Jack Brabham

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Jack Brabham
Image:BrabhamJack1966B.jpg Jack Brabham in 1966, the year of his final world championship
Formula One Career
Nationality	Image:Flag of Australia.svg Australian
Active years	1955 - 1970
Team(s)	Cooper, Rob Walker Racing Team and Brabham
Grands Prix	128
Championships	3
Wins	14
Podium finishes	31
Pole positions	13
Fastest laps	12
First Grand Prix	1955 British Grand Prix
First win	1959 Monaco Grand Prix
Last win	1970 South African Grand Prix
Last Grand Prix	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 a second generation Australian, 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.

Image:BrabhamJack19650801Südkehre.jpg

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,<ref>Cooper, Adam (May 1999) "The world according to Jack" Motorsport p. 36 The article quotes Jack as saying "There's no way you could call those 1500-cc machines Formula One."</ref> 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".<ref>Henry (1985) p.51 The quote also appears in Lawrence (1999) p.58</ref> 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 left 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.

Image:Jack Brabham 80birthday.jpg

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.

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

[edit] Complete F1 World Championship Results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Team	WDC	Points
1955	Cooper	ARG	MON	IND	BEL	DUT	GBR Ret	ITA							Cooper	-	0
1956	Jack Brabham	ARG	MON	IND	BEL	FRA	GBR Ret	GER	ITA						Jack Brabham	-	0
1957	Cooper	ARG	MON 6	IND	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER	PES 7	ITA						Cooper	-	0
1958	Cooper	ARG	MON 4	DUT 8	IND	BEL Ret	FRA 6	GBR 6	GER Ret	POR 7	ITA Ret	MOR 11			Cooper	18th	3
1959	Cooper	MON 1	IND	DUT 2	FRA 3	GBR 1	GER Ret	POR Ret	ITA 3	USA 4					Cooper	1st	31
1960	Cooper	ARG Ret	MON DSQ	IND	DUT 1	BEL 1	FRA 1	GBR 1	POR 1	ITA	USA 4				Cooper	1st	43
1961	Cooper	MON Ret	DUT 6	BEL Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 4	GER Ret	ITA Ret	USA Ret						Cooper	11th	4
1962	Brabham	DUT Ret	MON 8	BEL 6	FRA Ret	GBR 5	GER Ret	ITA	USA 4	SAF 4					Brabham	9th	9
1963	Brabham	MON 9	BEL Ret	DUT Ret	FRA 4	GBR Ret	GER 7	ITA 5	USA 4	MEX 2	SAF 13				Brabham	7th	14
1964	Brabham	MON Ret	DUT Ret	BEL 3	FRA 3	GBR 4	GER 12	AUT 9	ITA 14	USA Ret	MEX 15				Brabham	8th	11
1965	Brabham	SAF 8	MON Ret	BEL 4	FRA	GBR DNS	DUT	GER 5	ITA	USA 3	MEX Ret				Brabham	10th	9
1966	Brabham	MON Ret	BEL 4	FRA 1	GBR 1	DUT 1	GER 1	ITA Ret	USA Ret	MEX 2					Brabham	1st	42
1967	Brabham	SAF 6	MON Ret	DUT 2	BEL Ret	FRA 1	GBR 4	GER 2	CAN 1	ITA 2	USA 5	MEX 2			Brabham	2nd	46
1968	Brabham	SAF Ret	ESP DNS	MON Ret	BEL Ret	DUT Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER 5	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA Ret	MEX 10		Brabham	23rd	2
1969	Brabham	SAF Ret	ESP Ret	MON Ret	DUT 6	FRA Inj	GBR Inj	GER Inj	ITA Ret	CAN 2	USA 4	MEX 3			Brabham	10th	14
1970	Brabham	SAF 1	ESP Ret	MON 2	BEL Ret	DUT 11	FRA 3	GBR 2	GER Ret	AUT 13	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA 10	MEX Ret	Brabham	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] External links

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