FRANK FITTED INTO EUROPEAN RACING EASILY AND WAS PART OF THE TOP LEVEL WITH BRUCE MCLAREN, JIM CLARK, GRAHAM HILL AND COLIN CHAPMAN 60 EDITION 144 JAGUAR MAGAZINE FRANK GARDNER OAM DIED AFTER A GLITTERING CAREER WHICH BEGAN WITH JAGUARS. THIS IS OUR TRIBUTE. PICS - GLORIA GARDNER - GUY ROBSON - IAN CUMMINS FRANK EDITION 144 JAGUAR MAGAZINE 61 FRANK GARDNER TRIBUTE 62:1 Hope Bartlett was a big name in racing from the early 1920s to the 1950s. This advertisement for Neptune's (Shell) Waratah Motor Spirit expounds his successes using the fuel. 62:2 In early 1947 Hope took his MG Q Type to Ballarat in Victoria to race, and sits in the car while Ron Gardner tinkers and 15 year old Frank looks on from afar. In 15 years the youngster would win his class at Le Mans in a works Lotus Elite. 62:2 62:1 the entire famiLY LIVed in A tent AND DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO PUT THE boat IN THE water. THIS IS FRANK GARDNER'S PERSONAL STORY AND ONE was a wizard in a car, and an astute judge of mankind … He was he contributed to. Frank was one of the characters and achievers deadpan, and many of his funniest quotes are unrepeatable in polite in international motorsport, an athlete with an exceptional mind company.” He was reluctant star: “I’m not anti-social or anything and the ability to cope under pressure. He was a raconteur with like that, but I’ve always got something to do rather than go to a an unending supply of one-liners delivered with a wicked and party myself or be seen drinking in the right places.” irreverent sense of humour - which people clambered to hear. On He told us: “I still have very fond feelings for Jaguar because I August 29, 2009 just a month short of his 78th birthday, he died. came to racing through them, had a service station specialising in He is remembered in Australia mostly for his works BMW teams, them, and went to Britain intending to do a four year engineering but began by racing Jaguars and servicing customer cars in Sydney. course at Browns Lane.” To Brits he was the quintessential Aussie with a signature terry He was an unlikely racer though, being born in Sydney on towelling hat. His links extended to Ford, GM, Lola, Porsche, October 1, 1931, but growing up around the rural coastal town Lotus, Brabham, Aston Martin and Jaguar. He was twice British of Ulladulla where his father, John, owned a trawler. When the Champion Racing Driver, three times Saloon Car Champion, Depression hit times became rough for the Gardners and their ten European F2 Champion, European Saloon Car Champion, children - Frank being the youngest. The entire family lived in a European Touring Car Champion and European F5000 Champion tent, and John didn’t even have enough money to put his boat in - but in racing circles he was most respected as a developmental the water. He was reduced to felling trees, splitting the timber to engineer! He ranks next to Sir Jack Brabham as the most loved sell as railway sleepers and mine props. and respected Australian racer, and in 1996 he and his wife Gloria He helped prepare the racing cars of his brother-in-law Hope were flown to Goodwood first class by Ford to celebrate the 25th Bartlett, an international sporting legend, but in a pitiful accident anniversary of his being the first driver to chalk up 100 international John was killed when a drunk sandwiched him between his car and wins - and 90% were in Fords! Gloria told us he was overwhelmed a tree. Young Frank was walking with his father. by the waves of fans who swamped him, and added: “He was just a According to Gloria: “Frank’s mother couldn’t afford to bring great big softie, and believed his successes in Britain were of very up all the children, and was forced to put Frank in an orphanage. I little interest to anybody. He was not only shocked, but moved.” think that had an effect, although he didn’t speak much about it. According to Professor Sid Watkins, the former F1 doctor: “Frank He ran away three or four times, so he asked Hope to take him in. 62 EDITION 144 JAGUAR MAGAZINE 63:1 63:1/2 Frank the surf lifesaver. Here he sweeps for the Whale Beach team - and was knocked unconscious. 63:3 Frank in his XK120 pre the fibreglass body. 63:4 In the C-Type at Mt Druitt being chased by Tom Sulman's DB3S. 65:5 Jack Davey's D-Type which would 63:2 become Frank's. 63:4 63:3 63:5 “Hope had a thriving bus business founded by taking tourists to “When I was not only young, but mentally deficient”! the Jenolin Caves, but he also had a busy sporting agenda – and He won every bout before turning professional, but Gloria was a confirmed bachelor. He didn't want a young boy to bring remembered: “Frank didn’t tell Hope he had turned pro until he up, but told Frank he could stay on the condition he paid his way found a large roll of notes. Thinking Frank had committed a robbery, by washing and cleaning Hope's buses and boats.” One of Frank's he confronted him and Frank had to confess he was earning money brothers, Ron, took over preparation of the racing cars, and soon for a motor bike. Hope put an end to boxing, and he wasn't to ride Hope became devoted to the boy. on the road. If he wanted to race it needed to be on tracks and Hope Bartlett was born in Sydney in 1892, the son of an important preferably in cars. With £1000 saved, a fortune, he walked away. military officer. His grandfather was a wealthy pioneer pastoralist He told us that besides Hope’s demand: “I didn’t need executive in the Hunter Valley, so Hope trained as a wool buyer, and raced equipment to work out that if I stayed in boxing I’d end up with motorcycles in 1908. By 1910 he was a member of the Zenith works my brains scrambled, so I went to speedway. I had more bravery team, and in 1912 competed with his own cars in Canberra. than brains at the time, but I earned a few quid out of it too.” Hope’s large fleet of buses operated in many areas including That money later bought a business. Hope discouraged him from Nowra and Narooma, close to where Frank’s early life was lived. professional golf because an Australian Open win only paid £90, He was a celebrity racer at the Maroubra Speedway in his Bugatti, and engineering and racing were his real passions, but his job as an beating the famed Garlick at an average of 99 mph in front of a apprentice mechanic was not even getting him to first base. crowd of 70,000. He was also a golf and tennis champion (playing His first circuit race was in an MGTA in 1953, but he also had in the forerunner to Davis Cup), won speedboat titles, and went to a bout in the Australian Army as a conscript in the Korean War. New Zealand twice with his cars to capture the New Zealand Cup. When he returned home he became dedicated to surf life saving Frank kept his New Zealand GP trophy next to Hope’s. with the Cronulla Club, and as Captain of the Whale Beach Club. He started in the 1947 and ’48 Australian Grand Prix with his He completed a diploma in metallurgy and engineering which Brooklands-winning Riley Dixon, and at 59 won at Bathurst in one provided him with the knowledge he would utilise in racing. “I of his two XK120s. Frank was blessed with sporting genes and a learned how metal loses its strength when bent, so when I rebuilt lean muscular 6’1” frame. He was a winner at golf, boxing, sailing, my C and D-Types, then repaired cars for Jim Russell’s racing school shooting, athletics, swimming plus life saving and boxed from 14: in England, I knew what to use and what to throw away.” EDITION 144 JAGUAR MAGAZINE 63 FRANK GARDNER TRIBUTE 64:1 A rare coloured photograph of Frank at Mt Drutt standing beside his D-Type in 1958. The extensive repairs are obvious. 64:2 Ready to race and about to grid up in a short sleeved shirt! 64:3 While advertising was strictly outlawed on cars at the time, Frank ensured his James Hardie sponsorship was obvious on the trailer. 64:4 Frank raced the D-Type for only a few months before he went to England to join Jaguar. He ended up at Aston Martin and Le Mans as part of the winning team. 64:1 64:3 64:4 64:2 In surf clubs the boats came naturally, and his team were realised he could rebuild it with fabricated replacement items. standouts in tough competitions. They were second in the 1952/53 Stan Smith and Alan Stanfield, whose family owned a prosperous Metro Surf Boat Championships, won the 1953/54 A Grade Surf mousetrap factory, used those premises to fabricate replacement Boat Championships and came second in the Australian titles. He panels, repair the body and build a combined alloy and fibreglass travelled to Hawaii and South Africa representing Australia. bonnet because no more were available. Frank debuted the now Frank worked for racer and trader Rex Marshall who undertook white C-Type at Mt Druitt where he won the three races, then went the excess Jaguar service work for Brysons, and in a couple of years on to claim 23 of the 24 races he contested in C-Type XKC037.