Wayne Michael Gardner
(born 11 October 1959) is an Australian former professional
Grand Prix
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour
Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to:
Arts and entertainment ...
motorcycle and
touring car
Touring car and tourer are both terms for open cars (i.e. cars without a fixed roof).
"Touring car" is a style of open car built in the United States which seats four or more people. The style was popular from the early 1900s to the 1930s.
Th ...
racer. His most notable achievement was winning the
1987 500 cc Motorcycle World Championship, becoming the first Australian to win motorcycling's premier class.
His success on the world motorcycle
road racing
Road racing is a form of motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held either on a closed circuit or on a street circuit utilizing temporarily closed public roads. Originally, road races were held almost entirely on publ ...
circuit earned him the nickname ''The Wollongong Whiz''. Both of Gardner's sons,
Remy and Luca, are motorcycle racers.
Motorcycle racing career
Gardner was born in
Wollongong
Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near w ...
,
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
, Australia. He began his racing career in 1977 at the age of 18, riding a second-hand
Yamaha TZ250 bike in the Australian championship and finishing second on debut at
Amaroo Park. He went on to record his first win a few weeks later at
Oran Park Raceway
Oran Park Raceway was a motor racing circuit at Narellan south west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia which was operational from February 1962 until its closure in January 2010. The track was designed and started by George Murray and Ja ...
.
[Wayne Gardner at Wayne Gardner.com](_blank)
In 1981 Gardner was hired by
Mamoru Moriwaki
Moriwaki Engineering is a Japanese manufacturer of speciality high performance products and motorcycle accessories.
__TOC__ Company founder
Mamoru Moriwaki is a Japanese motorcycle tuner, race team owner and founder of Moriwaki Engineering, a ...
to race in the Australian Superbike championship aboard the Moriwaki
Kawasaki Kz1000s.
Gardner and co-rider John Pace qualified their Moriwaki Kawasaki on
pole position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...
at the prestigious 1981
Suzuka 8 Hours
The is a motorcycle endurance race held at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan each year. The race runs for eight hours consecutively and entrants are composed of two or more riders who alternate during pitstops.
History
The race began in 1978 as ...
, ahead of all the major factory racing teams.
Fellow racer,
Graeme Crosby gave Gardner his first opportunity to race in Europe.
Although Crosby was contracted to ride for
Suzuki
is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan. Suzuki manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a variety of other small internal co ...
, he decided to sponsor Gardner to compete in the British Superbike championship riding
Kawasakis run by the British Moriwaki concession owned by Crosby.
On the way to Europe, Gardner rode the Moriwaki Kawasaki to an impressive fourth-place finish at the 1981 Daytona
Superbike race behind
Yoshimura Suzuki riders Crosby,
Wes Cooley and Honda's
Freddie Spencer. Moriwaki and Gardner proceeded to compete in the British championship, winning their first race in England.
Gardner entered the final race of the season with a chance to win the title but, an engine misfire relegated him to third place overall in the championship.
Gardner's impressive results on the Moriwaki Kawasaki eventually earned him a contract with the
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...
Britain racing team. He rode a Honda to a fourth-place finish in the 1982
Formula TT championship. Gardner made his 500 cc Grand Prix debut with the Honda Britain team at the
1983 Dutch TT during which he was involved in an accident with reigning world champion,
Franco Uncini.
Uncini fell off his bike as he was exiting a corner and as he tried to run off the track, he was struck on his helmet by Gardner's bike.
Uncini went into a coma but, subsequently recovered from his injuries.
Gardner failed to score any points in the two Grand Prix races he had entered in 1983.
In 1984, he won the British 500cc national championship for Honda and was able to compete in five Grand Prix world championship races.
He scored points in all five of the Grand Prix races in which he was able to compete in during
1984
Events
January
* January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888.
* January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...
, including an impressive third-place finish at the
Swedish Grand Prix
The Swedish Grand Prix (Swedish: Sveriges Grand Prix) was a round of the Formula One World Championship from 1973 to 1978. It took place at the Scandinavian Raceway in Anderstorp (Gislaved Municipality), about from Jönköping, in Småland, Swe ...
, earning a seventh place in the final championship standings.
Gardner's performance earned him full support in
1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal en ...
from the
Honda-HRC factory racing team alongside teammate Freddie Spencer.
He won his first Grand Prix race at the
Spanish Grand Prix, before going on to win two more races and finish second in the championship behind
Eddie Lawson.
In
1987, Gardner became the first Australian to win the
500 cc World Championship, winning seven of sixteen races and wrapping up the title with a win in the penultimate round in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
at
Goiânia
Goiânia (; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian federative units of Brazil, state of Goiás. With a population of 1,536,097, it is the second-largest city in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West Region and the 10th-largest ...
.
Gardner's race engineer in 1987 was fellow Australian
Jeremy Burgess
Jeremy Burgess (16 April 1953 in Adelaide Hills, South Australia), is an Australians, Australian motorcycle racing chief mechanic, having worked with three world champions: Wayne Gardner, Mick Doohan and Valentino Rossi. He was also a mechanic on ...
who had previously worked with 1985 World Champion Freddie Spencer.
In defense of his title in
1988, Gardner was hampered by the
Honda NSR500
Japanese Grand Prix 1993 ">1993 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix">Japanese Grand Prix 1993
The Honda NSR500 is a road racing motorcycle created by HRC (Honda Racing Corporation) and debuted in 1984 for the Grand Prix motorcycle racing's 500&nb ...
not being easy to ride. He finished second in the championship behind American Eddie Lawson who rode for the factory
Marlboro Yamaha team.
He still managed wins in
the Netherlands
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, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
,
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
,
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...
and
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
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, image_p1 ...
, and would have won at the
Paul Ricard Circuit
The Circuit Paul Ricard () is a French motorsport race track built in 1969 at Le Castellet, Var, near Marseille, with finance from pastis magnate Paul Ricard. Ricard wanted to experience the challenge of building a racetrack. The circuit has h ...
in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
had he not suffered mechanical problems only a third of a lap from the finish while holding a 2-second lead.
Gardner's 1987 World Championship saw a sharp rise in the popularity of Grand Prix Motorcycle racing in Australia, with increased television and print media coverage. This led to the
inaugural running of the
Australian motorcycle Grand Prix at
Phillip Island
Phillip Island ( Boonwurrung: ''Corriong'', ''Worne'' or ''Millowl'') is an Australian island about south-southeast of Melbourne, Victoria. The island is named after Governor Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wales, by explore ...
in
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
. The Wollongong Whiz gave the home crowd something to cheer as he won his home race in 1989, just edging out
Wayne Rainey and
Christian Sarron
Christian Sarron (born 27 March 1955 in Clermont-Ferrand, France) is a French former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer.
__TOC__
Motorcycle racing career
He began his career on a Kawasaki when he met French Grand Prix racer Patrick Pons. Pon ...
.
Unfortunately his season came unglued at the next round at
Laguna Seca where he crashed and broke his leg, causing him to miss half of the season.
From the 1985 season, Gardner raced for the factory
Rothmans Honda
is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...
team and was joined on that team by fellow Australian
Michael Doohan
Michael Sydney Doohan (born 4 June 1965) is an Australian former Grand Prix motorcycle road racing World Champion, who won five consecutive 500 cc World Championships.
Biography
Originally from the Gold Coast, Queensland, Doohan attended ...
in
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
. Ironically, Eddie Lawson also joined Rothmans Honda in 1989 and went on to win his fourth World Championship.
Gardner had a frustrating season in
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...
. After winning at
Jerez in Spain, he missed three rounds through injury and only managed 5th in the World Championship. He did finish the season on a high note though, winning his second straight Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island from teammate Mick Doohan and World Champion elect Wayne Rainey.
For over half the race, Gardner had to contend with the fairing of his Honda threatening to part company with the bike after some of the front mountings had broken.
Gardner also won four Suzuka 8 Hours races in 1985, 1986, 1991 and 1992. Gardner retired from motorcycle racing following the
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engin ...
season but stayed closely involved with the sport, helping various riders like
Daryl Beattie
Daryl Beattie (born 26 September 1970 in Charleville, Queensland, Australia) is a former Grand Prix solo motorcycle road racer.
Motorsport career
Beattie posted several good results at the beginning of the 1992 500cc Grand Prix season then t ...
early in their careers. He rode at special events like the ''Goodwood Festival of Speed'' on classic Honda motorcycles and raced again at the Goodwood race meeting against fellow bikers
James Whitham
James Michael "Jamie" Whitham (born 6 September 1966), is an English former professional motorcycle road racer. He raced in most major British and international championships, winning the British championship twice. The readers of Motorcycle ...
, the late
Barry Sheene
Barry Steven Frank Sheene (11 September 1950 – 10 March 2003) was a British professional motorcycle racer. He competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing and was a two-time world champion, winning consecutive 500cc titles in 1976 and 1 ...
and ex-
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
driver
Damon Hill
Damon Graham Devereux Hill, (born 17 September 1960) is a British former professional racing driver from England and the 1996 Formula One World Champion. He is the son of Graham Hill, and, along with Nico Rosberg, one of two sons of a Formula ...
.
Four-wheel racing career
Wayne Gardner's first foray into car racing came when he was to race a
Formula Holden in the final round of the
1990 Australian Drivers' Championship
The 1990 Australian Drivers' Championship was an Australian motor racing title sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport and open to Formula Holden racing cars.Conditions for Australian Titles, 1990 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, pa ...
which was run as a support race to
that years Australian Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
Grand Prix, driving a
Shrike 002 built and developed for the category by the students of the
Croydon Park Institute of TAFE in
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
where the race was held. After only arriving in Adelaide on the opening day of practice having spent the previous week in Japan testing his 1991 NRS500 Grand Prix bike, Gardner had qualified in a credible 11th place for his first competitive drive in an
Open-wheel car
An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have th ...
. However, a crash into the wall just past the chicane at the end of the pit straight when he spun on coolant that had been dropped by the
Ralt RT20 of Drew Price, heavily damaged the front of the car. He was hopeful that the car could be repaired for the race, but his chances ended when another car also spun on the coolant and crashed into the Shrike damaging it beyond immediate repair.
Following his retirement from the 500 cc championship at the end of 1992, Gardner turned his interests to four-wheeled motorsport. He began his
touring car
Touring car and tourer are both terms for open cars (i.e. cars without a fixed roof).
"Touring car" is a style of open car built in the United States which seats four or more people. The style was popular from the early 1900s to the 1930s.
Th ...
career in 1992, driving the Raider Motorsport built Bob Forbes Racing
Holden VN Commodore SS Group A, leased by Graham Moore for the
1992 Tooheys 1000 at
Bathurst. The Moore/Gardner Commodore finished the crash shortened race in 26th place after qualifying 21st. Gardner's first drive in the race happened to be soon after the circuit was hit by rain which lasted for almost two hours, and his cause was not helped by the Commodore's windscreen de-mister not working which saw the screen fog up making visibility, already poor due to the heavy rain and fog on The Mountain, almost impossible. Also in 1992, Gardner raced 4 events in the German DTM for the Jagermeister-sponsored Linder Team running the #20 BMW E30 M3 Sport Evolution alongside team mate Armin Hahne, with little success.
In 1993, Gardner was recruited to drive a
VP Commodore for the
Holden Racing Team in the
1993 Australian Touring Car Championship
The 1993 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title for Group 3A Touring Cars. The championship, which was the 34th Australian Touring Car Championship, was contested over a nine-round series which ...
, the first year of the 5.0 litre touring cars which later became the
V8 Supercars. In November 1993, Gardner won one of the Group A support races at the
Australian Grand Prix
The Australian Grand Prix is an annual motor racing event which is under contract to host Formula One until 2035. One of the oldest surviving motorsport competitions held in Australia, the Grand Prix has moved frequently with 23 different venu ...
in
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
, after earlier in the year finishing third
Tooheys 1000 co-driving with
Brad Jones. Many incidents while driving for the
Holden Racing Team in 1993 led to him being given the nickname "Captain Chaos", and it was thought that his continued on-track clashes was what had led to his brief suspension from the team for that year's
Sandown 500, though the real reason was that Gardner had been openly talking to both
Holden
Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. It was an Australian automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter which sold cars under its own marque in Australia. In its last thr ...
and
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance bar, temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pembe ...
about starting his own team.
For the
1994 season, Gardner formed his own team,
Wayne Gardner Racing (sponsored by Coca-Cola), where he raced for three seasons with teammate,
Channel 7 commentator
Neil Crompton. The team's low point came at the Bathurst round of the
1995 ATCC in March. Soon after the start of the first heat, Crompton was hit by the
VP Commodore of Phil Ward. This pushed him straight into Gardner's car and both of the Coke sponsored cars ended their race in the wall before they got to Hell Corner on the first lap (Ward continued on with little to no damage). The team recovered though and Gardner sensationally won the start and led the opening laps of the
1995 Tooheys 1000, before he and Crompton went on to finish 3rd in the race, while their teammates Brad Jones and former Bathurst winner
Win Percy
Winston "Win" Percy (born 28 September 1943, near Tolpuddle, Dorset) is a former motor racing driver from England. Percy was British Touring Car Champion three times, and at the time of his retirement was the most successful non-Antipodean drive ...
finished 5th, only a few seconds behind.
Gardner's ATCC highlight was winning the 1997
Calder Park round, held under lights at
Calder Park Raceway
Calder Park Raceway is a motor racing circuit in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The complex includes a dragstrip, a road circuit with several possible configurations, and the "Thunderdome", a high-speed banked oval equipped to race either c ...
. Following the withdrawal of their major sponsor Coca-Cola who chose instead to invest in the upcoming Sydney Olympics in 2000, thus losing a rumoured $2 million a year in sponsorship which made it basically impossible for the team to function financially, the team folded after a partial 1999 season with a leased car from
Perkins Engineering, but he continued racing V8 Supercars until 2002, with the highlight of taking
pole position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...
for the
FAI 1000 at Bathurst in 2000, in appalling conditions. Wayne Gardner also took a surprise win in the first round in the V8 Supercar Championship's inaugural season in 1997, at
Calder Park Raceway
Calder Park Raceway is a motor racing circuit in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The complex includes a dragstrip, a road circuit with several possible configurations, and the "Thunderdome", a high-speed banked oval equipped to race either c ...
. It was surprising, as Gardner had announced that due to a lack of available funds, it was unlikely that he would race the full
1997 season, and he wasn't considered a race or championship favourite.
Gardner also made a foray into the
All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, racing a works
Toyota Supra
is a sports car and grand tourer manufactured by the Toyota Motor Corporation beginning in 1978. The name " supra" is derived from the Latin prefix, meaning "above", "to surpass" or "go beyond".
The initial four generations of the Supra were ...
in 1996, and raced in this competition until his retirement from motorsport in 2002. He won a round of the championship in 1999 (at
Fuji Speedway
is a motorsport race track standing in the foothills of Mount Fuji, in Oyama, Suntō District, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It was built in the early 1960s. In the 1980s, Fuji Speedway was used for the FIA World Sportscar Championship and na ...
) and 2001 (at
Sportsland SUGO). He also had the distinction in 2001 of being the only Toyota driver to finish every race that season, and he also finished every race in the points.
Gardner made a one-off appearance at the
1998 24 Hours of Le Mans. Gardner was entered in the
Riley & Scott with Philippe Gache and fellow ex-motorcycle rider
Didier de Radiguès
Didier de Radiguès (born 27 March 1958) is a Belgian former professional motorcycle racer, auto racing driver and current artist. He also serves as a television sports color commentator for Belgium television, a Moto GP riders manager and as t ...
. They qualified 26th, but failed to finish due to engine problems after completing 155 laps.
Honours
* Following his victory in the 1987 500 cc World Championship, Gardner was made a
Member of the Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Go ...
(AM) in 1988s Honours List.
* The
Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme
The Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM; en, International Motorcycling Federation) is the global governing/sanctioning body of motorcycle racing. It represents 116 national motorcycle federations that are divided into six regiona ...
honored him as a MotoGP Legend.
*He was inducted into the
Sport Australia Hall of Fame
The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and Dawn Fraser t ...
in 1991.
*He received an
Australian Sports Medal in 2000.
*The main straight at
Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit
The Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit is a motor racing circuit located near Ventnor, on Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia. The current circuit was first used in 1956.
History Road circuit
Motor racing on Phillip Island began in 1928 with t ...
is named the Gardner Straight in his honour.
Grand Prix career statistics
Points system from 1969 to 1987:
Points system from 1988 to 1992:
(
key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Car racing results
In part sourced from
Complete Bathurst 1000 results
Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results
Complete JGTC results
(
key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
References
External links
*
An interview with Wayne Gardnerat Faster and Faster
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardner, Wayne
Australian motorcycle racers
500cc World Championship riders
Supercars Championship drivers
Formula Holden drivers
24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
Australian Touring Car Championship drivers
Sportspeople from Wollongong
Racing drivers from New South Wales
Members of the Order of Australia
Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal
Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees
1959 births
Living people
Porsche Supercup drivers
Australian Survivor contestants
Stone Brothers Racing drivers
TOM'S drivers
Team LeMans drivers