His youth was tough to say the least with a childhood in England that included enduring the Nazi air raids during the Battle of Britain, his father’s long separation from the family while he was in service during the war and resulting terrible strife at home in the post-war years. His debut ride on the four-cylinder 250cc machine resulted in a third place in the Lightweight race, followed by a fourth on the smaller 125cc twin later in the week

Finances were very tight and keeping the family together after the death of his father and soon after, his mother, fell to Redman, not yet 18 and his older sister. Well-meaning bureaucrats sought to remove his younger twin siblings to foster care, but Redman would have none of it. With grit and hard work, Redman and his sister scraped together enough money to pay the bills and kept the family together. So I said, “Can I take it” and he said, “Yeah, you know, I know you’re going to pay me” and off I went and they had always, the scratch races and the handicap and the handicap was everybody and you got a handicap and it was always the biggest money and I won it. I got a nice handicap and I was an unknown bike and it was a fast bike. I didn’t know I could ride a bit, I wasn’t very good, but I was better than I thought and I won the race, so of course, Monday morning I pitched up Cliff Nesbitt’s place with a fat wad and said, “Here’s the rest of your…” and he said, “You won it, you bastard”, you know. Jim Redman, Luigi Taveri, Kunimitsi Takahashi (1963) The engineering concept behind these shrieking engines was straightforward: a two-stroke fires twice as often as a four-stroke does, therefore the four-stroke must rev twice as high. The 250 six revved to 18,000rpm, the 125 and 50 went to 21,000, compared to Yamaha’s 11,000rpm RD56. He took over from Jim Redman and campaigned the bike for two years, taking eight race wins in the battle against Giacomo Agostini on the fire-engine MVs. It was a classic era, two of the greatest riders of all time going head to head. In true Redman fashion, he has prevailed over all losses and challenges. How remarkable was Jim Redman the racer? He says it best himself:When I was a kid I was evacuated up into Shropshire and because I had passed the 11-plus exams, I think I was about eleven or twelve, I had to go to a grammar school. They actually sent us to Shrewsbury instead of Dewsbury, so we were in the wrong place anyway. My young brother and sister (twins) were very young about five. They got to stay in a nice place out in Dewsbury, a village outside Shrewsbury. They were very happy there and stayed there for the rest of the war and they also called their foster parents mother and father, they were there for so long, so they said they had two mothers and two fathers. The bike has not been run since,’ Jim revealed to Octane, ‘and if whoever buys it strips it down they’ll see that the crankshaft and pistons are all new. If it is only used for parade laps it should not need rebuilding for some time but if it’s raced in historic events it will have to be fully maintained.’ This was to prove the bike’s downfall, at least in its first incarnation. Japanese engine technology was supreme, chassis and suspension technology still catching up. When Hailwood first rode the RC181, he famously said “it handles like a camel”. Following the crash at the 1966 Belgian Grand Prix that ended his career, Jim went on to enjoy huge success in other business ventures until, in 1995, he won the Daytona Speedway race at the age of 63, once again taking up a career in racing as a classic racer and demonstration rider.

It was already motorbikes. So if you’re in motorbikes, I always went every year that I was old enough and had my bike. We always went to Silverstone for the Grand Prix, I think they called it TT, or whatever, but we started going to motorbike races that were within the distance of what we could afford. I watched racing. When I got to Rhodesia, John Love was working at the CMED on the motorcycle section, I was on the car section and then later the engine section. I always wanted more of everything, you know, more of stuff. Then I met John Love and he was racing motorbikes, so wow, now I’m working next to the guy. We became friends and I started going round and he was talking about racing driving cars.With Honda it was always the same – the engine parts just kept getting smaller,” he added. “Looking after the 250 six was a piece of cake compared to the 125 five. The small size of the parts and the tiny clearances made things so difficult. I had to use tweezers on the valve collets. Swiss rider Luigi Taveri rode the 125 five to world championship success in 1966, when Honda achieved a unique full-house of constructors’ titles in the 50cc, 125cc, 250cc, 350cc and 500cc classes. However, these were heady times, with Honda and its two-stroke rivals involved in a mad technology race. The following year Yamaha got revenge, reclaiming the 125 crown with its wild RA31 V4 two-stroke – which boasted 17,000rpm and a nine-speed gearbox. Any fan of motorcycle racing will find Jim Redman: Six Times World Champion absorbing; any fan of true stories of grit and determination overcoming impossible odds will find it hard to put down. Yes, except the last two years because I moved down actually in 1964, when Jimmy had to go to school. Marlene stayed at home and I commuted and then in 1966 I crashed and then I did the immigration then, I think and that was only because already there was Mugabe on the radar. He wasn’t in, but he was looking the best bet and Smith been on the train with Wilson and all that stuff you know, and I was not getting my MBE because of it and I was hiding in the corner in South Africa. So yes, I lived in South Africa, I bought into Charlie Young, and I lived in South Africa. Jim, you’ve lost a lot of friends over the years, many competitors, people like Jim Clark, Graham Hill, how do you feel about death, how do you see death, given that you’ve lost so many of those very close friends.

Honda had conquered every category it had entered. But the big prize remained – the 500cc premier class, where the mighty four-cylinder MV Agustas reigned supreme.Remarkably, these engines, and Honda’s first Formula 1 engine, the RA270, were mostly designed by one man, the brilliant Shoichiro Irimajiri, who was only 24 in 1964. Honda had started out in the 125 class, and an upgraded development of the twin-cylinder engine took Tom Phillis to the company’s first race win and first title in 1961, but it was only a stepping stone. For the records I was the first to win 3 GPs in a day in 1964, then Mike Hailwood did it in 1967 and that is no one can do it now it because now you can only ride 1 Grand Prix in a day. Bloody health and Safety rubbish again I suppose Having tasted the sweet scent of victory on the Mountain Course Jim achieved a double when he added the Junior laurels to his Lightweight title – a feat he was to repeat in successive years, 1964 and 1965. To further confuse things, Honda started referring to the ‘Six’ as the RC165 - thus maintaining the mystery - and no doubt baffling its staff.