Vale Bob Jane

Bob Jane passed away aged 88 in his hometown of Melbourne in September. We remember a man whose achievements in the automotive world matched his incredible successes on the racetrack.

- Adrian Musolino

Bob Jane is often forgotten when discussing the greats of Australian touring cars. The oversight is perhaps a result of him being remembered for his business ventures rather than his racing achievements. But with four Australian Touring Car Championship wins and four Armstrong 500 wins, Jane is amongst the greats of Australian motorsport.

The Melbourne-born racer started out on two wheels, winning a number of state-based cycling titles before turning his attention to four wheels, establishing the Bob Jane Autoland business in partnership with his brother Bill.

Jane settled into touring-car racing just as it was about to boom with the creation of the Australian Touring Car Championship and Armstrong 500 at Phillip Island. And despite a frightening crash at Phillip Island in 1961, when he was thrown out of his FJ Holden and was in a coma for more than a week with a fractured skull, he was committed to racing.

It was in partnership with Harry Firth that Jane won three consecutive Armstrong 500s, two at Phillip Island in a Mercedes-Benz 220SE and Ford XL Falcon in 1961 and 1962 respectively and in a Ford Cortina GT MkI in 1963, the first to be held at Mount Panorama, Bathurst.

Jane went on to win the event yet again in 1964, this time alongside George Reynolds in another Cortina GT, making him the only driver in history to win what we now call the Great Race on four consecutive occasions.

Jane won his first Australian Touring Car Championship title in the single-race decider at Longford in Tasmania in 1962, driving his Jaguar Mark II 3.8 to a 23-second win on the punishing street circuit.