When people talk about “the characters” of the Macau Grand Prix, they mean legends like Ian Richards – a familiar figure in the pits for decades. He’s witnessed big names like Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button perform at the Guia Circuit, and seen the Grand Prix evolve – if not from the track then from the Hotel Guia, where he’s proudly booked the same room since 1998.
Born in Adelaide in 1945, Richards is a former Australian Formula 2 champion and a skilled engineer. Alongside Sir Jack Brabham, a three-time Formula 1 champion, Richards is one of only two drivers to win an Australian championship in a car they designed and built themselves. He also founded a motorsport company, R-Tek, in late 2006.
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Richards spoke to Macao News today, outside the Evans GP pits, where he was with team owner Josh Evans. He shared insights about his first Macau Grand Prix, winning the Australian Grand Prix and more.
When did you experience the Macau Grand Prix for the first time?
My first was in 1987. A typhoon came up from the Philippines, which reminds me of now. We stayed at the Hotel Presidente. The police locked us in so we couldn’t get out until Sunday afternoon.
The typhoon wrecked the whole place and blew the grandstands down. Those days, the grandstands were actually built out in the water. They then ran the race on Monday morning. Martin Donnelly, an English driver who went F1, won the race that year. He drove for TOMs, which had the biggest operation in Japan.
We might have missed the next couple of years, but my wife and I have been at the Macau Grand Prix since.
How would you compare Macao back then to today?
I have stayed in the Guia Hotel and have had the same room since 1998. Not downstairs, upstairs [laughs]. So my wife and I stay there every year. My room overlooks the track and there are only about two or three rooms like that.
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Macao was a little bit wild west, but it has developed. It’s fantastic. The place is just so different. The Lisboa casino was a landmark and you could see it from anywhere. All those buildings out there were all ocean. When I looked out of my bedroom window, I could see Taipa. Now all I see are buildings.
Did you watch any notable drivers at the Macau Grand Prix?
I saw it all happen. Schumacher, Jenson Button… That was a great one. In those days they had two races over the weekend and would add the total time together. Button came in second to Darren Manning by just 24 seconds. This was in 1999. The following year the rookie Button went straight to Williams for Formula 1. This is the thing. You do well in Macao and it was like a pathway to F1.
Is the Macau Grand Prix any different?
The track is the same. That’s the beauty of it. It’s like a big Monaco.
But it’s all relative to the day. The best guys were doing it then, the best guys do it now. It has changed now, this sort of class of cars today, but it’s always the same. All you find now is more equipment and better gear.
At what age did you get into motorsports?
When I was about 12 years old, I loved collecting car magazines. Then I drew cars at school when you’re supposed to be doing other things [laughs]. After that, I went into engineering and had my first car at 17, and then I built my first racing car when I was 19.
I always wanted to be a racing car driver. I wanted to go to England, as people did back then – working there with the racing teams and hoping to get a drive. Anyway, I decided to stay in Australia, Adelaide, where I come from, and start a business. I did that instead of looking at a dream. But then I gradually got into driving myself in Formula 3 and Formula 2, the Australian version of the English chassis with an Australian engine at the time.
Who did you race for?
Myself. The team is me. It was different back then. I’m talking early 1970s onwards. You normally just raced your own car. Some teams were there, but very few. So your friends helped you out and that’s how we did it. Then gradually, over time, teams came in.
How long did it take to build your car?
One year. I had friends come in the nighttime to give me a hand here. During the day I used to do automatic transmission.
Are there any memorable racing moments?
The highlight was when I built my own car called the Richards 201 Volkswagen. I built a car because I simply couldn’t afford to buy one. And I thought, ‘Well, I’ve been doing this for over 20 years, so why not build one and race with it?’ I built four of them in 1983 and I won the Australian F2 championship. Only Sir Jack Brabham, a three-time world champion in 1959, 1960 and 1966, and myself have ever won the Australian title in a car of their own.
How long did you race for?
I stopped driving when I was 44 in 1989, in the European equivalent of a Formula 3000 car. So in Australia, we use a European Formula 3000 chassis with a V6 engine. So we had the big wheels and a big wing. The engine was pretty heavy and only 320 horsepower, but very good to drive. But I retired as a driver in 1995.
What did you do next?
I worked for another team called Team BRM. I actually built a car for the family. I was with them from 1995 until 2005. And then I said, ‘Oh, maybe I’ve had enough.’ So I stopped. But I quickly realised I hadn’t had enough.
In 2006 I decided to start a team – my own team – called R-Tek. I planned to look after other people’s cars, all privateers since many weren’t looked after very well and did not do well commercially. So I thought, well, you bring your car to me and I will engineer it. I will transport it and my team will look after you. That’s how it started.
[See more: F1 driver Yuki Tsunoda talks to Macao News about his meteoric rise in motorsport]
I created four F3 cars – all Dallara, Italian and different models. We had two in what we call national class – older cars – and then you had the championship class, which was on the higher drive as they’re doing here in Macao. We supplied everything. All you need to do is come with your helmet and your money. We have the engineers and the data people.
We raced only in Australia. What we did was when the car models changed in Europe, we brought the older models back to Australia. That way everything’s cheaper. They get to sell their old cars easily and it worked out very well for everyone.
Any memorable moments as a team owner later on?
We won the Australian Formula 3 championship in 2019. We won all 18 races. One guy did it himself. John Magro was really good. That was a big moment. And then COVID came along and messed things around. My wife and I thought we’d had enough now. So we sold my car at the end of 2022.
