The championship was initially shaped by a mix of recently retired World Championship machinery and locally built or modified cars. From the late 1960s, Formula 5000 cars joined the grids, with Formula Two entries added in 1973. Front-running drivers from the series regularly contested the South African Grand Prix, but had limited success at the World Championship level.
The transition away from Formula One came primarily due to cost and dwindling grids. The South African organisers attempted to sustain interest by padding fields with Formula 2 and Formula 5000 machinery, but viewership steadily declined, compounded by a complex points system. The Formula One championship concluded after the 1975 season, giving way to Formula Atlantic from 1976.
Two drivers defined the championship's Formula One era through parallel dynasties of six consecutive titles each. John Love, a Rhodesian driver, claimed the title every year from 1964 to 1969. Dave Charlton then succeeded him, winning the championship in each season from 1970 to 1975.
Love's international reputation reached its peak at the 1967 South African Grand Prix, where he drove a 2.7-litre four-cylinder Cooper-Climax — a car originally designed for the shorter Tasman Series races. Despite being in his forties and running auxiliary fuel tanks to cover Grand Prix distance, Love led most of the race before a fuel pump failure on those auxiliary tanks forced a pit stop, relegating him to second place.
Charlton claimed his sixth and final title with greater consistency than his rivals. In the 1975 season, Ian Scheckter — brother of Jody Scheckter — raced the Tyrrell 007 that Jody had campaigned in the 1974 world championship and won five races, including four consecutively. However, Scheckter's points tally of 47 fell short of Charlton's 57, built on three victories and five second-place finishes. Charlton wrapped up the championship by winning the Rand Spring Trophy at Kyalami after Scheckter retired with a driveshaft problem.
With Formula One replaced by Formula Atlantic in 1976, Ian Scheckter quickly established himself as the new dominant force. Racing for Lexington Racing with backing from United Tobacco Company, he won the first four Formula Atlantic championships consecutively. After UTC withdrew their teams — Lexington, Gunston and Texan — Scheckter stepped back from the championship before returning with Gunston in 1983, ultimately winning two further titles to equal Love and Charlton as a six-time champion.
The single most celebrated episode in the championship's history came at the 1967 South African Grand Prix, which was simultaneously a World Championship round. Love, already a multi-time national champion but not a major figure on the international stage, led the race in a car designed for shorter distances and came within a fuel-stop of scoring an extraordinary World Championship victory. The result crystallised the quality that the domestic series could produce, even if international breakthroughs were rare.
The South African Formula One Championship occupied a unique space in motorsport history as one of the most prominent national Formula One series outside the World Championship, running high-quality machinery and producing drivers who could hold their own against international competition. Its evolution — from Formula Libre through Formula One to rotary-powered Formula South Africa — reflected both the ambitions and the practical constraints of running a major series in southern Africa over three decades.