Gregg Hansford

Gregory John "Gregg" Hansford (8 April 1952 5 March 1995) was an Australian professional motorcycle and touring car racer. He competed in the FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships from 1978 to 1981 and in Australian touring car championships from 1982 to 1994. Hansford was a two-time vice-champion in the 250cc road racing world championships. With 10 Grand Prix victories to his credit, he is ranked fourth for the most Grand Prix wins by an Australian behind Mick Doohan (54 wins), Casey Stoner (38) and Wayne Gardner (18).

Gregg Hansford
NationalityAustralian
Born(1952-04-08)April 8, 1952
Brisbane, Australia
DiedMarch 5, 1995(1995-03-05) (aged 42)
Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia
Motorcycle racing career statistics
Grand Prix motorcycle racing
Active years1978 - 1981
First race1978 250cc Spanish Grand Prix
Last race1981 500cc Dutch TT
First win1978 250cc Spanish Grand Prix
Last win1979 350cc Finnish Grand Prix
Team(s)Kawasaki
Championships0
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
33 10 25 11 5 358

After his international motorcycle racing career, Hansford returned to Australia and established himself as a competitive driver in Australian touring car competitions. Hansford's 1993 Bathurst victory gave him the unique distinction of winning a race at the Mount Panorama Circuit in both motorcycle and automobile racing events. He died in an accident during a Supertouring race at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in 1995.

Racing career

Motorcycles

Hansford began racing motorcycles in Australia, winning the 1973 500cc Unlimited title, as well as competing in the New Zealand Marlboro Series in 1975/76 and 1977/78 on Team Kawasaki 750s. He also won one leg of the 77/78 series on a KR250. In 1978 he traveled to Europe to compete in Grand Prix motorcycle racing for the Kawasaki factory racing team. Hansford finished second to his Kawasaki teammate, Kork Ballington, in the world 250cc championship and third in the world 350cc championship in 1978. In 1979 he again finished 2nd in 250cc and 3rd in 350cc.[1] In 1980 he teamed with Eddie Lawson to finish second in the Suzuka 8 Hours event,[2] but suffered severe injuries in 1981 at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa forcing his retirement from motorcycle racing.

Touring Cars

Hansford then turned to touring car racing in 1982 with Allan Moffat Racing. He had previous ties to the Moffat team and was actually entered to partner Colin Bond in the second Moffat Ford Dealers Ford Falcon in the 1977 Hardie-Ferodo 1000. However, a motorcycle racing crash caused injuries which saw Hansford forced to withdraw from the race and be replaced by open wheel driver Alan Hamilton. The car he was to drive with Bond finished second in Ford's famous 1-2 victory at Bathurst in 1977.

Hansford's first touring car race was in the second Moffat Mazda RX-7 at the 1982 Sandown 500 driving with young open wheel hot shoe Lucio Cesario. After the car failed to finish at Sandown, the pair were to drive the car in the 1982 James Hardie 1000 at Bathurst but a practice crash by Cesario saw them as non-starters in the race. Hansford then put in some good performances in the Mazda in the 1983 Australian Touring Car Championship. His first ATCC race was in Round 6 at Surfers Paradise where he qualified a surprising 3rd behind Moffat and Brock and after missing a gear at the start and dropping to 11th at the first turn, put in a great drive to finish in 3rd place. He then finished in 6th place at Oran Park before finishing second to Peter Brock's Holden Dealer Team Commodore in the wet final round at Lakeside in Brisbane (Moffat finished 3rd to clinch his 4th ATCC). He then went and qualified 12th in the Mazda at the 1983 James Hardie 1000 (Moffat qualified his car 14th), though problems saw him and co-driver Garry Waldon not classified as finishers after only completing 49 laps. Moffat and Japanese driver Yoshimi Katayama finished second outright.

Hansford's first touring car win was the 1984 Oran Park 250 in the 1984 Australian Endurance Championship with team boss Allan Moffat in the RX-7. Moffat, who was making his comeback to racing after a crash earlier in the year at Surfers Paradise, started the race from pole and although suffering from the flu handed the car to Hansford in the lead ahead of 1984 ATCC winner Dick Johnson in his Ford XE Falcon, a lead the former Grand Prix Motorcycle star would not lose. Later the pair finished second in the Mazda at the Castrol 500 at Sandown before they went on to finish third at the 1984 James Hardie 1000 at Bathurst. The Moffat team entered two cars for the race with Hansford listed in both cars alongside "The Boss". Hansford won a number of fans by qualifying his RX-7 in 8th place and it was his car (which the team admitted was not meant to run the full race) that crossed the line 3rd after Moffat's own car had been retired with overheating on lap 15.

After Australian touring car racing changed from the locally developed Group C rules to the international Group A rules in 1985, Hansford was forced to look elsewhere as Mazda (nor Moffat for the season) wouldn't be competing. Though at the start of 1985, the Moffat team took their Mazda RX-7, along with Peter McLeod and Kevin Bartlett to drive in the 24 Hours of Daytona. After Moffat qualified the car 38th in the GT class, they progressed through to the top 5 in their class before engine problems saw them drop back to 24th outright at the end of the race.

Hansford then teamed with Moffat's former team mate Colin Bond to drive an Alfa Romeo GTV6 to eighth outright and first in Class B in the 1985 James Hardie 1000. The following year he joined fellow Queenslander Dick Johnson in a Ford Mustang GT and finished the 1986 James Hardie 1000 in fourth outright.

Gregg Hansford stayed with Dick Johnson Racing for the 1987 season, with the team running two new Ford Sierra RS Cosworth's in the 1987 Australian Touring Car Championship. The team endured a tough season with the fast but fragile turbo Sierras which were upgraded to the more reliable, and much more powerful RS500 version for the endurance races. The 1987 James Hardie 1000 was a disaster for the team with the Johnson/Hansford car retiring from the race with diff failure after just 3 laps, while the team's second car retired one lap earlier after Neville Crichton crashed with the Holden Commodore of Larry Perkins.

Hansford was told by Dick Johnson at that year's Jack Newton Celebrity Pro-Am that he won't be driving for DJR in the 1988 Australian Touring Car season and was replaced with former dual Australian Drivers' Champion John Bowe.[3] He again linked with Allan Moffat and the pair went on to win the Enzed 500 at Sandown driving a Ruedi Eggenberger built Ford Sierra RS500. The pair were joined by Eggenberger's ace West German driver Klaus Niedzwiedz at the 1988 Tooheys 1000 at Bathurst (with Eggenberger himself engineering the car for the race), and were leading by almost a lap on lap 129 when the car suffered engine failure with Hansford at the wheel (the turbocharged engine suffered a head gasket failure).

Hansford would drive the RS500 Sierras for both Allan Moffat and Glenn Seton Racing in both the ATCC and at Bathurst over the next four seasons, though on-track results would elude him.

He then finished 2nd at the 1993 James Hardie 12 Hour with Charlie O'Brien in a Mazda RX-7 and won the 1994 James Hardie 12 Hour with television commentator turned race driver Neil Crompton, again in an RX-7. Such performances earned him further respect and drives in both V8 Supercars and Super Touring, with highlights being 1st in the 1993 Tooheys 1000,[4] 3rd in the 1994 Tooheys 1000 and 3rd in the 1994 Sandown 500 all partnered with Larry Perkins in a Holden VP Commodore.

Hansford's 1993 Bathurst win gave him the unique distinction of winning a race at the Mount Panorama Circuit in both motorcycle and car racing.

Death

While competing in a Supertouring race in 1995 at Phillip Island, Hansford's Ford Mondeo slid off the track and hit a tyre wall at high speed. The car bounced back onto the track where he was hit by Mark Adderton's Peugeot 405 at over 200 km/h. Hansford died moments after the impact.[5] At the time of his death, his youngest son Harrison, born to model Carolyn Donovan, was only 8 months old.

In 2007, Hansford's older sons from his marriage to Julie-Anne, Ryan and Rhys had made their first steps into a motor racing career and Ryan presently (2013) competes in V8 Utes. Ryan previously competed in the Australian Mini Challenge.

Hansford is buried in Brisbane's Pinnaroo Lawn Cemetery.[6]

Career summary

Season Series Position Car Team
1973 Australian 500 cc Unlimited Motorcycle Series 1st
1978 250 cc World Championship 2nd Kawasaki KR250 Kawasaki
350 cc World Championship 3rd Kawasaki KR350 Kawasaki
1979 250 cc World Championship 2nd Kawasaki KR250 Kawasaki
350 cc World Championship 3rd Kawasaki KR350 Kawasaki
1980 350 cc World Championship 15th Kawasaki KR350 Kawasaki
1982 Australian Endurance Championship NC Mazda RX-7 Peter Stuyvesant International Racing
1983 Australian Touring Car Championship 8th Mazda RX-7 Peter Stuyvesant International
1983 Australian Endurance Championship 6th Mazda RX-7 Peter Stuyvesant International
1984 Australian Endurance Championship 2nd Mazda RX-7 Peter Stuyvesant International Racing
1985 Australian Touring Car Championship 28th Alfa Romeo GTV6 Network Alfa / The Toy Shop
1985 Australian Endurance Championship 7th Alfa Romeo GTV6 Network Alfa
1986 Australian Touring Car Championship 30th BMW 635 CSi Charlie O'Brien
1986 Australian Endurance Championship 28th Ford Mustang GT Palmer Tube Mills
1987 Australian Touring Car Championship 10th Ford Sierra RS Cosworth Shell Ultra Hi-Tech Racing Team
1987 World Touring Car Championship NC Ford Sierra RS500 Shell Ultra Hi-Tech Racing Team
1988 Australian Touring Car Championship NC Ford Sierra RS500 Allan Moffat Enterprises
1988 Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship NC Ford Sierra RS500 Allan Moffat Enterprises
1989 Australian Touring Car Championship 15th Ford Sierra RS500 Allan Moffat Enterprises
1990 Australian Touring Car Championship 10th Ford Sierra RS500 Allan Moffat Enterprises
1991 Australian Endurance Championship 24th Ford Sierra RS500 Peter Jackson Racing
1994 Australian Super Production Car Series 7th Mazda RX-7 Mazda

Motorcycle Grand Prix results

Source:[1]

Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Points 15 12 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Class Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Points Rank Wins
1978 250cc Kawasaki VEN ESP
1
FRA
1
NAT
2
NED
3
BEL SWE
1
FIN
2
GBR GER
2
CZE
2
YUG
1
118 2nd 4
350cc Kawasaki VEN AUT
7
FRA
1
NAT
2
NED
8
SWE
1
FIN GBR GER CZE
2
YUG
1
76 3rd 3
1979 250cc Kawasaki VEN
7
GER
6
NAT ESP
2
YUG
2
NED
2
BEL
DNS
SWE
2
FIN
2
GBR CZE FRA
2
81 2nd 0
350cc Kawasaki VEN AUT GER NAT
1
ESP
2
YUG NED
1
FIN
1
GBR
2
CZE
4
FRA 77 3rd 3
1980 350cc Kawasaki NAT FRA NED GBR CZE GER
5
6 15th 0
500cc Kawasaki NAT ESP FRA NED BEL FIN GBR GER
NC
0 - 0
1981 500cc Kawasaki AUT GER NAT FRA YUG NED
NC
BEL SM GBR FIN SWE 0 - 0

Car Racing

Complete Australian Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DC Points
1983 Peter Stuyvesant International Racing Mazda RX-7 CAL SAN SYM WAN AIR SUR
3
ORA
6
LAK
2
8th 56
1985 The Toy Shop
Network Alfa
Alfa Romeo GTV6 WIN SAN SYM WAN AIR CAL SUR LAK AMA ORA
10
28th 11
1986 Charlie O'Brien BMW 635 CSi AMA SYM SAN AIR WAN SUR
8
CAL LAK WIN ORA 30th 10
1987 Shell Ultra-Hi Tech Racing Team Ford Sierra RS Cosworth CAL
Ret
SYM
6
LAK
DSQ
WAN
5
AIR
Ret
SUR
Ret
SAN
Ret
AMA
8
ORA
Ret
10th 25
1988 Allan Moffat Enterprises Ford Sierra RS500 CAL SYM WIN WAN AIR LAK SAN AMA ORA
14
NC 0
1989 Allan Moffat Enterprises Ford Sierra RS500 AMA SYM LAK
5
WAN MAL SAN WIN
11
ORA 15th 4
1990 Allan Moffat Enterprises Ford Sierra RS500 AMA
6
SYM
8
PHI
5
WIN
11
LAK
Ret
MAL WAN ORA 10th 17

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 DC Points
1987 Shell Ultra Hi-Tech Racing Team Ford Sierra RS500 MNZ JAR DIJ NUR SPA BNO SIL BAT
Ret
CLD
Ret
WEL
Ret
FJI NC 0

Not registered for series & points

Complete Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 DC Points
1988 Allan Moffat Enterprises Ford Sierra RS500 BAT
Ret
WEL PUK FJI NC 0

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
1982 Peter Stuyvesant International Racing Lucio Cesario Mazda RX-7 A - DNS DNS
1983 Peter Stuyvesant International Garry Waldon Mazda RX-7 A 49 DNF DNF
1984 Peter Stuyvesant International Racing Allan Moffat Mazda RX-7 Group C 161 3rd 3rd
Allan Moffat Mazda RX-7 15 DNF DNF
1985 Network Alfa Colin Bond Alfa Romeo GTV6 B 158 8th 1st
1986 Palmer Tube Mills Dick Johnson Ford Mustang GT C 162 4th 3rd
1987 Shell Ultra Hi-Tech Racing Team Dick Johnson Ford Sierra RS500 1 3 DNF DNF
1988 Allan Moffat Enterprises Klaus Niedzwiedz
Allan Moffat
Ford Sierra RS500 A 129 DNF DNF
1989 Allan Moffat Enterprises Pierre Dieudonné Ford Sierra RS500 A 30 DNF DNF
1990 Allan Moffat Enterprises Pierre Dieudonné
Klaus Niedzwiedz
Ford Sierra RS500 A 138 DNF DNF
1991 Peter Jackson Racing Glenn Seton Ford Sierra RS500 A 146 9th 8th
1992 Allan Moffat Enterprises Klaus Niedzwiedz Ford Sierra RS500 A 128 19th 17th
1993 Castrol Perkins Racing Larry Perkins Holden VP Commodore A 161 1st 1st
1994 Castrol Perkins Racing Larry Perkins Holden VP Commodore A 161 3rd 3rd

Complete 24 Hours of Daytona results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
1985 Allan Moffat Racing Allan Moffat
Kevin Bartlett
Peter McLeod
Mazda RX-7 GTO 482 24th 7th

Complete Sandown 400/500 results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
1982 Peter Stuyvesant International Racing Lucio Cesario Mazda RX-7 D NA DNF DNF
1983 Peter Stuyvesant International Garry Waldon Mazda RX-7 Over 3000cc 122 6th 6th
1984 Peter Stuyvesant International Racing Allan Moffat Mazda RX-7 Over 3000cc 128 2nd 2nd
1985 Network Alfa Colin Bond Alfa Romeo GTV6 B 126 4th 2nd
1986 Palmer Tube Mills Dick Johnson Ford Mustang GT B 16 DNF DNF
1987 Shell Ultra Hi-Tech Racing Team Dick Johnson
Neville Crichton
Ford Sierra RS500 B 86 DNF DNF
Dick Johnson Ford Sierra RS500 - DNS DNS
1988 Allan Moffat Enterprises Allan Moffat Ford Sierra RS500 A 129 1st 1st
1989 Allan Moffat Enterprises Allan Moffat Ford Sierra RS500 A 12 DNF DNF
1990 Allan Moffat Enterprises Klaus Niedzwiedz Ford Sierra RS500 Div.1 111 DNF DNF
1991 Peter Jackson Racing Glenn Seton Ford Sierra RS500 A 146 DNF DNF
1993 Castrol Perkins Racing Larry Perkins Holden VP Commodore V8 101 DNF DNF
1994 Castrol Perkins Racing Larry Perkins Holden VP Commodore V8 161 3rd 3rd

Complete Bathurst 12 Hour results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
1992 Mazda Australia John Bowe Mazda RX-7 T 245 5th 3rd
1993 Mazda Australia Charlie O'Brien Mazda RX-7 T 261 2nd 2nd
1994 BP Mazda Motorsport Neil Crompton Mazda RX-7 X 262 1st 1st
  1. Gregg Hansford career statistics at MotoGP.com
  2. 1980 Suzuka 8 Hours results at Moto Racing Japan
  3. Johnson, Dick. Dick Johnson: The Autobiography of a Legend. Ebury Press. pp. 273–275. ISBN 978-1-74275-977-7.
  4. "1993 Tooheys 1000 at www.therealmountpanorama.com". Archived from the original on 17 February 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  5. Assoc, American Motorcyclist (May 1995). Gregg Hansford Killed. American Motorcyclist. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  6. Hansford Gregory John Archived 22 June 2014 at Archive.today Brisbane City Council Grave Location Search. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
George Fury
Terry Sheil
Winner of the Sandown 500
1988
(with Allan Moffat)
Succeeded by
Jim Richards
Mark Skaife
Preceded by
Jim Richards
Mark Skaife
Winner of the Bathurst 1000
1993
(with Larry Perkins)
Succeeded by
Dick Johnson
John Bowe
Preceded by
Alan Jones
Garry Waldon
Winner of the Bathurst 12 Hour
1994
(with Neil Crompton)
Succeeded by
Dick Johnson
John Bowe
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