Speed Merchants

Philip (Phil) Edward Irving, MBE, C.Eng., M.I.Mech.Eng., M.S.A.E. is a legend amongst motoring and motor bike enthusiasts. He combined a love of motorcycles and racing cars. His was a lifetime of involvement in the motor industry. He had a passion for motorcycles design and construction and is famous for the Vincent Rapide, Black Shadow and Black Lightning motorcycles of the pre and post-World War Two period. He was also the design engineer behind the development of the engine which powered the Repco-Brabham Formula One car to World Championships in 1966 and 1967 and earned fame for (Sir) Jack Brabham.

Phil lived in Warrandyte building his home ‘Owl’s Rest’ in 1956. He, wife Veranne and son Denis became involved with the Warrandyte Arts Association’s Drama group, an involvement which continued after Veranne’s death. His theatrical involvement continued with his second wife Edith with whom he also shared an interest in nature. (Denis Irving gained a worldwide reputation as a lighting and theatre designer).

Phil died in January 1992; mourned by his family, motor racing and theatrical circles and within the Warrandyte community. Warrandyte has every reason to be proud of Phil Irving, revered as a great in Australia’s motoring history. The two newspaper clippings give a clear picture of the man and his achievements.

Any discussion on Warrandyte and motor sports invariably lead to the names of Stan and Alan Jones. Both are legends in Australian motor sport history. Stanley ‘Stan’ Jones born March 1923, was raised in Warrandyte by his mother and grandfather. He served in the Australian Armed Forces and was married sometime in the early 1940s. His son Alan was born in 1946. Stan is acknowledged as one of the celebrated drivers of Australian motor racing in the immediate post war period of the 1940 and 50s. By the late 1940s he was competing in many forms of motor sport including hill climbs and trials and became increasingly successful. He was awarded the ‘Australian Driver of The Year’ in 1954 for his New Zealand Grand Prix, Victorian Trophy, Bathurst 100 and Victorian Hill Climb Championship wins. When he won the 1959 Australian Grand Prix at Longford in his Maserati 250F, it was to be the last Australian Grand Prix won by a front-engine car. He ran a successful car sales business for a time.

However thanks to several business failures, this collapsed in the late 1960s. He then suffered a series of strokes and moved to England where he died in 1973 aged 49. On reading various articles about Stan Jones he comes across as a complex personality. He was admired for his driving yet said to be hard on his cars. He gained the nickname of Sorrowful, though it is not clear why. He was known as something of a larrikin, fond of a drink and, according to son Alan, inclined to a fight. Alan referred to him as a fantastic bloke in his book ‘AJ, How Alan Jones climbed to the top of Formula One’. However in the book he went on to say ‘Dad was raised by his grandfather in Warrandyte. He was a bastard in the true sense of the word, and he was self-made because of that. I’m sure his childhood was tough; everything he had or did, he created himself’.

Alan Jones followed on in his father’s chosen career and went on to become a celebrated Formula 1 Grand Prix driver, winning the Australian Grand Prix in 1980. That meant he and his father Stan joined Italian father and son Antonio and Alberto Ascari in the record books as the only father/son combinations to win their home Grand Prix.

Speed Merchants

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