JOHN RANDALL

Pioneer - Sports Cars and Road Racing

 

Victorious John with his Dad GVMPS Pioneer Bob at Westwood (Randall family collection)

John Randall is the youngest son of GVMPS Pioneers mother and father Hilda and Bob Randall. John was born in Edmonton Alberta in 1943 where father Bob was a career commercial pilot. In 1952 the family moved to Vancouver where Bob took up employment with Canadian Pacific Airlines.

In 1962, the family discovered the new motor sport of go-karting. Both John and his mother Hilda drove and father Bob was the mechanic. The family first raced at the kart track on Fell street in North Burnaby and went on to be charter members of the Westwood Karting Association when it was formed in 1961. John says; “we won it all”, they built a cart for each of the many classes.

Racing cars started with a Lotus Super 7 with a 1500cc Cosworth Ford motor. With the Lotus John won just about every class championship that was available at Westwood and other west coast circuits.

The best known Randall car was the pale blue Brabham BT5 1600cc twin

cam that came from Switzerland in 1967. The car was generally referred to as a BT8 but was in fact a BT5 fitted with a BT8 rear body section to replace the original that was damaged during shipment from Europe to Vancouver.

The Brabham pretty much ruled Westwood during the late 1960s and early 1970s. John won all of the championships that the car was eligible for and usually gave a good result in the major pro races of the day despite giving away substantial engine capacity to the V8 engined sports racers.

John and the Brabham won the 1968 Okanagan Hill Climb at Knox Mountain in Kelowna almost breaking the two minute barrier but setting a new hill record nevertheless. John returned in 1970 to win again.

By the mid 1970s, career and family time demands caused John to put his driving career on hold.

In real life, he followed his father and older brothers in to the aviation industry as a career airline pilot rising to 747 captain with Canadian Pacific and then to Air Canada after the merger

John has just moved to Abbotsford with his partner Pri and is looking for a car he car run in vintage road racing, “it’s in my blood” he says.

John Randall, 1967

By Tom Johnston