LEGENDARY SOUTH AFRICAN RACER JODY SCHECKTER IS SELLING HIS F1-WINNING 1979 FERRARI 312 T4 CAR.
This 1979 Ferrari 312 T4 Formula One car is one of the favourites among the older generation of F1 fans, especially here in South Africa thanks to the car’s link to legendary South African driver Jody Scheckter. Scheckter, who was born in East London in 1950, was once deemed too dangerous to drive in the sport with calls to have him banned after being involved in numerous race incidents including one of the biggest multi-car wrecks in the history of the sport, eventually cleaned up his act and started kicking ass and taking names. After a storied race career, the South African Wild Man eventually ended up with a seat at Ferrari in 1978 and after an ok year, all the kinks were worked out and in 1979 he went on to become the Formula One World Champion. He racked up three wins, as did his teammate Gilles Villeneuve, but a focused strategy saw him gather up more points throughout the race season. By 1980 Scheckter retired from the sport, but his exploits still granted him legend status. Over a 9-year stint in Formula One, Scheckter won a total of ten races, and to date, he is still the only driver from the African continent to win both a Formula One race and a World Championship. The man has always stayed involved in motorsport in one way or another, and over 40 years later you can still find the Scheckter name on the side of various racecars in different disciplines around the world. Over the years Scheckter has put together an extensive collection of racecars in what has become known as The Scheckter Collection, and a bunch of them are headed to auction with RM Sotheby’s as part of the Monaco auction coming up in May. There are 12 cars from the collection listed to go under the hammer, but none of them are as valuable as the Ferrari 312 T4. Other iconic cars from The Scheckter Collection include a 1973 McLaren M23, a 1971 McLaren M19A, a 1975 Tyrrell 007, the unique 6-wheeled 1977 Tyrrell P34, a 1977 Wolf WR1, a 1960 Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ, a 1972 McLaren M21, a 1973 Rondel Motul M1, a 1974 Trojan T101, a 1969 Merlyn Mk11a, and a 1971 Merlyn Mk21.
The cars are all set to pull in some good money, but the most valuable is the Ferrari 312 T4 which is expected to fetch somewhere between $5,500,000 and $7,000,000, or in our super-strong currency that’s between just under R105,000,000 and just over R130,000,000. It would be amazing if the cars, or at least just this one, ended up in the hands of a South African collector because it’s such an amazing piece of motorsport history, but with numbers like that it looks to be highly unlikely. The car was purchased from Ferrari by Scheckter in November 1982 and the car comes with the original Bill of Sale from the factory. The car hasn’t remained sealed away from the public, it has been seen on track at various special events around the world, but it’s still in the same spec as it was when it won the 1979 World Championship. This is that exact car, which adds to the provenance. Adding to what makes the car special is that it was Ferrari’s first full ground-effect Grand Prix car, and is still regarded as designer Mauro Foghieri’s greatest designs. This is the man who was responsible for introducing proper rear wings in 1968, so he’s a big deal. Powering the Ferrari 312 T4 is the iconic Type 015 engine, a normally-aspirated 3.0-litre (2991.80 cc) V12 that was rated to produce 379 kW of power with 331 Nm of torque. That power goes to the rear wheels via an 022 5-speed transmission and with it all working in unison could get the whole 575 kg package up to a speed of 315 km/h. This was 45 years ago and it still has specs that are properly impressive by today’s standards, although it would take a driver with balls of titanium to be able to drive it like Scheckter did all those years ago. We’ll keep an eye on the auction to see if the car reaches its reserve or not and hopefully who the new owner is.
Take a look at the YouTube video that was uploaded a while back that shows off the sights and sounds of this exact legendary Formula One racecar that was piloted by South African Jody Scheckter. Then1979 car is being sold on auction from his extensive collection: Jody Scheckter's 1979 Ferrari 312T4 PURE SOUND | Retroschaft
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