Obituary: Ross Jensen

By BOB PEARCE

Ross Jensen came back from a season of racing in Europe in 1958 worried that the fun had gone out of the sport.

He turned down lucrative offers to race cars in Europe and remained in New Zealand, where he never lost his enjoyment of the sport with which he was closely involved until his death last weekend at the age of 78.

Jensen was the car enthusiast's car enthusiast. He raced with the best in some of the outstanding machinery of its time.

He was a pioneer in bringing fine cars to this country and right to the end he was helping others to enjoy the sport.

Jensen grew up on a South Auckland farm, racing motorbikes on dirt tracks.

He saw wartime service in the Air Force.

His motor-racing began with an Austin Seven and later a V8 Ford at Ohakea and Muriwai Beach.

Jensen was a founder member of the New Zealand Grand Prix Association and in the first grand prix at Ardmore he finished seventh in an Austin-Healey - one place behind a certain Jack Brabham in a Cooper-Bristol.

The following year he was ninth in a Triumph TR2. By 1957, he had a Monza Ferrari sportscar in which he finished fourth and first New Zealander. By the end of the season he had won the first Gold Star championship.

But 1958 was an even better year. Jensen acquired the Maserati 250F in which Stirling Moss had won the 1956 Ardmore grand prix. In his first race in the single-seater, the Aucklander finished second in the grand prix, just 3.9s behind Brabham.

He was second in the Lady Wigram Trophy and won at Dunedin and Teretonga to earn his second Gold Star.

Jensen had several successes across the Tasman and a season with the Lister-Jaguar team in Britain but even while he was still racing he influenced the careers of some rising stars.

He was on the board of the Grand Prix Association when it inaugurated the Driver to Europe programme, which dispatched Bruce McLaren in 1958.

Almost 40 years later, Jensen was a founding trustee of the re-formed Bruce McLaren Trust, which is involved in similar activities.

Jensen worked for the Post and Telegraph in Middleton Rd, Newmarket, before he set up a specialised car repair shop in a tin shed further down the road on the junction with Remuera Rd. There he provided expert service for cars, including those of racing rival Tom Clark.

His repair business became a mecca for lovers of fine vehicles.

He moved into importing with the then exotic Renault, Daimler, Jaguar and Alfa Romeo cars.

One of his great coups was becoming the first BMW importer in July 1967. He held the franchise until 1983, when BMW bought it back.

Appropriately, he became the world's first importer of Jensen cars from Europe, an interest he retained until his death, at age 78.

Ross Jensen is survived by his wife, Hazel, daughters Carole and Linda, six grandchildren and one great-grandson.