Bermar Sellars "Bib" Stillwell (31 July 1927 – 12 June 1999) was a racing driver who was active in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n motor racing from 1947 to 1965. He won the

Australian Drivers' Championship The Australian Drivers' Championship is a motor racing championship contested annually since 1957 by drivers of cars complying with Australia's premier open-wheeler racing category. This category was determined by the Confederation of Australia ...

in each of the four years from 1962 to 1965.

Racing career

Stillwell competed in his first race in 1947 at the Ballarat Airstrip circuit, driving an

MG TC The MG T-Type is a series of body-on-frame open two-seater sports cars that were produced by MG Cars, MG from 1936 to 1955. Known as the Midget, the series included the TA, TB, TC, TD, and TF models. Although the design was contemporary in the ...

.Bib Stillwell, Australian Motor Manual, May 1964, page 37 He won the Victorian Trials Championship with the MG in the following year and competed in his first

Australian Grand Prix The Australian Grand Prix is an annual Formula One motor racing event, taking place in Melbourne, Victoria. The event is contracted to be held at least until 2035. One of the oldest surviving motorsport competitions held in Australia, the Gran ...

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

at the wheel of an

Austin-Healey 100 The Austin-Healey 100 is a sports car that was built by Austin-Healey from 1953 until 1956. Based on Austin A90 Atlantic mechanicals, it was developed by Donald Healey from his Nash-Healey 2 door sports car, which had Nash mechanicals inste ...

. Stillwell imported a new

Jaguar D-Type The Jaguar D-Type is a sports racing car that was produced by Jaguar Cars Ltd. between 1954 and 1957. Designed specifically to win the Le Mans 24-hour race, it shared the straight-6 XK engine and many mechanical components with its C-Type ...

for 1956Historic Racing cars in Australia, page 177 and won the Argus Cup, the SA Trophy and the News South Wales Sports Car Championship in that year. He also placed fifth in the 1956

Australian Tourist Trophy The Australian Tourist Trophy is a Confederation of Australian Motor Sport-sanctioned national motor racing title, contested between 1956 and 1979 by Group A Sports Cars, Sports Cars and, since 2007, by Australian GT Championship, GT cars. The t ...

against international opposition.Moss in Walkover Win, Behra Second, Wheels (magazine), January 1957, pages 60-61 He subsequently raced

Maserati Maserati S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer. Established on 1 December 1914 in Bologna, Italy, the company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. The company has been owned by Stellantis since 2021. Ma ...

Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC () is a British manufacturer of Luxury car, luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Headed from 1947 by David Brown (entrepreneur ...

Cooper Cooper, Cooper's, Coopers and similar may refer to: * Cooper (profession), a maker of wooden casks and other staved vessels Arts and entertainment * Cooper (producers), an alias of Dutch producers Klubbheads * "Cooper", a song by Roxette from ...

and

Repco Brabham Motor Racing Developments Ltd., commonly known as Brabham ( ), was a British racing car manufacturer and Formula One racing team. It was founded in 1960 by the Australian driver Jack Brabham and the British-Australian designer Ron Tauranac. Th ...

cars. Stillwell drove an

Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato The Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato is a grand tourer sports car designed by Zagato and produced between 1960 and 1963. Introduced in October 1960 at the London Motor Show, it was effectively a DB4 GT, lightened and improved by the Zagato factor ...

in the 1961 Le Mans 24 Hour Race with fellow Australian

Lex Davison Alexander Nicholas Davison (12 February 1923 – 20 February 1965) was a racing driver who won the Australian Grand Prix four times between 1954 Australian Grand Prix, 1954 and 1961 Australian Grand Prix, 1961 and won the Australian Drivers' ...

but the car did not finish. Stillwell won the 1962 Australian Drivers' Championship with a

and the

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

and

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

s driving

s. He was also victorious in the

in 1961 and 1962 in a Cooper Monaco and the 1965 Australian One and a Half Litre Championship with a

. Although he never won an

, he placed second in

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

and

driving a

and a Repco-Brabham respectively, and third in

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

and

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

s. Stillwell retired from motor racing at the end of the 1965 season. He later participated in historic races in Australia and the United States.About us, bibstillwell.com.au
Retrieved on 22 October 2013

Results

Complete Tasman Series results

Business and private life

Stillwell opened an automotive dealership selling MGs in 1949 and subsequently obtained a

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...

franchise. A

Holden Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. Founded in Adelaide, it was an automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter that sold cars under its own marque in Australia. It was ...

dealership followed, and was to become one of the largest in the Australia. A switch from Holden to

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

in 1966 was followed by the establishment of Stillwell Aviation in 1967 with distribution rights for

Beechcraft Beechcraft is an American brand of civil aviation and Military aircraft, military aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of Beech Aircraft Corporation, an American manufacture ...

and later

Learjet Learjet was a manufacturer of business jets for civilian and military use based in Wichita, Kansas, United States. Founded in the late 1950s by William Powell Lear as Swiss American Aviation Corporation, it became a subsidiary of Canadian Bomba ...

aircraft. Stillwell moved to the United States in 1979 to take on the role of vice-president of the

Gates Learjet Corporation Learjet was a manufacturer of business jets for civilian and military use based in Wichita, Kansas, United States. Founded in the late 1950s by William Powell Lear as Swiss American Aviation Corporation, it became a subsidiary of Canadian Bombar ...

and went on to become president of the company. He later established luxury car dealerships including a

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

franchise and a

franchise at

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

. Stillwell was married with five children. His son Michael followed Bib into motorsport, becoming a class front runner in the

Australian Touring Car Championship The Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the Repco Supercars Championship awarded the troph ...

in the 1970s. Stillwell was awarded an

Order of Australia Medal The Order of Australia is an Australian 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 then ...

posthumously, in January 2001.Bermar Sellars (Bib) Stillwell OAM, CAMS Magazine, Autumn 2/2001, page 29 The award was bestowed for services to the motor industry, to the aviation industry, to motor sport and to the community.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stillwell, Bib Businesspeople from Melbourne 1927 births 1999 deaths Tasman Series drivers Racing drivers from Melbourne Racing drivers from Victoria (state)