Spencer John Martin (born 28 March 1939) is an Australian championship-winning racing driver. Martin's short career was highlighted by two

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 ...

victories in

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

and

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

, racing for Bob Jane Racing.

Racing career

After spectating at the

Mount Druitt Mount Druitt is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Blacktown, and is part of the Greater Western Sydney regio ...

circuit in the late 1950s Martin entered his first motor race in 1960 in a self-built car at Gnoo Blas circuit. A mechanic by trade, Martin moved through the ranks through his contacts in the trade, racing a PRAD sports car and a successful

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 ...

touring car. Martin's break came when he defeated

Norm Beechey Norman Edward Beechey (born 9 July 1932) is a retired Australian race car driver, who was given the nickname ''"Stormin Norman"'' by his fans. To some, he was the closest thing Holden had to a star racing driver, before Peter Brock. Beechey com ...

in a touring car race. Beechey's entrant, David McKay offered Martin a drive with McKay's

Scuderia Veloce Scuderia Veloce was an Australian motor racing team founded by journalist racer David McKay (journalist), David McKay and his chief mechanic Bob Atkin. The team, which competed in many motor racing categories in the 1960s, is regarded as the fi ...

team at the 1963 Armstrong 500 co-driving with Brian Muir. He achieved a class victory in the 1964 Armstrong 500, sharing a

Vauxhall Viva The Vauxhall Viva is a small family car that was produced by Vauxhall Motors, Vauxhall in a succession of three versions between 1963 and 1979. These were designated the HA, HB and HC series. The Viva was introduced a year after Vauxhall's fe ...

with Bill Brown. Martin became a part of Scuderia Veloce as a mechanic and driver, acting as lead mechanic when the team brought in international drivers for the

Tasman Series The Tasman Series (formally the Tasman Championship for Drivers)Tasman Championship for Drivers, CAMS Manual of Motor Sport with National Competition Rules 1974, pages 80 to 83 was a motor racing competition held annually from 1964 to 1975 ove ...

. He raced the team's Repco Brabham BT11A as well as a

Ferrari 250LM The Ferrari P was a series of Italian sports prototype racing cars produced by Ferrari during the 1960s and early 1970s. Although Enzo Ferrari resisted the move even with Cooper Car Company, Cooper dominating F1, Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari began p ...

sports car, winning the

1965 Six Hour Le Mans The 1965 Six Hour Le Mans was an endurance race open to Sports Cars, Improved Production Touring Cars & Series Production Touring Cars. The event was staged at the Caversham circuit in Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmo ...

with McKay in the Ferrari. Martin also placed third in the Italian car in the

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 ...

in both 1965 and 1966. He left the team in mid-1966 after a top-ten championship finish in the 1966 Tasman Series and found employment with

Bob Jane Robert Frederick Jane (18 December 1929 – 28 September 2018) was an Australian race car driver and prominent entrepreneur and business tycoon. A four-time winner of the Armstrong 500, the race that became the prestigious Bathurst 1000 and a ...

's team. Martin drove Jane's Brabham BT11 to victory in the

and

s. Martin retired at his peak after the 1967 season to begin a family, although he returned sporadically for Touring Car endurance races including the 1969 Datsun Three Hour, in which he drove for the

Holden Dealer Team The Holden Dealer Team (HDT) was Holden's semi-official racing team from 1969 until 1986 Australian Touring Car season, 1986, primarily contesting Australian Touring car racing, Touring Car events but also rallying, rallycross and National Sp ...

.Paul Gover, ''Nice Monaro, but where's the roll cage?'', Herald Sun, 10 September 2009
Retrieved on 2 April 2014 In 1979 Martin returned to Scuderia Veloce, racing a Volvo 242 GT touring car at the

Bathurst 1000 The Bathurst 1000 (known for sponsorship reasons as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a Touring car racing, touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supe ...

. This led to historic sports car racing overseas, becoming a fixture in the 1980s and 1990s in Europe and North America. Martin made a return to Bathurst in 1993, co-driving with his son Matthew in a

Bob Holden Robert Lee Holden Jr. (born August 24, 1949) is an American politician who served as the 53rd governor of Missouri from 2001 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the Missouri state treasurer from 1993 to 2001 an ...

-entered

Toyota Corolla The is a series of compact cars (formerly Subcompact car, subcompact) manufactured and marketed globally by the Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation. Introduced in 1966, the Corolla was the best-selling car worldwide by 1974 and has bee ...

in the Tooheys 1000. Martin continues to race historics.

Results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Spencer Living people 1940 births Tasman Series drivers Racing drivers from Sydney Racing drivers from New South Wales