,
OBE (born
April 2 1926 ) is an
Australian racing driver who was
Formula One champion in
1959 ,
1960 and
1966 .
Brabham was born the son of a grocer in the
Sydney suburb of
Hurstville . He left school at fifteen to work in an auto repair garage.
During
World War II , he served in the
Royal Australian Air Force . In
1946 , he opened a small repair business. He also raced midget cars and in his first season won the
NSW Championship and formed a partnership with
Ron Tauranac .
In
1955 , he made his Grand Prix debut at the
British Grand Prix driving his own
Maserati 250F . He soon joined the
Cooper Car Company team, which was the first to run cars with the engine at the rear. Having the motor behind the driver has the advantage that the weight is concentrated on the powered rear wheels for more traction. In 1959, Brabham won the World Championship with a
Coventry Climax engined Cooper. In 1960, he won the championship again with Cooper.
Brabham took the Championship-winning Cooper to the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a test following the 1960 season, then entered the famous
500-mile Race in a modified version of the Formula One car in
1961 . The "funny" little car from Europe was mocked by the other teams, but it ran as high as third although ultimately finishing ninth. The Indianapolis establishment gradually realized the writing was on the wall as Brabham and his team principal
John Cooper had shown that the days of front-engined roadsters were numbered. Ironically, Cooper was not as competitive this year, as the 1.5 litre engine rules were introduced and the famous Shark Nose Ferrari dominated. Brabham also raced at Indy in 1964, 1969 and 1970.
In 1961, he founded the er than a bull's ass in fly season".Henry (1985) p.51 The quote also appears in Lawrence (1999) p.58 In 1966, a new 3000 cc formula was created, Brabham in a Brabham-Repco won the championship again and became the first driver to win the Formula One World Championship in a car that carried his own name. In
1967 , the title went to his teammate
Denny Hulme . Following injuries in the
1969 season, Brabham intended to retire.
Finding no top drivers available Brabham decided to race for one more year. He began auspiciously, winning the first race of season, the South African Grand Prix, and then led the third race, the Grand Prix of Monaco until the very last turn of the last lap. Brabham was about to hold off the onrushing
Jochen Rindt (the eventual 1970 F1 champion) when his front wheels locked in a skid on the sharp right turn only yards from the finish and he ended up second. After the 13th and final race of the season, the Mexican Grand Prix, Brabham did retire. He had tied
Jackie Stewart for fifth in the points standings in the season he drove at the age of 44. Brabham then made a complete break from racing, selling his interest in the team to Ron Tauranac and returning to Australia.
In
1976 Brabham competed at
Bathurst in a
Holden Torana with
Stirling Moss . Although the car was crash-damaged on the starting grid, it was repaired, and luckily - survives as a museumpiece to this day.
Brabham was named Australian ''Man of the Year'' in 1966, and the Queen awarded him
Order Of The British Empire in 1967, and appointed him a
Knight Bachelor in
1979 .
All three of Brabham's sons -
Geoff ,
Gary and
David - are also engaged in racing careers.
He was inducted into the
International Motorsports Hall Of Fame in
1990 .
In 1998, Sir Jack Brabham returned to the old
Nürburgring to race a VW
New Beetle 1.8T in the 6 Hours
VLN with
Ross Palmer and
Melinda Price , scoring the fastest lap among the 3 pilots with over 134 km/h in average. Brabham said he returned to the Ring for the first time since 1970, and was surprised about the changes in safety - and the sunshine.
Brabham was honored, along with featured marque
Cooper , at the 2006 Monterey Historic Automobile Races.http://www.jackbrabham.com/news_detail.html?NEWSID=100016
Before setting up his own race team, Brabham had already established his own car dealership, Jack Brabham Motors, in London. In the early 1960s it also offered engine conversions for
Triumph Herald s and BMC
MG Midget /
Austin-Healey Sprite by transplanting
Coventry Climax FWE engines.
() (Races in indicate pole position)
| |
"wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|
|
