Born and raised in East London, Cape Province, Scheckter rapidly ascended through the ranks of motor racing upon moving to the United Kingdom in 1970.

Scheckter earned a full-time drive with Tyrrell the following season, taking his maiden win at the Swedish Grand Prix and finishing third in the championship.

He was unable to defend his title in 1980 as Ferrari struggled with the 312T5, retiring at the end of the season having achieved 10 race wins, three pole positions, five fastest laps and 33 podiums in Formula One.

His Formula 1 debut occurred at the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen in 1972 with McLaren, where he ran as high as third place before spinning and finishing ninth.

"[2] In his next start, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Scheckter's spin triggered a major accident which took nearly a dozen cars out of the race.

During the practice for the American event at the Watkins Glen circuit, Frenchman François Cevert, who was due to be Scheckter's Tyrrell teammate for 1974, was killed in an appalling accident at the fast uphill Esses corners.

Witnessing Cevert's dreadful accident left an indelible mark on the South African and caused him to abandon his reckless ways, becoming a more mature and calculating driver as a result.

[3] Tyrrell in 1974 gave Scheckter his first full-time drive in F1 and he rewarded them with a third-place finish in the Drivers' Championship and a pair of wins in Sweden and Britain.

He defeated athletes such as Russ Francis, Renaldo Nehemiah, Peter Müller, Rick Barry, Gaétan Boucher and Andy Ripley.

After his retirement, Scheckter founded a weapons simulation business in 1984 called Firearms Training Systems (FATS), whose revenue eclipsed £100 million by the early 1990s.

[4] Scheckter spent his time as a biodynamic farmer,[5] having bought the 2,500 acres (1,000 ha)[1] Laverstoke Park Farm, near Overton, Hampshire, 40 miles (64 km) south west of London.

Scheckter is married and has had six children: two, Toby and Tomas, from his previous wife Pamela; and four, Hugo, Freddie, Ila and Poppy, from his current marriage to Clare.