Robert Frederick Jane (1929 - 2018)

Personal life

Robert Frederick 'Bob' Jane was born on 18th December 1929 in Brunswick, Victoria, Australia. He was descended from Cornish miner ancestors who came out to the Victorian Goldrush in 1863 ... a Great Grandson of Elias Jane and his wife Kate Truscott. ^[1]

Bob married three times. In 1951 in Victoria Bob married Jane Evelyn Ryan. ^[2] Secondly, Bob married Beverley Priscilla Davison in 1958. ^[3] His final marriage ended in a high-profile disaster, Bob claiming that Laree had attempted to kill him with a knife.

Nevertheless, one of his daughters was named Charlotte, after the famous US auto racing venue, Charlotte Motor Speedway, in the city of that name.

Motor racing

One of Australia's most successful racing drivers, in his twenties Bob opened Bob Jane Autoland, a company that distributed parts for Jaguar and Alfa Romeo. Through this venture, a love of cars and motor sport blossomed and he first entered competitive racing in Australia in 1956. Within a few years he was mixing it with the nation's best and proving that he was neither a one-model or one-make driver. From 1966 he raced under his own team, Bob Jane Racing.

• In 1961 with co-driver Harry Firth Bob won the Armstrong 500 at Phillip Island, Victoria, driving a Mercedes-Benz 220SE. They one again the following year, in what was the last Armstrong 500 at Phillip Island, in A Ford Falcon XL. ^[4]
• the pair continued on their winning way when the Armstrong 500 moved to Bathurst, New South Wales, driving for the Ford works team; in a Ford Cortina Mk.I GT with Harry Firth in 1963 and George Reynolds in 1964. He unsuccessfully campaigned in 1965 with George and in 1967 with Spencer Martin. In 1971 and 1973 he partnered John Harvey in a Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1, Frank Gardner in 1975 in a Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34 and Ian 'Pete' Geoghegan in 1977 in a Holden LX Torana SS A9X Hatchback. Bob is officially credited with winning Australia's most famous endurance race four times in a row, something no other driver, not even nine-time race winner Peter Brock, has ever done. ^[5]
• he competed successfully in the Australian Tourist Trophy from 1959 to 1962 in a Maserati 300s, changing to a Jaguar E-type in 1964-65.
• he won the Australian Touring Car Championship (now known as the V8 Supercars Championship) in 1962 and 1963 in a Jaguar Mark II, and in 1971 and 1972 in a Chevrolet Camaro ZL-1. His opposition in the final season included Aussie greats Allan Moffat (Ford Boss 302 Mustang), Ian 'Pete' Geoghegan (Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III), and Norm Beechey (Holden HT Monaro GTS350). He unsuccessfully campaigned a Ford Mustang in the late 1960s.
• he won the 1963 Australian GT Championship in a Jaguar E-type.
• he competed in the Australian Drivers Championship in 1965 and 1966 in an Elfin Mono Mk1 Ford.
• a Garrie Cooper-built Elfin 400 Repco was his seat in the late 1960s in the Australian Sports Car Championship.
• he won the Marlboro Australian Sports Sedan Series in both 1974 and 1975, at his own Calder Park Raceway driving a Holden Monaro GTS 350 (at times he also drove his Repco V8 powered Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 (which was mostly driven by John Harvey). He continued to race the Monaro through 1976 and 1977. In 1980 and 1981 he drove a 6.0 litre Chevrolet Monza in the ASSC.

Bob retired from competitive motor racing at the end of 1981 due to sciatica.

Australian motor sport

In the early 1970s, Bob purchased the Calder Park Raceway, in Melbourne's outer north west. The circuit had not only hosted road racing since 1962 but also drag racing while the infield formed part of the Rallycross track. The 1.609 km (1.000 mi) circuit was increased in length in 1986 to 2.280 km (1.417 mi), though the short circuit still remains. As part of the changes to the circuit, the main straight was lengthened from 700 metres to just under one kilometre in length while the final turn was also moved forward some 75 metres so that the road course and the start of the drag racing strip were separate (this was due to long time complaints from drivers and bike riders that the start of the main straight was notoriously slippery, especially in the wet, due to it also being the start of the drag strip). Lengthening the straight also gave the drag strip a longer runoff and slow down area. Bob also had the 1.801 km (1.119 mi) high banked NASCAR-style Thunderdome built on the east side of the road circuit which opened in August 1987. Bob Hane is recorded as stating in December 2004: "Calder Park will continue long into the future, with one of its main focuses being the provision of a quality, affordable racing circuit within close proximity of the Melbourne CBD, for all Victorian motoring clubs and their grass roots membership."

Bob Jane is attributed with building the Australian Grand Prix so that it would be included in the Formula One World Drivers Championship. From 1980 to 1984, the Australian Grand Prix was held at his Calder Park Raceway in the outer suburbs of Melbourne. The 1980 GP was won by Australia's 1980 F1 World Champion Alan Jones in his championship-winning Williams FW07B-Ford. From 1981 until 1984 the races were run under Formula Mondial regulations, won in 1981 by future F1 driver Roberto Moreno, in 1982 by future four-time F1 World Champion Alain Prost, and in 1983 and 1984 by Roberto Moreno. During 1984 it was announced that from 1985, the Australian Grand Prix would be held on the streets of Adelaide and would be the 16th and final round of the 1985 Formula One season, giving the AGP 'World Championship' status for the first time in its history.

Bob is credited with bringing stock car racing to Australia. Although speedway, held on smaller ¼ or ⅓ mile oval tracks, has been popular in Australia since the 1920s, Australian motorsport fans now had their own NASCAR-style high banked superspeedway when Bob spent A$54M building the Thunderdome on the grounds of Calder Park Raceway. The 1.801 km (1.119 mi) Thunderdome, with 24° banking in the turns, was built as a quad-oval modelled on the famous Charlotte Motor Speedway and opened on 3rd August 1987. It hosted the first-ever NASCAR event held outside North America on 28th February 1988 with the Goodyear NASCAR 500. Bob later established the Adelaide International Raceway which features the only other paved NASCAR-type oval in Australia.

Bob Jane T Marts

In 1965, Bob capitalised in his then-popular name and opened the first Bob Jane T-Marts store in Melbourne. The company remains an independent, family-owned business to this day; Bob's son, Rodney Jane, being the current CEO.

From 2002 to 2004, Bob Jane T-Marts held the naming rights sponsorship for the Bathurst 1000, the race Jane dominated early in his career. The company also held the naming rights to the former Bob Jane Stadium, home of South Melbourne Football Club.

Bob Jane T-Marts is the only major tyre retailer in Australia who do not sell retread tyres. Jane's personal reason for this is that his second eldest daughter Georgina had died in a car accident in 1991 due to a retreaded tyre blowing out.

Sadly, there has been a great deal of litigation over the business, souring Bob's relationship with son, Rodney. ^[6][7]

Chequered flag

Bob was inducted into the V8 Spercars Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Australian Motor Sport Hall of Fame in 2016.

Aged 88 years, Bob passed away as a result of prostate cancer (diagnosed 21 years prior) on 28th September 2018 in Melbourne. ^{[8][9][10][11][12]}

He is survived by his children Courtney, Charlotte and Robert, ^[13] as well as Rodney.

Sources

1. ↑ Yaekel, Luntz. 'BOB JANE of T (Tyre) Mart & Motor Racing, Australia'; accessed 8 Oct 2022
2. ↑ Victoria Marriage Index #6943/1951
3. ↑ Victoria Marriage Index #18816/1958
4. ↑ Fogarty, Mark. 'Harry Firth paved the way for modern race teams'; accessed 8 Oct 2022
5. ↑ Fox Sports: 'How far Bathurst 1000 has come since days of Mini Coopers, Vauxhalls and Brocky'; accessed 8 Oct 2022
6. ↑ Robinson, Russell. Cars Guide: 'Bob Jane Resigns', Herald Sun, 19 Jan 2011; accessed 8 Oct 2022
7. ↑ Velocity Motorsport Magazine: 'Bob Jane’s farm seized in legal wrangle with son', 20 May 2015; accessed 8 Oct 2022
8. ↑ ABC News
9. ↑ The Guardian
10. ↑ Canberra Times
11. ↑ The Australian
12. ↑ Herald Sun
13. ↑ Buttigieg, Michelle. 'Australian race car legend Bob Jane dies aged 88'; accessed 10 Oct 2022

See also

• https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/jane/135/

• Supercars: Bob Jane obituary; accessed 8 Oct 2022.
• Wikipedia: Bob Jane; accessed 8 Oct 2022.

• 1954 Electoral Register: "Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980," database with images, Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 1207 #19373553 (accessed 13 January 2024), Name Robert Frederick Jane, Gender Male, Electoral Date 1954, Electoral Place Brunswick South, Burke, Victoria, Australia; citing Australian Electoral Commission, Canberra, Australia, Electoral Rolls.