| Martin Redfern (Deceased) | |
|---|---|
| File:On the bonnet.jpg Accepting the plaudits | |
| Nationality |  Scottish |
| Born | April 6, 1922 Kirkintilloch |
| Car number | 4 |
| Wins | 1960 Macau Grand Prix |
Martin Redfern
editMartin Thomas Redfern (deceased) was a Scottish racing driver who won the prestigious Macau GP in a Jaguar XKSS (chassis No. 757) in 1960. He competed in the event for 10 years or so in Jaguars (XK120's and 140's) a Brabham FJ2, and the XKSS. He also campaigned a Ferrari Monza, an Aston Martin DB2 and a Cooper J.A.P. in a variety of hill climb and slalom events in the colony.
The Macau 'Guia' circuit is regarded by many professional drivers as the most challenging in the world (including Monaco) and has been won by competitors, as a final test, before glittering F1 careers including Ayrton Senna, Michael and Ralf Schumacher, Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard, amongst many others. Following his win Martin was offered a career as a professional driver in Australia, but declined as he would spend too much time away from his family. It was the era of Jack Brabham and Denny Hulme, antipodean F1 legends, who knows what Martin could have achieved.
The 1960 race was Macau's inaugural FIA regulated year, run over 60, 6.120 km (3.803 mi) laps of the infamous Guia street circuit; by way of comparison, contemporary F3 cars run for 15 laps. Martin and his fellow competitors endured three and a half hours (the winning time was officially 3 Hrs 27 Minutes and 24.4 Seconds at an average speed of 65.973 MPH) of gruelling street racing in sweltering heat, with no power steering, no seat belts, no downforce, questionable brakes, street legal tyres, no Armco or run off areas (other than the South China Sea), no sponsorship, rudimentary helmet and goggles, stringback gloves and cotton overalls. Real men!
The race
editThe Macau Grand Prix was, for the first time, entered on the international racing calendar as a "national race with foreign participation," and was subject for the first time to the regulations published by the FIA for sports and grand touring cars. Scottish driver Martin Redfern, in his Jaguar XK SS, took victory in the seventh Macau Grand Prix with a time of 3:27:24.4. American Grant Wolfkill was second in a Porsche Spyder and Briton Jan Bussell was third in a Ferrari Monza. The 60-lap race saw the existing lap record broken 11 times in all - four times by Redfern, twice by Bussell and five times by Wolfkill, who set the new lap record of 3:17.20.
Race of Giants
editIn 1978 Martin was invited to compete in the 'Race of Giants' at the 25th anniversary of the event in Zakspeed prepared Mk2 Ford Escorts. Competitors were as follows:
HRH Prince Birabongse, (Sir) Jack Brabham, Baron "Toulo" de Graffenried, Dan Gurney, Mike Hailwood, Hans Herrmann, Phil Hill, Denis Hulme, Jacky Ickx, Innes Ireland, Stirling Moss, Roy Salvadori, John Surtees, Bobby Unser (Sr), Bill Wyllie, Teddy Yip, and Jackie Stewart.
Ickx won from Hailwood, Unser and Gurney.
Sadly Martin contracted shingles and had to withdraw before the event.
Early life
editMartin was born in Kirkintilloch, a foundry town some 8 miles North of Glasgow and started his working life at 14 years old as an apprentice mechanic in Turners Garage, Waterside Road. He joined the RAF as a ground mechanic serving overseas during WW2 and was rapidly promoted to Sergeant. On his return from the war he started his own garage in Springburn, Glasgow but his business partner left. In 1951 Martin successfully applied for a job at Gilman Motors (Hong Kong) as Service Manager and became an active participant in the local motorsport fraternity.
Achievements
editMartins ability went far beyond his modest start as a mechanic. In the 1950's whilst in Hong Kong he built two spaceframed 'Bamboo specials' one with a hand beaten aluminium body, advanced enough at the time but the second he clad with fibreglass, an exotic material at the time and only commonly used by Colin Chapman at Lotus. What made this particularly remarkable was that Hong Kong was relatively isolated from the global hub of motorsports in the UK so information exchange was almost non existent.
Personal life
editMartin married Catherine (Rena McEwan) in 1949 and had two children Joy and David. It was a courageous step to take a young wife and 14 month old daughter half way round the world into an unknown community and onto the doorstep of the Japanese only six years after the end of WW2.
He was an accomplished sportsman and fierce competitor regularly participating in races aboard his Kings Amethyst Yacht 'Snow Goose' and, of course, innumerable golf tournaments.
The Cars
editOver the 15 years in Hong Kong the list of cars Martin owned is, by today's standards, impressive and one could live quite comfortably from the proceeds of just a couple of them.
Jaguar XKSS
editThe XKSS was the road going version of the 'D' Type Jaguar which was built with one event in mind, Le Mans. Its curvaceous lines were optimised for one particular part of La Sarth, the 6Km (3.7 Miles) long Mulsanne straight where it could reach almost 180MPH. Although 86 'D' types were built only 16 XKSS were built before, on the 12th February 1957, the Browns Lane factory factory burned down.
Chassis 757 was shipped to its first owner in Hong Kong. The actor Steve McQueen owned an XKSS (The so called 'Green Rat') and declared it his favourite car, a considerable accolade from a committed petrol head and Le Mans competitor, indeed he sold the car only to buy it back a short time later. Legend has it that at least one L.A. police force had promised to serve any officer an “expensive steak dinner” for the cop who could serve Steve and the Jag a speeding ticket. Evidently, while he was spotted often and even pursued, he was never caught. The steak dinner went unclaimed. If it were possible to buy the car today, which is extremely unlikely, it would probably command a price of several million dollars.
Ferrari Monza
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0528MD was a Ferrari 500 Mondial Spyder with Scaglietti Series II coachwork sold to Conte Carlo Leto de Priolo, Milano, I. The car was raced in Italy, but always failed to finish because of engine problems. In June 1955 Priolo returned the car to the factory and demanded and received their money back. Three blown engines in three races were too many. The Mondial was sold to Macau and continued to have engine problems. Martin Redfern bought the car and fitted a 750 Monza 3 litre engine.
Brabham BT2 VIN: FJ-6-62 (FJ [Formula Junior])
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Editing will continue shortly 27/04/12