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Brian Redman Interview – August 2006
Born:
March 9, 1937 in Burnley, Lancashire, Great Britain
Lives:
Vero Beach, Fla., with wife, Marion
First
Race: 1959, driving a Morris 1000 Traveler
First
Pro Race Win: Nov. 4, 1967 at Kyalami (ZA) 9-hour in Mirage-Ford with Jacky Ickx
Final
Pro Race: June 29, 2000 at Daytona in Grand-Am series Nissan-Pilbeam
Website: www.GoRace.com
ClassicRallies:
What
is your best souvenir racing? Which car were you driving?
Perhaps the best souvenir from racing was winning the 2 litre Championship for Chevron Cars on the last corner of the last lap at Spa Francorchamps in 1970 from Jo Bonnier in the Lola 210.
Or,
winning the 1,000 Ks at Spa Francorchamps in the John Wyer Gulf Porsche 917 also
in 1970, with co-driver Jo “Seppi” Siffert. This was the fastest road race
ever run to that date, at an average speed of 149 mph – including rain at the
start and the pit stops.
Winning
three consecutive Formula 5000 championships in ’74, ’75 and ’76 was O.K.
too…..Mario Andretti finished in 2nd place the first two years and
al Unser,Sr. the third year.
Winning
the Targa Florio in 1970 in the Porsche 908/3 with Seppi was also O.K.!
ClassicRallies:
And your worst souvenir?
I
have some:
Broken
suspension in the Belgian Grand Prix in 1968, enormous accident, compound
fracture of the right forearm.
Steering failure in the Porsche 908/3 at the Targa Florio in 1971. Burning from head to foot soaked in fuel. No help for 45 minutes, blind from the fire, speaking no Italiant, taken to a facility where the team didn’t know where I was…...Pedro Rodriguez and Richard Attwood came and found me and took me back to the hotel.
At the end of 1976 for marketing purposes, the SCCA wanted to bring back the name “Can-Am”. We had to put full-width bodywork on our open-wheel F5000 cars. The first day of practice for the first race on the new (1977) season, my Lola T333 was very good. I came in the pits and Jim Hall said “how is it” I replied “good” – “what do you want?” I said “take ½ an inch off the Front wing”. On the next lap, at 170 mph, the car took off. It went 40 feet in the air and turned over and came down upside down.. In the accident, I broke my neck (C1), shoulder, sternum and three ribs. In it’s last few yards upside down, on the track, the Lola rolled off the track. My heart had stopped, but the track doctor – a heart specialist – was there very quickly got it going again. The ambulance blew a tire at 80 mph on the way to the Montreal Neurological Institiute.
ClassicRallies:
What
Porsche models did you drive during your career as pilot? For you which was the
best one?
I
was lucky to join Porsche in 1969, just when they were starting their massive
racing program with the 908/1, 908/2, 908/3 and 917L & K. Certainly, the
908/3 built only for the Nurburgring and the Targa Florio, was quite amazing, so
light and nimble…..the only snag was the driver sat so far forward, his toes
were level with the front of the front wheels! I also drove, 917/10s and the
Penske/Donohue 917/30 Can-Am cars and 935’s, 934’s, 936 and 962. So, quite a
lot of Porsches! All Porsches are great racing cars, always driver friendly,
comfortable and reliable.
ClassicRallies:
What can you tell us about your experience in F1 cars?
My
Formula 1 experience was poor. 3rd in the Spanish Grand Prix at
Jarama in the Cooper-BRM in 1968, 5th at the Nurburgring and Monte
Carlo in the McLaren M19 being the only decent results….. I really never did a
Formula 1 race where I felt that I had done my best, and there was no more to
come.
ClassicRallies:
When
and why did you decided to become a profesional driver?
I
was working in my family retail grocery business in 1967, and also racing quite
a lot. I was offered a full-time drive by David Bridges, from Gartstang,
Lancashire in a Formula 2 car. The deal was 30 pounds a week, guaranteed for a
year, a new Brabham, with 2 Cosworth FVA engines, and a mechanic. One week after
telling my father I was going racing – and being told that I couldn’t return
to the family business if I changed my mind – David Bridges rang to say that
we couldn’t get the new Brabham, or the two Cosworth FVA engines as I wasn’t
well known enough. We struggled with an old Brabham chassis that David had, and
a Cosworth SCA (1,000 cc) bored and stroked to 1,500 cc. Half way through the
year, John Surtees offered us a new Lola T100 chassis, and two new FVA engines.
At the end of 1967 I was offered a drive with Jacky Ickx in the Ford Mirage
(GT40) by John Wyer. We won the Kyalami 9 Hours race, in November 1967 and I
signed a contract with John Wyer Gulf for 1968, also, at that time, with Cooper
for Formula 1.
ClassicRallies:
Did
you only drive Porsche cars during your carrer?
I
drove many other types of race car during my career!
I’ve been
a factory driver for the following teams:
ClassicRallies:
Did
you have a special souvenir of the Le Mans movie making up?
I
didn’t have any special souvenir from the film “Le Mans”…..it was very
boring, sitting around all day, then some action for about an hour in the
evening! However, the pay was quite good!
ClassicRallies:
You
won twice at the Nürburgring 1000Km? What can you tell us about this fantastic
circuit?
Actually,
I won three times on the Nurburgring, the two 1,000 Ks events with the 908
Porsche and later with the 312 PB Ferrari. Before that, in 1969 with the brand-new
Chevron B16 coupe we won the 500 Ks.
ClassicRallies:
What’s
about Brian Redman today?
Today
I’m extremely busy with historic racing, both organizing and taking part as a
driver. I also have a small private club – Targa Sixty Six - for people with
collector cars, who do not wish to race them!
ClassicRallies:
Which
year has been the best for you as driver?
I
don’t know which was the best year…..perhaps driving for Ferrari in the 312
PB and winning the World Manufacturers Championship and at the same time driving
the F5000 Lola T330 in the United States for Carl Haas and Jim Hall in 1973.
ClassicRallies:
When
did you started driving for Porsche?
1969
with the 908.
ClassicRallies:
And
how did you started racing for Porsche Team?
I
think Vic Elford asked
Porsche for me as his co-driver, but after the Daytona 24 Hours I was always
with Jo Siffert.
ClassicRallies:
Which famous rallies
and races did you win?
I
won the following Championships:
I was
member of these World Manufacturers Championship winning teams:
I won the
following International Races:
ClassicRallies:
Did
you prefer long distance races, rallies…?
No,
I prefer open-wheel single seat races to sports cars.
ClassicRallies:
Who
has been your best partner?
Siffert
was fantastic, he was so fast, but not always careful with the car! Jacky Ickx
was the best, so young, but so fast and so careful with the car.
ClassicRallies:
The
frirst versions of the 917 were difficult to drive, isn’t it? Is that why you
choose the 908 to win the world championship?
In
1969, when the 917 first appeared, it was very new and undeveloped. On the other
hand, the 908 was reliable – at least after Daytona and Sebring! At Le Mans in
1969, the first 917 sold to a private owner, John Wolfe, was destroyed in a
first lap accident at White House, the driver died in the accident. Before that,
in practice, his co-driver, Digby Martland, had spun at 200mph going over the
“hump” at the end of the Mulsanne. By a miracle, he didn’t hit anything.
He drove the car back to the pits, got out, and said to John Wolfe “thank you
very much, John, I have now retired from racing” He never raced again.
ClassicRallies:
Can
you tell us more about your experience with different versions of the 917? Did
you actively participate to its development?
As
noted above, the first version – of which they made 25 – was very difficult
to drive, wandering
all over the road. At the time, much fuss was made over the fact that the
factory drivers,
there were ten, didn’t want to drive it at the Nurburgring and that Porsche
brought in David Piper and Frank Gardner to drive it. However, if you look at
the lap times from the race, you will see that the 917 was something like 45
seconds a lap slower than the 908 – so at least for me, that
was the main reason I didn’t want to drive it! Halfway through 1969,
Porsche reached agreement with John Wyer that he would run the factory team in
1970, with Gulf sponsorship. Accordingly, we tested the 917 on October 15th,
1969, in it’s original form at
the Zeltweg. The test session was under the control of Porsche engineers, Helmut
Flegl and Peter Falk but was run by Wyer’s head engineer, John Horsman.
Drivers were myself, Kurt Ahrens and Piers Courage – who unfortunately had to
return to England for personal reasons. John Wyer was not present due to an
injured arm. There were three 917s present, 006, 008 and the Siffert Can-Am car,
027. Initial trials in the original
long-tail form showed similar laps times to the previous August’s 1,000 Ks
race. John Horsman did some simple aerodynamic tests – and saw that there was
no airflow over parts of the rear deck. It should be remembered that at that
time a large part of Porsche thinking was directed not only at light weight, but
at low-drag, for maximum speed on the Le Mans Mulsanne straight! Fortunately,
aided by team manager David Yorke, John was able to convince the Porsche
engineers that he could attack the rear body. Working with tin-snips, rivets and
aluminum the mechanics filled in the rear deck, so that the body made one
continuous, gentle rise to the rear. Immediately, three seconds a lap faster!
Problem solved!
ClassicRallies:
When
did you last drive a 917? What kind of souvenirs did this experience gave you?
Same experience as the first time you drove one?
I
last drove a 917 at
the Le Mans Retrospective, two years ago, with owner Bobby Rahal. When the right
front wheel bearing failed going into the 2nd chicane at around 200
mph, it reminded me of some of the frights I’d had in 1970!
ClassicRallies:
Are
you still driving at special events, historic rallies or races?
Yes,
I’m still driving in historic events. Just returned from Silverstone, England
where I drove a 1971 BRM P160 F1
car, finishing 7th out of 22 starters.
ClassicRallies:
Have
you been in Spain or did you plan to come and participate to some event like the
costa Brava Historic?
I have not been in Spain since F1 Jarama in 1974 driving the UOP Shadow….. I spent my honeymoon in Spain in 1962 – Palamos (?) I believe – site of the film “El Cid” !!
Brian
Redman interview by Ollivier Jacq - ClassicRallies.com - All rights reserved
