Three kings
Spencer Martin is unique in working for three of the biggest racing chiefs of the 1960s during his frontline career: David McKay, Bob Jane and Harry Firth. All three were pioneers in the birth of professional motor racing in Australia and all left an indelible legacy on the sport.
It was David McKay who ‘discovered’ Martin and lifted him from Humpy Holdens to a world of Brabham single-seaters and Ferraris sports cars. Martin acknowledges that without McKay he may never had made it, but there was a downside.
“I owe all of my motor racing career to David McKay and I am grateful for that, but he was a difficult man to be around. He was demanding, an autocrat and a perfectionist. I worked on customer cars during the day and the racecars after hours – 12 to 14 hours a day and I was getting paid half the basic wage! It all came to a head in early 1966 up at Lakeside (during the Tasman Series) where the Ferrari developed a serious oil leak. McKay said to go home and take the engine out of the Ferrari. But we had worked eight straight weeks and I needed a week off. He wouldn’t budge, so I took the week off and never came back…”
The pair never spoke for 12 years. Only after McKay injured himself demonstrating his old Ferrari at Sandown did Martin send him a getwell telegram. McKay was touched and that lead to the 1979 Volvo campaign and Martin buying a quarter share in the Ferrari in the 1980s.
By the mid-1960s Bob Jane was a big name in motorsport, especially in touring cars. He dabbled in sports cars and single-seaters, but his burly frame wasn’t suited to these nimble cars. As a Shell-sponsored team, the opportunity to run Martin in the Gold Star fell in his lap. Martin recalls that it was a step up from the arrangement he had with McKay.
“Bob asked me how much I was getting paid, and I naively told him,” chuckles Martin. “He doubled it, so I was getting the basic wage. I worked regular hours and the atmosphere was good. I didn’t want to move to Melbourne, but he organised an apartment for me to share with (team mechanic and driver) Bevan Gibson, which was great.”
“Jane was good to drive for. Very generous and good fun. We used to drive to interstate meetings together. He could be bumptious and talk down to staff, but only once tried it on with me!
Harry Firth was an astute judge of talent and in the mid-1960s the emerging talent could be found in sports cars and single-seaters. Martin’s introduction to the Firth-managed factory Ford team at Bathurst was via Bob Jane in 1967, but he must have impressed the old fox to be asked back the following year. The detailed story of that unsuccessful 1968 Bathurst campaign was told in #102. Suffice to say, that Martin was the only Ford driver to make the switch with Firth across to the General in 1969. That says everything about how well Firth regarded Martin’s talent behind the wheel.