The Mini Mag. ..... Volume No.3 No.1.... 2001
  January 2001

Volume 3 Index. | Article Index.
ALCHEMY.

A look at the many variations of the Mini and the people who helped make the car “A Legend”.

John Humphrey.

Many Mini motorsport followers during the 60s and early 70s will remember the name John Humphrey always appearing in race programs from the local circuits.

The son of a motorcycle racer and Toowoomba service station owner, Humphrey started road racing at an early age at the Lowood circuit in a Mini Deluxe. It was in this car that he finished fourth in class in a four-hour race at Lowood. Early in his career, Humphrey learnt competition driving at Toowoomba’s City Auto Club, doing gymkhanas and hillclimbs. It was here where he claimed that he was given the right grounding driving-wise for future competition driving.

The club was not affiliated with CAMS, although they had managed the Echo Valley hillclimb and motor circuit, which is now still in existence and operating.

In August 1966, he purchased an Austin Cooper S from a dealer in Toowoomba and raced it at Lakeside later that year. His cars were always well-prepared and presented and his reliability was always good. Humphrey was usually competitive, sometimes racing interstate and at some meetings was able to score outright wins.


At most meetings, John Humphrey would always be there having a go, and is prominent in most motorsport magazine articles and news items from the time. In 1967, he won the Queensland Motor Sporting Club journalists award for Most Improved Driver of the year.

At the Australian Touring Car Championship race at Warwick Farm in 1968, John Humphrey placed ninth outright, ahead of some notable competitors at the time.

This article serves to remind Mini enthusiasts of the contribution John Humphrey made to the making of the Mini legend on our local tracks during the 1960s.