Martin Bullock

Having gradually increased his involvement in historic Formula One racing with Masters over the years, Australian Martin Bullock embarked on a first full-season Masters Racing Legends attack in 2025, with the aim to show well in the series’ pre- 78 Fittipaldi class. With a string of class wins and podiums, Bullock did his ex-Alan Jones Williams FW06 proud, the British-born Aussie running the car himself with the help of former Williams mechanic John Cadd at JC Historics, the two having forged a strong working relationship based on a friendship that has only grown since they first met. We sat down with Marty right next to the Williams in his garage at the Nürburgring where he joined for Masters Racing Legends grid for the 2025 Oldtimer Grand Prix event.

So how did it all start for you?

MB: Many years ago, when I was 10 or 11, I used to do slot car racing with some friends. This evolved into going to a proper slot-racing track at a place in a village called Greens Norton, which is very near Silverstone. The man that ran the slot racing was a motorsport photographer and journalist, and he asked me if I would like to come and help him out at the track on club meetings, which entailed carrying cameras and lenses and getting entry lists and so on. That eventually developed into him giving me my own camera and black-and-white film, so I could roam the track and take any interesting shots of any incidents. Those photographs would sometimes appear in Motoring News and occasionally Autosport. Now, that’s quite boring for a young bloke, because there’s a lot of waiting and moving around. However, I was fascinated by racing in general and so although I never had the opportunity in those late sixties to do anything myself, I had an intrinsic interest in motorsport at all levels. We didn’t have any funds, and family-wise, there was nobody else interested in motorsport. So eventually, as I got older, I drifted away and did my own thing. I emigrated to Australia in 1982 and had been busy with family and business commitments until at the age of 50 a few friends of mine bought me a Formula Ford day. Just prior to that I had actually bought and raced an old 1963 Cortina GT at club level in Perth but unfortunately as soon as I drove a Formula Ford, I was sold on single-seaters. That was the start of my career – or hobby – of single-seater motorsport.

So how did that evolve to Formula One?

MB: My first car was a Formula Two car, a Chevron B17C, and we campaigned that. Then a bunch of about six people from Western Australia decided that we would take our cars to the UK and Europe, and we needed a base. So I talked to Geoff Richardson, the DFV engine builder, and what transpired from there is that I bought a factory unit in Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire and that allowed us to come over and race our cars in Europe in the summer. I progressed from there. It sounds a bit coy, but we were looking at purchasing or getting a partnership in a house in France. In the end, we found it too difficult with the amount of money required for the exchange of documentation and stuff like that. I’d already transferred some money over to Europe, and so I very stupidly went looking for a Formula One car! I was at Hall & Hall, and being shown all these cars. As we were walking through their workshop, this car was sitting on a stand with one of the front wheels off, stripped down. I said, what’s that then? And Rob said, ‘Oh, it’s an 06 Williams, we’ve got a rumbling wheel bearing at the front, we’re just changing it.’ And I said, is that for sale? ‘Oh yes,’ he said, ‘we’re just getting it prepared for sale.’ One thing led to another, and I bought the car from Abba Kogan, who owned the car before me. Very luckily, I then went to Phillip Island, where Andrew Wareing, who also raced one of these, was racing one. I wanted to talk to him about how we go about racing them. He just handed me a bit of paper and on that bit of paper was John’s phone number. He said, ‘You need this man’, and he was so right. John knew that the car had been put together quite poorly in some aspects because he has worked in Williams for 30 years, ten of which in the heritage department, so he is very knowledgeable. I persuaded him to help me, and we’ve become great friends.

That was back in 2017, but you’ve only done your first full season of historic Formula One just now. What happened in between?

MB: In the first couple of years of ownership, I treated it as a race here and a race there, because at that time I was chasing championships in Historic F2 and also in Formula Junior. They were my main racing targets. Then in 2024, I decided that at 70 years old I really needed to do some Formula One racing. So last year we did the last three races, Spa, Estoril and then Mugello, and then this year we set ourselves the target to do no other racing, just Formula One. There’s a different driving technique to the lower powered cars, which require more smoothness. Formula One require more of an attacking style.

Your first-ever Masters event?

MB: Brands Hatch in 2017, and that, again, was like a one-off race. It went really well. Then we did the Masters event at Estoril, and that also went really well.

Are you in it to win it or is it ultimately just for fun?

MB: A bit of both. I thoroughly enjoy all the aspects of it. As you can see here in the pit box, I quite like working on the car. So I’m not an arrive-and-drive guy, I like to be involved in the car. When I’m on the track I’m committed to go as best as I can. I also have a competitive assembly that says I need to be doing as well as I can, and if the car is capable of doing that, I should be working hard enough to make that happen. But the social side of it is also incredibly important to me. I’ve met some wonderful people through historic racing, I think it’s a great leveler. Because you can meet people, some of which can barely afford to go racing, particularly in Formula Junior, and who will be chatting aimlessly to a billionaire because of the commonness of our love for the sport and the cars. I think it’s changed my life in the way that it’s opened me up to new things unlike any other hobby.

Your best day in motor racing?

MB: I can’t really pin it down. It wasn’t a Masters event, but in 2019 we entered the Oulton Park Gold Cup in the Aurora Trophy category that was receiving the Cup at the end, and we managed to come away with the win. That was quite nice because the people at Oulton Park are very friendly and it was the first time a DFV engine had won the Gold Cup since 1977. That was quite a lovely day.

Your worst day?

MB: Well, I’ve never crashed a car – touch wood! At Paul Ricard this year, we had a little problem with the engine. I would have loved to have been out there on Saturday when the sun was shining, but we couldn’t get out. That’s the only time we’ve ever DNF’ed, so that would probably be the worst day because we didn’t actually get out. Then we nearly didn’t get out on the Sunday because we had to change tyres at the last minute. Actually, that was one of our finest moments in historic racing. In our pit box, we were right next to Zak Brown’s crew at United Autosports, and they said to John as he came in, ‘What’s the problem?’ Well, John said, my man is on the grid, he’s on slicks, he needs to be on wets, otherwise we’ve got to push him off the grid. He didn’t even need to finish the sentence before they were all gone – the tyres were gone, the jacks were gone, they had their own tyre rack on wheels. Meanwhile, I was sitting in the car thinking, oh well, that’s the end of the day, we won’t get a change of tyres, as it was only John, my wife and I. That was our pit crew! And the next thing you know, the car went up at the back, a guy shouted in my ear to put the brakes on so he could undo the nuts. Then the car went up at the front, and then they disappeared. It was like a Formula One pit stop, I think it took them about 30 seconds.

Best car you’ve ever driven?

MB: The Williams. Fantastic power and flexibility, it’s quite easy to drive, it’s beautifully built, everything works very well – from the clutch to the gears. They’re all maintained mechanically by John. Then I’ve owned a couple of Chevron Formula 2 cars and they’re lovely to drive as well. I haven’t driven any sports cars or big saloon cars, so I have nothing to compare them with.

And your worst car?

MB: There was a car that I bought in Perth. It hit a bump and spun all of its own, without any input from me – in a straight line! That was a dreadful car. I think I’ve sorted it out now but I haven’t actually got it up to racing speed. It’s an old Elfin Mono, a 1964 car. I haven’t had any major accidents, to be honest. Obviously, I’ve had a couple of spins and I’ve been hit, at Hockenheim this year actually, which was a bit scary, but it’s quite a strong car, so it survived reasonably well. It just wrecked a wheel rim. Other than that, nothing really traumatic. I manage to stay out of trouble most of the time.

Your favourite circuit?

MB: Brands Hatch is the track that I love most to drive this car. It’s just suited to the track. It’s wonderful that you can get the corners to link together on the outer part. Coming from Druids – that’s a horrible corner for this car – you’ve got this wonderful downhill, that’s fast left, another fast left. Then out to the back, you join the right-hander to another right-hander. You’ve got the blind corner where you just literally turn in, and all this is at quite high speeds – all fourth gear-type stuff. And then you’ve got Stirlings, a wonderful corner, and Clearways which is an exciting corner, and then Paddock Hill, which is a really exciting one. You stretch the limit on that one! So it’s just a series of wonderful bends in an old-type setting with the trees and no massive run-off areas. I feel comfortable at Brands in any car, no matter what it is. Apart from that, I obviously love Spa, but I haven’t had a decent run in this car at Spa. And Zandvoort is a favorite of mine because the track is okay, and the number of people that come to Zandvoort that love the sport is just wonderful. It’s a nice place to be, next to the seaside. And there’s a very good track in Australia called Phillip Island, but I’ve never driven it.

Why doesn’t Masters go to…?

MB: Monza! I’ve raced Monza in a Formula 2 car – a super place to race a fast car. The F1s at Monza would be unbelievably good fun to race. I haven’t done Portimão yet, and Jerez, so those are a couple of circuits that I selfishly would like to race, but the circuits Masters do now are all fine.

Who’s the rival that you fear or respect the most?

MB: It changes from year to year. Peter Williams has been going well in the pre-78 class for a while and he is a great guy to have a rivalry with. Peter is consistently here every day, every meeting. We’re in the same age bracket, we don’t stand up so well to the young, semi-professional drivers. Youth and professionalism – we haven’t got either of those! And then, as a friend and a sort of rival, but we’re in different classes – James Hagan and I have a lot of laughs about who’s in front of who. I think he’s getting to grips with his car more and therefore he’s gradually getting quicker than me. But up until now we’ve been quite close.

Who’s your best mate in the paddock?

MB: My wife Michele is my best mate! And I must mention John, as we work together, we’re in the same RV together, and when the car is back in the premises in the workshop, and when I’m in the UK I’ll always be there to help. Sometimes we are able to have Michele and John’s wife Susan along, and we will extend and go on holidays together somewhere. But we meet so many people, the social aspect of motorsport is very important to us. It’s a fantastic sport because of the history that surrounds it and that you’re part of. It’s very important, that aspect of it.