BRUCE JOHNSTONE 1937-2022

Bruce Johnstone, who has died at the age of 85 in his native South Africa, was a noted talent who raced briefly for the BRM Formula 1 team in 1962, the year it won the title with Graham Hill. Johnstone came close to winning the 1961 South African Drivers’ crown, and caught the eye of BRM when the F1 establishment contested the country’s end-of-season races. But he only got three races with BRM: after a fourth in the Oulton Park

Gold Cup, he was second to team-mate Richie Ginther in his heat at Westmead before engine problems in the final. He finished a delayed ninth at East London in the first world championship South African GP. Johnstone, who also won the 1962 Kyalami 9 Hours with David Piper in a Ferrari 250 GTO, was disillusioned at his BRM treatment and retired in 1963.