Brian Redman is unique. A star in many different forms of motorsport, the Britisher’s credibility is bolstered by the number of different championships he won for himself and others during his career. Yet Redman, for all of his accomplishments, always has maintained an unassuming posture. Indeed, when people such as John Wyer, for whom he drove both Porsches and Fords, described him, words such as “steady” were heard most often. In truth, Redman’s quiet manner masks a talent for consistency and quickness that have made him one of the all-time greats of the sport. Consider for a moment these statistics: three straight Formula 5000 titles and one IMSA Camel GT championship on his own resume, and four World Manufacturer crowns–two for Wyer (1968 and 1970) one for Porsche (1969) and one for Ferrari (1972). Redman, the son of a Lancashire retail grocery chain owner who never saw him race, began racing in 1959, progressing through the ranks until by the mid-1960s he was competing in both sports-racing and open-wheeled formula cars on an international level with a fair degree of success. In 1967 he came to the attention of John Wyer, who partnered him with Jacky Ickx in the Len Bailey designed Ford GT-40 based Mirage at Kyalami, where the pair won outright. The same two were partners again in 1968, this time in the famed double Le Mans winning chassis 1074-, a new car built that year that would wind up as one of the most successful racers in terms of percentage of victories to events entered that there ever was. Two of those triumphs, Brands Hatch and Spa, were attributed to the Redman-Ickx combination. There might have been more, but fate intervened, Redman almost coming to his Waterloo later that season at the Belgian Grand Prix, also run on the fast and dangerous Spa circuit.
