Redman is the freaking Man!!

1970 t\Targa Florio Practice Porsche 911

Plus he's a really nice guy, met him at a few vintage races, couldn't be nicer or friendlier.

+1

Brian Redmond is truly one of the good guys. I've been lucky enough to meet him a few times, and have some long conversations with him. It always blows me away how courteous and gentlemanly he his. You could be the guy shining his shoes, and he would make you feel like a king! Incredible guy, and a bona-fide legend.

think you are a man? Drive a 917 at top speed at SPA or in the Targa Florio. The courage of those guys was just insane. Those cars had basically no thought to safety, and could top 225 mph!

Gnewts of steel.

I was having a damn hard time picturing the rapper in a vintage 911.

Will wrote: I was having a damn hard time picturing the rapper in a vintage 911.

Methodman was navigator until he mixed the course notes with his rhymes

I had the same thought.

RedMan drives a vintage Porsche?

All I know is: Wu-Tan Clan ain't nutin' to f--- with.

Was he practicing on open streets with pedestrian traffic?

maroon92 wrote: I had the same thought. RedMan drives a vintage Porsche?

"I ride 20" rims when I lean, yo

Yo-dem 10's, n___a

I know--I keep 'em clean, though"

Great to see him in this month's GRM, too. Great article. I was grinning widely at it.

Dude is the MAN.

epic vid, BTW.

that's the way they did it back then for the Targa Florio, on race day the streets were closed off. Practice days were totally open. Any one could be out there, including race drivers in borowed road cars with cameramen.

Watch closely around 1:10 - Redman gets the 914/6 sideways and barely even blinks!

Rawk!

David

MrJoshua wrote: Was he practicing on open streets with pedestrian traffic?

Welcome to the Targa Florio.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Targa_Florio

If you can find it, try a film by Michael Keyser called "The Speed Merchants". It's a documentary about the 1972 World Sportscar Championship. The TF was still a points paying round back then, and the film has a fantastic piece about the race from the factory Alfa team's POV (including some onboard from Vic Elford's T333 in practice-if you look sharp you can see some of the civilian traffic!). Keyser is a racer (he drove in the production/GT classes back then), and the whole film is fantastic. It also has a great piece of Redman at home back then (including an interview with Marion, and a delightful bit with Charlotte as a toddler ).

http://www.autosportsltd.com/video_speedmerchants_more.php

The first time I met Redman was in the mid-1980s. I was an SCCA corner worker, and back then in Atlanta Region, we offset track rental for our races at Road Atlanta by working all the non-club races (vintage/bikes/karts..I think there was even a NASCAR Busch Cup race there back then). It was the Saturday night worker party at the Mitty (in what is now Fitzy Park), and one of our new folks had never heard of Redman. As the rest of us were singing his praises, we noticed a gentleman leaning against a tree, grinning as he observed us with a great deal of amusement.

I don't know which one of us first recognized him, but we convinced him to come over and talk for awhile. He talked about driving the Porsche 917, and even talked about his accident in the 908 at the Targa `71 (where he got the burn scars). We also talked about street sportscars a little bit, and he gave some advice to those of us who were about to go circuit racing ourselves (Redman said buy, don't build..). He asked us about our best "marshalling" stories, and actually listened (and seemed to enjoy) them.

The next day, he ran in the big-bore sports racer group (in those days, half the grid were glorious old big-block Can-Am cars like the McLaren M8), and spanked the lot of them in a little 2-ltr Chevron B8. His MOV must have been half a lap. I'd sell a kidney to be half that quick.

IIRC, he showed up at the fall vintage race that year (SVRA sanction?) and the guy who owned one of his old F5000 cars let him take it out. It was amazing. We heard not long afterwards he'd persuaded the owner to sell it to him.

Great driver, wonderful human being. And considering how dangerous professional motor racing was in his era, we're lucky to have him here today to tell the tale. I hope he's coming to the Mitty this year-he did drive for Group 44 in the GTP car.

EDIT: If you'd like to sample "The Speed Merchants" before buying it, you can find a few pieces of it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s14Vx2v3UDk

There's an excellent period documentary just about the 1965 Targa Florio, here: http://jalopnik.com/5146783/say-goodbye-to-workplace-productivity-the-1965-targa-florio-endurance-race?autoplay=true

so what ever happened to that race anyway? i have seen a video i had for a while and i have not seen much on that race in ages.

Luke wrote: There's an excellent period documentary just about the 1965 Targa Florio, here: http://jalopnik.com/5146783/say-goodbye-to-workplace-productivity-the-1965-targa-florio-endurance-race?autoplay=true

WOW! Thanks for the link!

ckosacranoid wrote: so what ever happened to that race anyway? i have seen a video i had for a while and i have not seen much on that race in ages.

Tossed out of the WSC in 73 or74 for being too dangerous. Held for a few more years as a National. IIRC, canceled altogether after a death in 78-79 or so. Recently resurrected as a vintage rally event.

http://www.targafloriohistoric.com/

LOL But Redman is not WuTang Funny anyway