Gregg Hansford

Gregg Hansford
Nationality	Australian
Motorcycle racing career statistics Grand Prix motorcycle racing Active years 1978 - 1981 First race 1978 250cc Spanish Grand Prix Last race 1981 500cc Dutch TT First win 1978 250cc Spanish Grand Prix Last win 1979 350cc Finnish Grand Prix Team(s) Kawasaki Championships 0 Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 33 10 25 11 5 358

Gregory John "Gregg" Hansford (8 April 1952 – 5 March 1995) was an Australian professional motorcycle and touring car racer.

Racing career

Motorcycles

Hansford began racing motorcycles in Australia, winning the 1973 500cc Unlimited title, as well as competing in the New Zealand Marlboro Series in 1975/76 and 1977/78 on Team Kawasaki 750s. He also won one leg of the 77/78 series on a KR250. In 1978 he traveled to Europe to compete in Grand Prix motorcycle racing for the Kawasaki factory racing team. He finished 2nd in the world 250cc championship and third in the world 350cc championship in 1978. In 1979 he again finished 2nd in 250cc and 3rd in 350cc.^[1] In 1980 he teamed with Eddie Lawson to finish second in the Suzuka 8 Hours event,^[2] but suffered severe injuries in 1981 at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa forcing his retirement from motorcycle racing.

With 10 Grand Prix victories to his credit, Hansford is ranked fourth for the most Grand Prix wins by an Australian behind Mick Doohan (54 wins), Casey Stoner (38) and Wayne Gardner (18).

Touring Cars

Hansford then turned to touring car racing in 1982 with Allan Moffat Racing. He had previous ties to the Moffat team and was actually entered to partner Colin Bond in the second Moffat Ford Dealers Ford Falcon in the 1977 Hardie-Ferodo 1000. However, a motorcycle racing crash caused injuries which saw Hansford forced to withdraw from the race and be replaced by open wheel driver Alan Hamilton. The car he was to drive with Bond finished second in Ford's famous 1-2 victory at Bathurt in 1977.

Hansford put in some good performances in Moffat's second Mazda RX-7 in the 1983 Australian Touring Car Championship, including finishing second to Peter Brock's Holden Dealer Team VH Commodore in the final round at Lakeside in Brisbane. He then went and qualified 12th in the Mazda at the 1983 James Hardie 1000 (Moffat qualified his car 14th), though problems saw him and co-driver Garry Waldon not classified as finishers after only completing 49 laps. Moffat and Japanese driver Yoshimi Katayama finished second outright.

Hansford's first touring car win was the 1984 Oran Park 250 in the 1984 Australian Endurance Championship with team boss Allan Moffat in a Mazda RX-7. Moffat, who was making his comeback to racing after a crash earlier in the year at Surfers Paradise, started the race from pole and although suffering from the flu handed the car to Hansford in the lead, a lead the former Grand Prix Motorcycle star would not lose. Later the pair finished second in the Mazda at the Castrol 500 at Sandown before they went on to finish third at the 1984 James Hardie 1000 at Bathurst. The Moffat team entered two cars for the race with Hansford listed in both cars alongside "The Boss". Hansford won a number of fans by qualifying his RX-7 in 8th place and it was his car (which the team admitted was not meant to run the full race) that crossed the line 3rd after Moffat's own car had been retired with overheating on lap 15.

After Australian touring car racing changed from the locally developed Group C rules to the international Group A rules in 1985, Hansford was forced to look elsewhere as Mazda (nor Moffat for the season) wouldn't be competing. Though at the start of 1985, the Moffat team took their Mazda RX-7 and Peter McLeod and Kevin Bartlett to drive in the 24 Hours of Daytona. After Moffat qualified the car 38th in the GT class, they progressed through to the top 5 in their class before engine problems saw them drop back to 24th outright at the end of the race.

Hansford then teamed with Moffat's former team mate Colin Bond to drive an Alfa Romeo GTV6 to eighth outright in the 1985 James Hardie 1000. The following year he joined fellow Queenslander Dick Johnson in a Ford Mustang and finished the 1986 James Hardie 1000 in fourth outright.

Gregg Hansford stayed with Dick Johnson Racing for the 1987 season, with the team running two Ford Sierra RS Cosworth's in the 1987 Australian Touring Car Championship. The team endured a tough season with the fast but fragile Sierras which were upgraded to the more reliable, and much more powerful RS500 version for the endurance races. The 1987 James Hardie 1000 was a disaster for the team with the Johnson/Hansford car retiring from the race with diff failure after just 3 laps, while the team's second car retired one lap earlier after Neville Crichton crashed with the Holden Commodore of Larry Perkins.

Hansford was dumped from DJR before the start of 1988 for former dual Australian Drivers' Champion John Bowe (Hansford reported that he only found out of his dumping after watching a television news report and that Dick Johnson never actually contacted him about it). He again linked with Allan Moffat and the pair went on to win the Enzed 500 at Sandown in Melbourne driving a Reudi Eggenberger built Ford Sierra RS500. The pair were joined by ace West German driver Klaus Niedzwiedz at the 1988 Tooheys 1000 at Bathurst (with Eggenberger himself engineering the car for the race), and were leading by almost a lap on lap 129 when the car suffered engine failure with Handsford at the wheel (the turbocharged engine suffered a head gasket failure).

Hansford would drive the RS500 Sierras for both Allan Moffat and Glenn Seton Racing over the next four seasons, though on-track results would elude him.

He then finished 2nd at the 1993 James Hardie 12 Hour with Charlie O'Brien in a Mazda RX-7 and won the 1994 James Hardie 12 Hour with Neil Crompton, again in an RX-7. Such performances earned him respect and drives in both V8 Supercars and Supertourers, with highlights being 1st in the 1993 Tooheys 1000,^[3] 3rd in the 1994 Tooheys 1000 and 3rd in the 1994 Sandown 500 all partnered with Larry Perkins in a Holden VP Commodore.

Hansford's 1993 Bathurst win gave him the unique distinction of winning a race at the Mount Panorama Circuit in both motorcycle and car racing.

Death

While competing in a Supertouring race in 1995 at Phillip Island, Hansford's Ford Mondeo slid off the track and hit a tyre wall at high speed. The car bounced back onto the track where he was hit by Mark Adderton's Peugeot 405 at over 200 km/h. Hansford died moments after the impact. At the time of his death, Greg's youngest son Harrison was only 8 months old.

In 2007, Hansford's older sons from his marriage to Julie-Anne, Ryan and Rhys had made their first steps into a motor racing career and Ryan presently (2013) competes in V8 Utes. Ryan previously competed in the Australian Mini Challenge.

Hansford is buried in Brisbane's Pinnaroo Lawn Cemetery.^[4]

Career summary

Season	Series	Position	Car	Team
1973	Australian 500 cc Unlimited Motorcycle Series	1st
1978	250 cc World Championship	2nd	Kawasaki KR250	Kawasaki
	350 cc World Championship	3rd	Kawasaki KR350	Kawasaki
1979	250 cc World Championship	2nd	Kawasaki KR250	Kawasaki
	350 cc World Championship	3rd	Kawasaki KR350	Kawasaki
1980	350 cc World Championship	15th	Kawasaki KR350	Kawasaki
1982	Australian Endurance Championship	NC	Mazda RX-7	Peter Stuyvesant International Racing
1983	Australian Touring Car Championship	8th	Mazda RX-7	Peter Stuyvesant International
1983	Australian Endurance Championship	6th	Mazda RX-7	Peter Stuyvesant International
1984	Australian Endurance Championship	2nd	Mazda RX-7	Peter Stuyvesant International Racing
1985	Australian Touring Car Championship	28th	Alfa Romeo GTV6	Network Alfa / The Toy Shop
1985	Australian Endurance Championship	7th	Alfa Romeo GTV6	Network Alfa
1986	Australian Touring Car Championship	30th	BMW 635 CSi	Charlie O'Brien
1986	Australian Endurance Championship	28th	Ford Mustang GT	Palmer Tube Mills
1987	Australian Touring Car Championship	10th	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth	Shell Ultra Hi-Tech Racing Team
1987	World Touring Car Championship	NC	Ford Sierra RS500	Shell Ultra Hi-Tech Racing Team
1988	Australian Touring Car Championship	NC	Ford Sierra RS500	Allan Moffat Enterprises
1988	Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship	NC	Ford Sierra RS500	Allan Moffat Enterprises
1989	Australian Touring Car Championship	15th	Ford Sierra RS500	Allan Moffat Enterprises
1990	Australian Touring Car Championship	10th	Ford Sierra RS500	Allan Moffat Enterprises
1991	Australian Endurance Championship	24th	Ford Sierra RS500	Peter Jackson Racing
1994	Australian Super Production Car Series	7th	Mazda RX-7	Mazda

Motorcycle Grand Prix results

Source:^[1]

Position	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Points	15	12	10	8	6	5	4	3	2	1

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Class	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Points	Rank	Wins
1978	250cc	Kawasaki	VEN -	ESP 1		FRA 1	NAT 2	NED 3	BEL -	SWE 1	FIN 2	GBR -	GER 2	CZE 2	YUG 1	118	2nd	4
	350cc	Kawasaki	VEN -		AUT 7	FRA 1	NAT 2	NED 8		SWE 1	FIN -	GBR -	GER -	CZE 2	YUG 1	76	3rd	3
1979	250cc	Kawasaki	VEN 7		GER 6	NAT -	ESP 2	YUG 2	NED 2	BEL DNS	SWE 2	FIN 2	GBR -	CZE -	FRA 2	81	2nd	0
	350cc	Kawasaki	VEN -	AUT -	GER -	NAT 1	ESP 2	YUG -	NED 1			FIN 1	GBR 2	CZE 4	FRA -	77	3rd	3
1980	350cc	Kawasaki	NAT -		FRA -		NED -			GBR -	CZE -	GER 5				6	15th	0
	500cc	Kawasaki	NAT -	ESP -	FRA -		NED -	BEL -	FIN -	GBR -		GER NC				0	-	0
1981	500cc	Kawasaki	AUT -	GER -	NAT -	FRA -	YUG -	NED NC	BEL -	SM -	GBR -	FIN -	SWE -			0	-	0

Car Racing

Complete Australian Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	DC	Points
1983	Peter Stuyvesant International Racing	Mazda RX-7	CAL	SAN	SYM	WAN	AIR	SUR 3	ORA 6	LAK 2			8th	56
1985	The Toy Shop Network Alfa	Alfa Romeo GTV6	WIN	SAN	SYM	WAN	AIR	CAL	SUR	LAK	AMA	ORA 10	28th	11
1986	Charlie O'Brien	BMW 635 CSi	AMA	SYM	SAN	AIR	WAN	SUR 8	CAL	LAK	WIN	ORA	30th	10
1987	Shell Ultra-Hi Tech Racing Team	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth	CAL Ret	SYM 6	LAK DSQ	WAN 5	AIR Ret	SUR Ret	SAN Ret	AMA 8	ORA Ret		10th	25
1988	Allan Moffat Enterprises	Ford Sierra RS500	CAL	SYM	WIN	WAN	AIR	LAK	SAN	AMA	ORA 14		NC	0
1989	Allan Moffat Enterprises	Ford Sierra RS500	AMA	SYM	LAK 5	WAN	MAL	SAN	WIN 11	ORA			15th	4
1990	Allan Moffat Enterprises	Ford Sierra RS500	AMA 6	SYM 8	PHI 5	WIN 11	LAK Ret	MAL	WAN	ORA			10th	17

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points
1987	Shell Ultra Hi-Tech Racing Team	Ford Sierra RS500	MNZ	JAR	DIJ	NUR	SPA	BNO	SIL	BAT Ret	CLD Ret	WEL Ret	FJI	NC	0

Complete Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	DC	Points
1988	Allan Moffat Enterprises	Ford Sierra RS500	BAT Ret	WEL	PUK	FJI	NC	0

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Year	Pos	Class	No	Team	Co-Drivers	Chassis	Laps
						Engine
Group C
1982	DNS	A	42	Peter Stuyvesant International Racing	Lucio Cesario	Mazda RX-7
						Mazda 12A 1.2 L 2-Rotary
1983	NC	A	34	Peter Stuyvesant International	Garry Waldon	Mazda RX-7	49
						Mazda 12A 1.2 L 2-Rotary
1984	3	Group C	42	Peter Stuyvesant International Racing	Allan Moffat	Mazda RX-7	161
						Mazda 13B 1.3 L 2-Rotary
	DNF	Group C	43	Peter Stuyvesant International Racing	Allan Moffat	Mazda RX-7	15
						Mazda 13B 1.3 L 2-Rotary
Group A
1985	8	B	47	Network Alfa	Colin Bond	Alfa Romeo GTV6	158
						Alfa Romeo 2.5 L V6
1986	5	C	17	Palmer Tube Mills	Dick Johnson	Ford Mustang GT	162
						Ford 302 5.0 L V8
1987	DNF	1	17	Shell Ultra Hi-Tech Racing Team	Dick Johnson	Ford Sierra RS500	3
						Cosworth YBD 2.0 L I4 Turbo
1988	DNF	A	9	Allan Moffat Enterprises	Klaus Niedzwiedz Allan Moffat	Ford Sierra RS500	129
						Cosworth YBD 2.0 L I4 Turbo
1989	DNF	A	9	Allan Moffat Enterprises	Pierre Dieudonné	Ford Sierra RS500	30
						Cosworth YBD 2.0 L I4 Turbo
1990	DNF	A	9	Allan Moffat Enterprises	Pierre Dieudonné Klaus Niedzwiedz	Ford Sierra RS500	138
						Cosworth YBD 2.0 L I4 Turbo
1991	9	A	30	Peter Jackson Racing	Glenn Seton	Ford Sierra RS500	146
						Cosworth YBD 2.0 L I4 Turbo
1992	19	A	10	Allan Moffat Enterprises	Klaus Niedzwiedz	Ford Sierra RS500	128
						Cosworth YBD 2.0 L I4 Turbo
Group 3A Touring Cars
1993	1	A	11	Castrol Perkins Racing	Larry Perkins	Holden VP Commodore	161
						Holden 5.0 L V8
1994	3	A	11	Castrol Perkins Racing	Larry Perkins	Holden VP Commodore	161
						Chevrolet 5.0 L V8

References

1. Gregg Hansford career statistics at MotoGP.com
2. 1980 Suzuka 8 Hours results at Moto Racing Japan
3. 1993 Tooheys 1000 at www.therealmountpanorama.com
4. Hansford Gregory John — Brisbane City Council Grave Location Search. Retrieved 22 June 2014.