Sir Colin Giltrap’s hope of New Zealand’s resurgence on the biggest stage in motorsport came to naught last year when Brendon Hartley was dumped by his team last year.
Giltrap had been Hartley’s long-time principal sponsor and, while the 29-year-old driver had a few standout drives for Toro Rosso, the team let him go. Hartley had become the first Kiwi Formula 1 driver in 33 years in 2017. Sir Colin’s support for him was well known, even letting him borrow a $1 million 1958 Porsche for Hartley’s wife to arrive in at their wedding.
Hartley resurfaced in May when Toyota Gazoo Racing's WEC program announced he would be driving for team for the full 2019/20 season.
Starting in the mid-1960s, Giltrap could himself be found behind the wheel of a race car.
That’s also when he founded Monaco Motors in Hamilton.
Although he was a competitive racer, his passion really lay in supporting young New Zealand motoring talent, in the hope that they would make it in the “big time” overseas.
Over the past 40 years, Giltrap has been attributed as the main driver of New Zealand talent, including such household names as Larry Perkins, Denny Hulme, Danny Sullivan, and more recently, Jim Richards, Earl Bamber, Brendon Hartley, Mitch and Simon Evans, and Scott Dixon.
Similarly, the Giltrap Group founded the iconic New Zealand team competing in the well-known A1GP series, racing Black Beauty all around the world. Between 2005 and 2008, Team New Zealand notched up numerous race wins and even more podiums and gained a reputation as being a dark horse in the star-studded international field. Matt Halliday, Chris van der Drift, Earl Bamber and Johnny Reid all had the opportunity to represent their proud country on the international stage as a result of the New Zealand A1GP team.
In business, having moved into the Auckland market in the 1970s, Giltrap stretched his wings by entering the UK market in 1989 when he bought a stake in the Malaya Group automotive business which later became H.R. Owen – one of Britain’s leading luxury motor dealers. He sold out of that company in 2008.
Giltrap still holds the title of executive chairman and owns 67% of the Giltrap Group. His sons, Michael and Richard, own 17% each and jointly manage the company, which employs 500 staff across 12 Auckland dealerships.
Through the Giltrap Trust, Giltrap and his wife, Lady Jennifer, sponsor worthy causes including the Starship Foundation, New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation, SPCA, Coastguard Northern Region and many other charities and schools.
In 2016, they pledged $250,000 in 2016 to help establish the Bruce McLaren Centre at the University of Auckland, which will undertake cutting edge engineering research in honour of the late motorsport legend.
Most recently Giltrap’s funding of Auckland University scholarships has resulted in some ground-breaking research into the causes of type 1 diabetes.
2018: $395 million