The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsFormula One has been blessed with some truly outstanding drivers in the past, and whilst they should all be respected in their own right as world champions – many of whom have won multiple titles – it is human nature to try and compare drivers of different generations. Here at ‘The Sports Lowdown’ our chief Formula One writers Dan Culyer and Ben Boorman attempt to do just that. In a daily countdown, they will formulate a list of the greatest drivers – past and present – in an attempt to decipher who is the greatest the sport has ever seen.
Whether it is Senna; or Schumacher; or Prost; or Hamilton; or Clark; or Stewart; or Vettel – be sure to keep an eye on proceedings at The Sports Lowdown, and as usual we would love to hear your views on our list, so any comments would be greatly appreciated.
No. 10 – Sir Jack Brabham
Sir Jack Brabham was known for being a ruthless driver, always ready to pick the right opportunity to attack in a race. One of his best qualities was his passion for building and developing the cars he raced in: his sheer determination was influential in driving the team forward and ensuring that, as a team, they are always improving, and he was never fully satisfied and strived for perfection in every race which is one of the big reasons he achieved so much success in his career. He also had a big hand in the revolutionary designs in racing cars through the 1960s and, as technology improved, he was one of the main pioneers for change in the sport.
Jack Brabham started his racing career with midget cars, which for the record did exist, in Australia. After several years of competing well, Brabham became inspired to take up road racing, and combined with his passion for building cars and engines, built and modified his own cars to race on circuits within Australia racking up an impressive string of victories before embarking on the European scene in 1955.
After many requests he finally got his big break with the Cooper Car Company, where he worked day and night on the vehicles, especially the engines to perfect his machine. After several years of showing potential but not fulfilling it, in 1959 he finally emerged into the top echelons of F1. Driving the new Cooper T-51 Straight 4, he won the opening race of the season in Monaco, then going on to win the British Grand Prix that summer, after a three-way battle all season with British drivers, Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks, he clinched the Championship at the final race of the season.
Brabham went into 1960 knowing that they needed an upgrade on his car and he helped Team Boss, John Cooper, to build the Cooper T-53 which was far more technologically advanced than it’s predecessor. Although he failed to finish the opening two races of the season, he won the next 5 consecutive Grand Prix’s in dominant display to win his 2nd World Title in a row. In 1961 he faded away and failed to retain the title and promptly left Cooper at the end of the season.
But he didn’t join another team, he created his own Brabham Racing Team which entered F1 in 1962, but didn’t achieve initial success as Brabham’s tendency to experiment new ideas on the cars caused lots of unreliability. They went through their first 4 years without a win and many felt ‘Black Jack’ had lost his competitive edge. How wrong they were soon revealed to have been. In the build up to the 1966 season, team were allowed to use 3-litre engines for the first time which many teams found challenging because they were heavy and unreliable, but Jack had found a very clever way round this problem.
He called Repco, an Australian engineering company, and Brabham told them that he had Engine Blocks at the ready but needed them to build the engine around it, it wouldn’t be as powerful as it’s rivals, but much lighter and much more reliable. Repco agreed to do it and the combination of Repco’s engine and the BT19 chassis of Brabham’s worked like a treat, as he stormed into season winning form as 4 Grand Prix victories in a row was more than enough to see off his rivals and win the Championship convincingly making Brabham the first man after Juan Manuel Fangio to become a 3-Time F1 World Champion. Brabham remains to this day the only man in F1 history to win the World Championship driving a car bearing his own name.
He raced on until retiring in 1970 at the age of 44. He increased the exposure of F1 to the Australian market which has seen many Aussies travel to Europe and drive their craft to make it into F1, the likes of Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo have both followed the path into F1 and both have achieved success continuing the legacy that Jack laid down all those years ago.
A true legend of the sport, Brabham is remembered for his attacking racing spirit, but also his exceptional mechanical brain, making him one of the most complete drivers of all time.
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@benboorman21 @Dan_Culyer
Tomorrow: Number 7 – ?
