O "Sargento" Douglas Steane

All but one of the 15 cars in the inaugural Grand Prix, won by Eddie Carvalho's Triumph TR2, were from Hong Kong. Among them was newly stationed REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineer) Sergeant Douglas Steane, whose racing activities were indulgently encouraged by a far-sighted colonel, a "go-ahead guy" delighted by the ensuing newspaper publicity for his Signal Regiment.

Steane, now 83 and retired in Hereford, recalls the genesis of the event: "I had actually arrived in Hong Kong in early '54, when the people in Macau were talking about running a rally.

"A couple of chaps in Hong Kong at the Motorsport Club, of which I was a member, got to hear about this and went over to have a look. They said, 'You don't want to waste your time running a rally, you want to run a race here - you've got a natural racing circuit.'"

Cobblestones on the circuit's back-leg and a stretch of unmade road were replaced and surfaced for the '55 running, marking the start of continuous improvement and investment.

While the early Macau GP organisers may have been gratified by the boost to tourism by visitors from Hong Kong - 40,000 spectators watched the '56 race - local car dealers and importers soon came to recognise the value of the meeting.

"My best mate was Bob Ritchie, a sergeant in the RAF," continues Doug Steane. "He drove for FIAT, a dealer team, and Austin Healey, which was run by Austin dealers Metropolitan Cars. I drove for Walter Sulke, the Mercedes importer, and Walter also had the DKW franchise."

When Sulke's nominated driver for his Mercedes 190SL fell ill before final practice of the 1955 Grand Prix, Sulke handed driving duties to his DKW saloon car hotshot. The decision would reap rewards, as just 15 minutes later Steane recorded a remarkable pole against opposition that included an Aston Martin DB3S and Ferrari Mondial.

"Although I won in '56 [again from pole, in a more heavily tuned Mercedes] the '55 race when I had a ding-dong with Bob Ritchie was more rewarding," affirms Steane.

A late pitstop to remedy fuel starvation, during which an incredulous Steane was informed he had been leading, allowed Ritchie's Healey 100 into first place. Further confusion followed at the finish when ex-biker Ritchie stopped before the chequered flag, as was the norm at the Isle of Man TT. Alerted to his error by the crowd, Ritchie was jolted back into action and took a breathless victory by under two seconds.

 1956. Fotos Mercedes-Benz

Douglas Steane (número 6), piloto de Hong Kong, foi o vencedor da edição do GPM de 1956 com 5 horas, 24', 18,8'' a uma média de 90 Km/h.

The Suez crisis and an awaiting job in England prevented Doug from accepting Walter Sulke's offer to race a 300SL in 1957, but the car would win in the hands of Arthur Pateman.

Soldiers posted on sentry duty along the seafront, to stop Chinese dissidents entering Macau, may have breathed easier, though, as Doug had sent some diving into the South China Sea for cover after crashing on his way to victory in '56.

Excerto de um artigo da Autosport.com da autoria de Peter Mills em 2014.