This story was told to me on monday,I was really impressed and asked George to write it down for me,I then typed it into a Word document.
A day at the races with Jim Redman (now eighty years young )
As written by George Wenman of the HBYC ,Hout Bay,Cape Town. 08,02,2011
Aboard his yacht Brilliant,a Nicholson 35,a wood strip planked build localy made in False Bays Simonstown.
George writes:
We took the family to Killarney to see the classic bike racing guys that come over to South Africa from the UK every year during their winter and got to spend a lot of time in the pits chatting with the riders all now in their late fifties,or early sixties. All of our champions were there headed up by the great Jim Redman,who is still racing at 80 years old and who is probably,along with the late Mike Hailwood the greatest champion of all time,having won the World Championship in all the classes,from 125cc to 500cc and in the same year.
For me it was a dream come true to be able to be able to chat to Jim and reminisce on racing in Rhodesia in the late sixties,where I raced a 250cc Yamaha with Jim and Mike Hailwood on works bikes from Honda and Yamaha. Jim is a great guy and always had time for the guys at the back of the grid. Our conversation moved from racing in Rhodesia to Jims move to Europe and his signing with Honda and after retirement,when he would do guest appearances at race tracks around the world.
Thats Jim nearest the camera,he came third in this race but against much faster ex Barry Sheene bikes (suzuki).
Jim told me the story of his guest apperance at Daytona,USA,(was this in 1995?) at the age of 64. Honda had a works rider but wanted Jim to do a few laps of honour to bring in more spectators and to boost their sales of bikes in the USA.
There were 60 bikes on the grid and Jim was placed at the back of the pack,his job was to do a few laps and come in to the pits but Jim had just married his second wife who was many years younger than him and had never seen him race in his heyday,so to impress his new bride he decided without telling Honda that he was going to make a race of it.
A local news station had fitted a camera to Jims bike to record some of the race from the back of the pack but Jim had other ideas and at the drop of the flag gave it stick and winding his way through the pack to 4th position by the end of the first lap and to 1st postion by the end of the forth lap! Where he lead to the finish and causing the other Honda rider to blow up his bike trying to catch him.
I am not sure but on the last lap and when he was way out in front, Jim stopped on the last banked bend and waited for the other riders to catch up before pulling off and taking the checkered flag in front of the pack. This maneuver brought the spectators to their feet with the resulting noise drowning out the race commentator.
What a great spectacle that must have been with a hundred thousand cheering fans giving the greatest bike racer of all time a standing ovation that went on a long time and until he got back to the pits and his new bride.
Thanks George for this fantastic story and your digital pictures taken at Killarney on Sunday 6th of January 2011.Lets hope Jim returns next year!
Roy
A day at the races with Jim Redman (now eighty years young )
A rider using the kink and onto the main straight,this kink is used (i think) to slow the bikes down?
Aboard his yacht Brilliant,a Nicholson 35,a wood strip planked build localy made in False Bays Simonstown.
George writes:
We took the family to Killarney to see the classic bike racing guys that come over to South Africa from the UK every year during their winter and got to spend a lot of time in the pits chatting with the riders all now in their late fifties,or early sixties. All of our champions were there headed up by the great Jim Redman,who is still racing at 80 years old and who is probably,along with the late Mike Hailwood the greatest champion of all time,having won the World Championship in all the classes,from 125cc to 500cc and in the same year.
For me it was a dream come true to be able to be able to chat to Jim and reminisce on racing in Rhodesia in the late sixties,where I raced a 250cc Yamaha with Jim and Mike Hailwood on works bikes from Honda and Yamaha. Jim is a great guy and always had time for the guys at the back of the grid. Our conversation moved from racing in Rhodesia to Jims move to Europe and his signing with Honda and after retirement,when he would do guest appearances at race tracks around the world.
Jim told me the story of his guest apperance at Daytona,USA,(was this in 1995?) at the age of 64. Honda had a works rider but wanted Jim to do a few laps of honour to bring in more spectators and to boost their sales of bikes in the USA.
There were 60 bikes on the grid and Jim was placed at the back of the pack,his job was to do a few laps and come in to the pits but Jim had just married his second wife who was many years younger than him and had never seen him race in his heyday,so to impress his new bride he decided without telling Honda that he was going to make a race of it.
A local news station had fitted a camera to Jims bike to record some of the race from the back of the pack but Jim had other ideas and at the drop of the flag gave it stick and winding his way through the pack to 4th position by the end of the first lap and to 1st postion by the end of the forth lap! Where he lead to the finish and causing the other Honda rider to blow up his bike trying to catch him.
I am not sure but on the last lap and when he was way out in front, Jim stopped on the last banked bend and waited for the other riders to catch up before pulling off and taking the checkered flag in front of the pack. This maneuver brought the spectators to their feet with the resulting noise drowning out the race commentator.
What a great spectacle that must have been with a hundred thousand cheering fans giving the greatest bike racer of all time a standing ovation that went on a long time and until he got back to the pits and his new bride.
Thanks George for this fantastic story and your digital pictures taken at Killarney on Sunday 6th of January 2011.Lets hope Jim returns next year!
Roy
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