Four icons to be inducted into the Motorsport Australia Hall of Fame
Thursday, 23 March 2023
They will be inducted at the FORMULA 1 ROLEX AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX 2023.
The late Joan Richmond, Remo Luciani, Victor Bray and John Goss OAM are set to be inducted into the Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame, with a public ceremony to be held on the Thursday of race weekend at the FORMULA 1 ROLEX AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX 2023.
A female pioneer of Australian international motorsport, a giant of karting, the patriarch of a drag racing family dynasty and a driver who created history, they're the four new members of the Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame, the flagship of the Australian Motorsport Council and the country's peak body of all motor racing.
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In a special event at the Fan Forum Stage at the Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, the inductees will be celebrated amongst fans attending day one of the event.
Since the first motorsport event in Australia was held on January 1, 1901 – the same day of Australia's federation – just 84 motorsport heroes have previously been inducted into the Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame.
Richmond was a ground-breaking figure for Australian motorsport and for women in motor racing as whole from her exploits in the 1930s, where she won races at home, in the United Kingdom and throughout Europe. Winner of the 1932 Brooklands 1000 with English driver Elsie Wisdom, Richmond was part of MG's class-winning 1935 Le Mans 24 Hour team and competed in the Monte Carlo Rally seven times in a career that saw her drive for some of the world's biggest automotive names.
A 1931 Riley – similar to the car driven by Richmond to fifth place in that year's Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island – will be on display at the induction ceremony. Richmond, who passed away at age 94 in 1999, will be represented by the National Museum of Australia in Canberra, where her Hall of Fame medallion will reside.
Luciani – whose motor racing career spans over 40 years – holds seven national karting titles, 70 State titles, and has won the New Zealand Karting Championship. At 62, Luciani is still competing, and won his karting class last year.
Bray's impact on the Australian drag racing scene is significant and ongoing; the Queensland tomato farmer won the first six annual National Doorslammer Drag Racing Championships in succession, his signature car a 1957 Chevy. The first driver to break the six-second barrier in a Top Doorslammer (5.91secs at over 395km/h), Bray's son Ben has won two Australian titles, while grandson Zac is following in the family footsteps.
Goss created history in 1976 when he won the Australian Grand Prix at Sandown driving a Holden-powered Matich A53, the Victorian becoming the first (and so far only) driver to take victory in both the Australian Grand Prix and Bathurst 1000, which he won two years earlier in Ford Falcon XA GT with co-driver Kevin Bartlett. Goss would later win Bathurst for a second time in 1985.
The Australian Motorsport Council comprises Motorsport Australia, Motorcycling Australia, Karting Australia, the Australian National Drag Racing Association and Speedway Australia. It represents 1000 clubs, licences 460 tracks, certifies 60,000 competitors and trains 18,000 volunteer officials.
The induction ceremony will take place at the Fan Forum Stage from 1.50 pm on Thursday, March 30.
