Brian Herman Thomas Redman (born 9 March 1937) is a British retired

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

. Racing for Carl Haas and Jim Hall's Chaparral Cars, Brian Redman won the 1974, '75 and '76 SCCA Formula 5000 series and has raced in nearly every category of racing, including Formula One. The Englishman began racing in 1959 and collected his first of four Manufacturers Championships in 1968, driving a Ford GT40 with Belgian Jacky Ickx for John Wyer Automotive Engineering. Redman also won the 1970/71 South African Springbok series and the IMSA Camel GTP Championship in 1981 driving a Lola T600. Brian is considered to be one of the greatest endurance racers in the history of the sport. In addition to his four victories at Spa-Francorchamps, Brian has overall wins in the 1970 Targa Florio, the Watkins Glen 6 Hours, the 12 Hours of Sebring twice, the Nurburgring 1000 Ks twice, Brands Hatch 6 Hours twice, Osterrechring 1000 Ks twice, Monza 1000 Ks twice, Kyalami 9 Hours twice, has been a two-time winner at the 24 Hours of Daytona and holds two class victories at Le Mans. He is currently a regular at the Monterey Historic Automobile Races at

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for sponsorship reasons) is a paved Racing track#Motorsport, road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and Motorcyc ...

Career

Redman raced F1 for McLaren, Shadow, Cooper, Williams He participated in 15 World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 1 January 1968. He achieved one podium in the 1968 Spanish Grand Prix, finishing third in a Cooper-BRM behind Graham Hill in a Lotus-Ford and Denny Hulme in a McLaren-Ford. He then had an accident at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, crashing his Cooper-BRM when the suspension broke at the Les Coombes corner; he survived with a badly broken arm. He scored a total of 8 championship points in his career, with two 5th places in 1972, at the

Monaco Grand Prix The Monaco Grand Prix () is a Formula One motor racing event held annually on the Circuit de Monaco, in late May or early June. Run since 1929, it is widely considered to be one of the most important and prestigious automobile races in the wo ...

and the

German Grand Prix The German Grand Prix () was a motor race that took place most years since 1926, with 75 races having been held. The race has been held at only three venues throughout its history: the Nürburgring in Rhineland-Palatinate, Hockenheimring in B ...

driving a Yardley McLaren. He achieved spectacular success in sports-car racing, particularly in 1968 as a John Wyer Gulf driver, in 1969 and 1970 as a Porsche works driver and in 1972 with the Ferrari 312 PB; Winning at Spa Francorchamps 1000 Ks 5 times, the Nurburgring 1000 Ks 3 times, Daytona 24 Hours 2 times, Sebring twice, Watkins Glen 6 Hours, Osterreichring twice, Monza 1000 Ks twice, the Targa Florio, Brands Hatch 6 Hours twice etc. In 1973, Redman started racing in the USA full-time and won the SCCA/USAC Formula 5000 Championship three times in a row from 1974 to 1976 driving a Jim Hall/ Carl Haas Lola T330/332C against considerable opposition, including

Mario Andretti Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is an American former racing driver and businessman, who competed in Formula One from to , and American open-wheel racing, IndyCar from 1964 USAC Championship Car season, 1964 to 1994 IndyCar se ...

and Al Unser, Jody Scheckter, Jackie Oliver, Alan Jones, David Hobbs, Brett Lunger, Sam Posey, "Vern" Schuppan et al. Redman was employed at Haas's business office in

Highland Park, Illinois Highland Park is a suburban city located in southeastern Lake County, Illinois, United States, about north of downtown Chicago. Per the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 30,176. Highland Park is one of several municipali ...

, where he also lived for a time. At the end of 1976 the SCCA announced new rules. The F5000 single-seaters had to use full-width bodywork and the new series would be called

Can-Am The Canadian-American Challenge Cup, or Can-Am, was an SCCA/ CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1974, and again from 1977 to 1987. The Can-Am rules were deliberately simple and placed few limits on the entries. This led to a wide variet ...

. On the first day of practice for the first race of the new season, at Circuit Mont-Tremblant, Canada the new car took off at 160 mph went 40 feet in the air and turned over, landing upside down. Redman suffered a broken neck (C1), fractured shoulder and sternum, plus bruising of the brain. The ambulance blew a tire on the way to hospital. Redman was declared dead. It took him 9 months to recover and he returned to racing on a spectacular note by winning the

12 Hours of Sebring The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race for Sports car racing, sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in S ...

in 1978 driving a

Porsche 935 The Porsche 935 is a race car that was developed and manufactured by German automaker Porsche. Introduced in 1976 as the factory racing version of the Porsche 911 (930), 911 (930) Turbo and prepared for Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, ...

. He continued driving for Dick Barbour Racing through 1979 and 1980. In 1981, driving the brand new Lolas T600 IMSA GTP car he won the first race at Laguna Seca and went on to win the IMSA Camel GTP championship. His last year of professional racing was at the age of 52, driving for the works

Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC () is a British manufacturer of Luxury car, luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Headed from 1947 by David Brown (entrepreneur ...

team in the 1989 World Sports Prototype Championship. He later co-managed the Redman Bright racing team. Redman has now taken out his 61st racing licence, lives in Florida and is active in historic racing.

Legacy

Road America Road America is a motorsport Road racing, road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the IndyCar Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship, Sports Car Club ...

hosts The WeatherTech International Challenge with Brian Redman for vintage/historic cars, one of the largest and most prestigious vintage racing events in the US *Redman is inducted in the following Halls of Fame: Daytona International Hall of Fame, Sebring Hall of Fame, Talladega Hall of Fame, Motor Sport Hall of Fame (UK), Long Beach Pavement of Fame.

Racing record

Complete British Saloon Car Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.) † Events with 2 races staged for the different classes.

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

( key)

Complete Formula One World Championship results

( key)

Non-Championship Formula One results

( key)

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

External links