Frank Gardner

CHAMPION 1967, 1968, 1973

There was no nonsense with Frank Gardner.

The gruff Aussie, who had moved to Europe to chase his motor racing dreams in the early 1960s, was a highly successful single-seater racer and started eight grands prix in a John Willment Automobiles-run Brabham, and claimed the European F5000 championship in 1971.

He was also a race winner in F2 and the Tasman category, and a class winner at Le Mans in the early 1960s.

In touring car terms, it was his partnership with Alan Mann Racing that cemented his success in the British Saloon Car Championship. He took a Ford Falcon Sprint to the championship in 1967 and then became the first man to successfully defend the crown when he switched to a Ford Escort in ’68. He also prevailed in ’73 in a Chevrolet Camaro.

Aside from those three outright triumphs, Gardner also took the class spoils on six occasions between 1967 and ’73.

He returned to Australia in 1975 to continue his driving career at Bathurst and in the Australian Sports and Sedan Championship, which he claimed in ’77. After stepping away from the driving seat, he successfully ran teams in Aussie series and took Australian Super Touring titles as the official BMW team in 1994 and ’95 (with Tony Longhurst) and ’97 (with Paul Morris). A Frank Gardner-run car also won the Bathurst

1000 in ’88, with Tony Longhurst and Tomas Mezera in a Ford Sierra RS500.