John Mann: Champion driver whose life has spanned the greatest period of Australian motor racing

In November 2019 I met John Mann at the Island Magic meeting at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in southern Victoria. John has a long and illustrious career in motorsport so it was great to have a chat.

John, who is now eighty and despite a battle with cancer, is still racing.

In the chat John covered

• His first car, an open wheeler, he made himself
• The many cars he raced
• He nursed about eight of the current supercar drivers when they were babies.  Craig Lowndes’ father was his pit crew manager.
• As a young mechanic and he made a mistake that costs a world champion bike rider the race.  He had to escape and hide out for a while
• His Friendship with Barry Sheene and his own fight with cancer

An edited version of the interview appeared in the Overdrive radio program first broadcast on 7 December 2019.

We also produced a video of several other characters who were racing at the meeting “Reflections from Phillip Island”