The historic motor racing community are paying their respects to John Reaburn, a noted racer from the pioneering touring car days.
Reaburn had suffered a stroke.
Making a name for himself in Australia in the early 1960s in the Armstrong 500 at Phillip Island, Reaburn would move to Europe where he enjoyed a high profile sports car career.
Reaburn was runner-up in Class B in the Phillip Island editions of the Armstrong 500 in 1961 and 1962.
The following year he was second in Class D in the Ford Zephyr he shared with Geoff Russell in the first running of the Armstrong 500 at Mount Panorama, the forerunner of today’s Bathurst 1000.
In 1965 Reaburn drove a Ford Galaxie to fifth place behind Norm Beechey (Ford Mustang) in the Australian Touring Car Championship.
Comprising of a single race at Sandown, Reaburn had started on the front row of the grid before finishing just off the podium with Ian Geoghegan, Brian Muir and Allan Moffat filling second to fourth.
Reaburn would later shift to the UK where he campaigned a Ford GT40 in many of the European 1000km races including Spa and Monza.
In later years, John had lived with his wife Madeleine in Mooroolbark, on the outskirts of Melbourne, where he had been close neighbours to the legendary Harry Firth, who died in 2014.
Speedcafe.com passes on its condolences to Madelaine and John’s family and friends.
Discussion about this post