BOB JANE TRIBUTE FOR TIM SLADE

Tim Slade to celebrate Bob Jane with retro livery – Photo: Supplied

TIM SLADE’S Freightliner Racing Holden will pay tribute to one of Australia’s motor racing greats, Bob Jane, at Sandown this weekend.

The 2018 retro livery will provide race fans with another great insight into the Jones brothers early years in motorsport, with the No. 14 Commodore to run a livery inspired by Jane’s Holden GTS350 HQ Monaro. A car that Kim Jones worked on as an apprentice mechanic.

“I believe the team have nailed it again this year with the Bob Jane retro livery,” said Slade

“It’s a simple design, and the history behind it is what really connects with the fans. The Jones brothers have many great stories to tell, and this is another one of them.”

Bob (Robert) Jane, a Supercars Hall of Fame member, won the Australian Touring Car Championship four-times, and was a four-time winner of the Armstrong 500, which is now known as the great Bathurst 1000.

“We chose to replicate the Monaro because Kim worked on that car back in the day.” said team owner, Brad Jones.

“It was a stellar GM product and it will really resonate with the Holden fans. It’s been a busy week for our panel and paint team preparing the retro car in its new colours, and as always they have done a fantastic job to bring this car to life in PPG and I believe it will really shine on track.”

As an apprentice mechanic Kim Jones jumped at the opportunity to work alongside one of the greats in Bob Jane.

“Working for Bob was my first real experience in a professional race team.” Kim Jones added.

“I remember riding my pushbike from Tullamarine to Brunswick every day because I didn’t have my licence.”

“It was a very steep learning curve, one that saw me have a big improvement in my skill sets. At that point in motorsport in Australia, Bob Jane was one of the few fully professional race-teams. He had access to all the best equipment and technology at the time. It was a life changing experience for me.”

“To give you an overview on that era of racing, originally it was Pat Purcell and myself doing everything, later Harvey Spencer came along, but we did everything from sweeping floors to cleaning lathes, tyre fitting to car assembly and running the cars at the race track.”

“As you age in life, its great to be able to revisit things that are vividly engrained in your memory from the past. I will always remember Bob’s Repco McLaren turning up at the Hume Weir and to me the most striking features of that car was the green tinted Lexion windshield and the chrome exhausts running over the rear of the car.”

“As with last years livery of Norm Beechey’s Monaro, these cars were always prominent at the Hume Weir where Brad and I spent a lot of our early years. On Sunday nights after the Hume Weir races, the likes of Bob Jane, Norm Beechey, Peter Manton, Jim McKeown and Bryan Thompson used to come over to our house for a BBQ.”

Brad Jones also highlighted his family connection with Bob Jane.

“Bob was a close friend of our family, and most people wouldn’t know this, but he was our Godfather.” Brad Jones added.

“If anything were to happen to our parents back then, he would have been stuck with Kim and I. Bob has had a big impact on our careers in motorsport.”

“My first memory of Bob Jane was at the Hume Weir when he was driving his orange Mustang. He was always one of my heroes growing up as he always had the most beautifully presented cars – the Mustang, the Camaro and Monaro, however, his McLaren has to be one of my favourite race cars of all time.”

“Our lives really intertwined with his, as kids we would spend time at his holiday home at Mulwala. Then as our racing careers grew there were plenty of connections. Kim’s first Formula Ford was purchased from Bob, the first production car series we competed in was the Super Series that Bob ran at Calder Park and Adelaide Raceway. Then, there’s the Thunderdome which Bob was responsible for opening in 1987.”

“We had great success there over the years in the AUSCAR and NASCAR; those memories will stay with us forever.”

The Sandown 500 will take place across the weekend of September 14-16.

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