Bob Jane

4x Australian Touring Car Champion/ Armstrong 500 winner

Robert Frederick ‘Bob’ Jane was an instinctive racer and businessman from the days where they often set their own rules. He was tough but passionate about motor sport.

In the middle ‘50s Bob started in business and racing.

By the early 60s, he had won the second Armstrong 500 and was running a Jaguar in the Australian Touring Car Championship, which he won four times, starting in 1962.

But this was small beer for Bob. He ran and owned three circuits – Adelaide Raceway, Calder Park and the adjoining Thunderdome, where he ran a local NASCAR series and various support classes for over a decade.

He took an Aussie team to Le Mans and put top drivers in top single seaters and sports cars.

Hoping that a Formula 1 race might come to Calder, Bob ran the domestic Australian Grand Prix there from 1980 to 1984.