Brabham Grand Prix Team
A brief unofficial history
A former F1 racing icon
Early Successes for Jack Brabham...
Jack Brabham starting out on his F1 career with the Cooper Team
Australian Jack (now Sir Jack) Brabham came to
John Cooper was responsible for the rear engine layout design, which has become the standard for grand prix cars in the modern era. Brabham took the Drivers' world championship for Cooper in 1959 and 1960, but Jack had aspirations to run his own F1 team.
Establishing a successful team...
Jack left Cooper at the end of the 1961 season to establish his own team.
Ron Tauranac, a friend and fellow Australian joined Brabham as Chief Designer and the BT3 Brabham F1 car made its debut at the Nurburgring in 1962 with Jack Brabham behind the wheel. Power was provided by a Coventry Climax V8 engine. In 1964 the Brabham team enjoyed their first grand prix victory with the BT7 car driven by the American Dan Gurney.
At the end of the 1965 season there was a change in engine formula to 3 litres, and the withdrawal of Coventry Climax as an engine supplier, Brabham used the Australian made Repco engine in the BT19 and BT20 chassis. With reliability from the new engine, Brabham was able to take the 1966 Drivers World Championship. This was Jack's third Drivers World Championship, and it was notably because it was the first time (and so far the only time) that a driver has won the championship as a team owner. The Queen awarded Jack Brabham the OBE for 'his services to motor racing'.
the late Denny Hulme - 1967 Drivers' Champion
Denny Hulme of New Zealand who was the number two driver at Brabham, finished runner up to Jack in the 1966 championship, but in 1967 the tables were reversed. The gritty New Zealander took the Drivers' Championship for Brabham with Jack in the runners up position.
Jackie Ickx the Belgian driver (who replaced Hulme when he moved to McLaren) was second in the 1969 Championship in the Brabham-Ford car.
Jack Brabham continued to race his own cars but in 1970 at the age of 44
years, with 14 grand prix wins in his career he decided to retire and return to
Bernie Ecclestone - the new team principal at Brabham
The 1970s ...
Ron Tauranac stayed as Chief Designer but the relationship with Bernie Ecclestone didn't work out, and Ron left in 1972. Gordon Murray who had been one of Tauranac's design assistants took over as Brabham’s chief designer.
In 1976 after a long association with Cosworth, the Brabham team in an effort to find a 'competitive edge' switched to the Alfa-Romeo flat 12 engine. Niki Lauda (double World Champion) joined Brabham in 1978 and it was at this time that the controversial 'fan car' BT46B was developed. Lauda took the car to victory at its debut race in Sweden but it was immediately banned by the FIA (although the victory in Sweden was allowed to stand).
Alfa continued as engine supplier with a V12, but the Brabham-Alfa combination did not allow Lauda to perform as he wished (Brabham team took only 7 points in the 1979 Constructors Championship)and Lauda retired from F1 racing (to return a few seasons later with McLaren). However a young talented Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet had joined the Brabham team.
The talented Brizilian Nelson Piquet
The early 1980s - the glory years and then decline...
Brabham switched to Cosworth engine power with the BT49 and in 1980 Piquet was runner up in the Drivers World Championship. In 1981 Nelson Piquet took his first Drivers World Championship.
In 1982 there was another engine switch to BMW power (this was the era of turbo charged engines) and in 1983 Nelson Piquet was able to take the Drivers World Championship for the second time.
After these successes the team 'lost its way', with competition coming from a revitalised McLaren team and the successful Williams team. In 1986 Nelson Piquet moved to the Williams team and the Brabham team could only manage to score 2 World Championship points. To exacerbate the problems, Gordon Murray left Brabham to join the McLaren team.
The lack of success was reflected in problems of sponsorship funding and although the team raced for the 1987 season, Bernie Ecclestone decided that it was time to close the team and for him to concentrate on wider issues within the F1 grand prix world … but that as they say is another story.
The Brabham team however returned to the F1 grid in 1989 after being sold to a Swiss financier who was later jailed for fraud. The team changed hands and continued to 1992 but a mere shadow of its former self.
It is sad to see the demise of a successful team in such a short time, but it is a reflection of how competitive modern grand prix racing can be.
World Drivers Champions driving Brabham cars
1966 Jack Brabham (Australia)
1967 Denny Hulme (New Zealand)
1981 Nelson Piquet (Brazil)
1983 Nelson Piquet (Brazil)
Post Script - Bernie Ecclestone...
Bernie Ecclestone of course continued in F1, to mastermind the business side - particularly to control, develop and sell the TV rights to the F1 World Series of races to a new global television audience. Ecclestone is generally regarded as 'Mr Fix-it' in the F1 racing business. In February 2000 Deutsche Bank paid £234M for 12.5% stake in Slec the F1 holding company and Hellman & Friedman (an American equity firm ) paid about £625M for 37,5% stake, the remaining 50% is held by trusts controlled by Bernie and Slavica Ecclestone. The 2003 Sunday Times Rich List ranked Bernie and his wife Slavica as worth about £2,400 Million (about US $3,600 million) and ranked them 3rd richest in the UK.
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