

Photo of Peter de Klerk

6. Peter de Klerk (1935 - 2015)

With an HPI of 42.56, Peter de Klerk is the 6th most famous South African Racing Driver.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Peter David de Klerk (16 March 1935 – 11 July 2015) was a racing driver from South Africa. He participated in four Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 28 December 1963. He scored no championship points.

Photo of Eddie Keizan

7. Eddie Keizan (1944 - 2016)

With an HPI of 41.75, Eddie Keizan is the 7th most famous South African Racing Driver.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Eddie Keizan (12 September 1944 – 21 May 2016) was a South African racing driver. He raced in three World Championship Formula One Grands Prix during the 1970s, debuting on 3 March 1973. He scored no championship points. Keizan was born in Johannesburg. After success in South Africa driving saloons and sports cars, Keizan moved into Formula 5000 where he won the national championship. He participated in the South African Formula One championships as well, including three World Championship South African Grands Prix, twice with a Tyrrell owned by Alex Blignaut – this car had been previously raced by Jackie Stewart. For the third of his three attempts, Keizan drove a Lotus 72, entered by local outfit Team Gunston. After Formula One, Keizan raced in touring cars and also concentrated on his business interests, including a successful alloy wheels company, TSW Alloy Wheels formally known as Tiger Sports Wheels.

Photo of Doug Serrurier

8. Doug Serrurier (1920 - 2006)

With an HPI of 40.67, Doug Serrurier is the 8th most famous South African Racing Driver.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Louis Douglas Serrurier (9 December 1920 in Germiston – 4 June 2006) was a racing driver and racing car constructor from South Africa. He participated in 3 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix in the 1960s, only racing in the South African Grand Prix event, debuting on 29 December 1962. He scored no championship points.

Photo of Desiré Wilson

9. Desiré Wilson (1953 - )

With an HPI of 39.89, Desiré Wilson is the 9th most famous South African Racing Driver.  Her biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Desiré Randall Wilson (born 26 November 1953) is a former racing driver from South Africa and one of only five women to have competed in Formula One. Born in Brakpan, she entered one Formula One World Championship Grand Prix in 1980 with a non-works RAM Racing-prepared Williams FW07, but failed to qualify. She also raced in the 1981 non-world championship South African Grand Prix in a one off deal with Tyrrell Racing. This race was not part of the 1981 world championship due, in part, to the FISA–FOCA war. She qualified 16th and, after a disastrous start where the car stalled, she moved up through the field in wet conditions; as conditions dried she fell back and damaged the car when it touched a wall while she was letting the race leader through.She became the only woman to win a Formula One race of any kind when she won at Brands Hatch in the short-lived British Aurora F1 Championship in 1980. As a result of this achievement, she has a grandstand at Brands Hatch named after her. Following her attempts in Formula One, Wilson participated in other disciplines including CART and sports car racing. In 1982, Wilson entered the Indianapolis 500, but failed to qualify. She did not qualify for 1983 and 1984 Indy 500s either.She is married to fellow South African and road course architect Alan Wilson.

Photo of Neville Lederle

10. Neville Lederle (1938 - 2019)

With an HPI of 39.21, Neville Lederle is the 10th most famous South African Racing Driver.  Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Neville Lederle (25 September 1938 – 17 May 2019) was a racing driver from South Africa. He participated in two World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, scoring a single championship point.

Pantheon has 17 people classified as racing drivers born between 1920 and 1995. Of these 17, 5 (29.41%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living racing drivers include Jody Scheckter, Ian Scheckter, and Paddy Driver. The most famous deceased racing drivers include Tony Maggs, Jackie Pretorius, and Peter de Klerk. As of April 2022, 3 new racing drivers have been added to Pantheon including Luki Botha, William Ferguson, and Brad Binder.

Living Racing Drivers

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Deceased Racing Drivers

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Newly Added Racing Drivers (2022)

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Which Racing Drivers were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 11 most globally memorable Racing Drivers since 1700.