Jack Brabham

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Jack Brabham
Jack Brabham in 1966, the year of his final world championship
Nationality	Australian
World Championship Career
Active years	1955 - 1970
Team(s)	Cooper, Rob Walker Racing Team and Brabham
Races	128
Championships	3
Wins	14
Podium finishes	31
Pole positions	13
Fastest laps	12
First race	1955 British Grand Prix
First win	1959 Monaco Grand Prix
Last win	1970 South African Grand Prix
Last race	1970 Mexican Grand Prix

Sir John Arthur "Jack" Brabham, 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 Brabham Racing Organisation with Ron Tauranac. A newly introduced engine limit in Formula One of 1500 cc did not suit Brabham and he did not win a single race with a 1500 cc car,^[1] although his first team win came in 1964 with Dan Gurney. His team suffered poor reliability during this period, attirbuted by some commentators to Brabham's notorious thrift. Referring to Brabham's unwillingness to spend money, his team mate Gurney said that "Jack was tighter than a bull's ass in fly season".^[2] 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.^[3]

Contents 1 Complete F1 World Championship Results 2 Indy 500 results 3 Notes 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Complete F1 World Championship Results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	WDC	Points
1955	Cooper Car Company	Cooper T40	Bristol	ARG	MON	500	BEL	NED	GBR Ret	ITA							-	0
1956	Jack Brabham	Maserati 250F	Maserati	ARG	MON	500	BEL	FRA	GBR Ret	GER	ITA						-	0
1957	Cooper Car Company	Cooper T43	Coventry Climax	ARG	MON 6	500	FRA Ret		GER Ret	PES 7	ITA						-	0
	Rob Walker Racing Team	Cooper T43	Coventry Climax					GBR Ret
1958	Cooper Car Company	Cooper T45	Coventry Climax	ARG	MON 4	NED 8	500	BEL Ret	FRA 6	GBR 6	GER Ret	POR 7	ITA Ret	MOR 11			18th	3
1959	Cooper Car Company	Cooper T51	Coventry Climax	MON 1	500	NED 2	FRA 3	GBR 1	GER Ret	POR Ret	ITA 3	USA 4					1st	31
1960	Cooper Car Company	Cooper T51	Coventry Climax	ARG Ret													1st	43
		Cooper T53	Coventry Climax		MON DSQ	500	NED 1	BEL 1	FRA 1	GBR 1	POR 1	ITA	USA 4
1961	Cooper Car Company	Cooper T55	Coventry Climax	MON Ret	NED 6	BEL Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 4									11th	4
		Cooper T58	Coventry Climax						GER Ret	ITA Ret	USA Ret
1962	Brabham Racing Organisation	Lotus 24	Coventry Climax	NED Ret	MON 8	BEL 6	FRA Ret	GBR 5									9th	9
		Brabham BT3	Coventry Climax						GER Ret	ITA	USA 4	RSA 4
1963	Brabham Racing Organisation	Lotus 25	Coventry Climax	MON 9													7th	14
		Brabham BT3	Coventry Climax		BEL Ret					ITA 5
		Brabham BT7	Coventry Climax			NED Ret	FRA 4	GBR Ret	GER 7		USA 4	MEX 2	RSA 13
1964	Brabham Racing Organisation	Brabham BT7	Coventry Climax	MON Ret	NED Ret	BEL 3	FRA 3	GBR 4	GER 12								8th	11
		Brabham BT11	Coventry Climax							AUT 9	ITA 14	USA Ret	MEX 15
1965	Brabham Racing Organisation	Brabham BT11	Coventry Climax	RSA 8	MON Ret	BEL 4	FRA	GBR DNS	NED	GER 5	ITA	USA 3	MEX Ret				10th	9
1966	Brabham Racing Organisation	Brabham BT19	Repco	MON Ret	BEL 4	FRA 1	GBR 1	NED 1	GER 1	ITA Ret	USA Ret						1st	42
		Brabham BT20	Coventry Climax									MEX 2
1967	Brabham Racing Organisation	Brabham BT20	Repco	RSA 6													2nd	46
		Brabham BT19	Repco		MON Ret	NED 2
		Brabham BT24	Repco				BEL Ret	FRA 1	GBR 4	GER 2	CAN 1	ITA 2	USA 5	MEX 2
1968	Brabham Racing Organisation	Brabham BT24	Repco	RSA Ret													23rd	2
		Brabham BT26	Repco		ESP DNS	MON Ret	BEL Ret	NED Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER 5	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA Ret	MEX 10
1969	Brabham Racing Organisation	Brabham BT26A	Ford	RSA Ret	ESP Ret	MON Ret	NED 6	FRA Inj	GBR Inj	GER Inj	ITA Ret	CAN 2	USA 4	MEX 3			10th	14
1970	Brabham Racing Organisation	Brabham BT33	Ford	RSA 1	ESP Ret	MON 2	BEL Ret	NED 11	FRA 3	GBR 2	GER Ret	AUT 13	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA 10	MEX Ret	5th	25

[edit] Indy 500 results

Year Car Start Qual Rank Finish Laps Led Retired 1961 17 13 145.144 17 9 200 0 Running 1964 52 25 152.504 15 20 77 0 Fuel Tank 1969 95 29 163.875 29 24 58 0 Ignition 1970 32 26 166.397 22 13 175 1 Piston Totals 510 1

Starts 4 Poles 0 Front Row 0 Wins 0 Top 5 0 Top 10 1 Retired 3

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Henry, Alan (1985). Brabham, the Grand Prix Cars. Osprey. ISBN 0-905138-36-8. 
• Lawrence, Mike (1999). Brabham+Ralt+Honda: The Ron Tauranac story. Motor Racing Publications. ISBN 1-899870-35-0. 

[edit] External links

• Grand Prix History - Hall of Fame, Jack Brabham
• Jack Brabham statistics
• Official website
• Brabham's 1998 Ring race

Preceded by Mike Hawthorn	Formula One World Champion 1959-1960	Succeeded by Phil Hill
Preceded by Jim Clark	Formula One World Champion 1966	Succeeded by Denny Hulme
Preceded by Sir Robert Helpmann	Australian of the Year 1966	Succeeded by The Seekers
Preceded by Peter Collins	BRDC International Trophy winner 1957	Succeeded by Innes Ireland
Preceded by Jim Clark	BRDC International Trophy winner 1964	Succeeded by Jackie Stewart
Preceded by Jackie Stewart	BRDC International Trophy winner 1966	Succeeded by Mike Parkes
Preceded by Denny Hulme	BRDC International Trophy winner 1969	Succeeded by Chris Amon