Editing Jack Brabham (section)

====Cooper====
[[File:Cooper T51 rear Donington.jpg|right|thumb|A rear-engined T51 of the type Brabham used to win his first world championship]]
Upon arriving in Europe on his own in early 1955, Brabham based himself in the UK, where he bought another Cooper to race in national events. His crowd-pleasing driving style initially betrayed his dirt track origins: as he put it, he took corners "by using full [steering] lock and lots of throttle".<ref>Unique p.58 "Jack Brabham" 1959</ref> Visits to the Cooper factory for parts led to a friendship with Charlie and [[John Cooper (car maker)|John Cooper]], who told the story that after many requests for a drive with the factory team, Brabham was given the keys to the transporter taking the cars to a race.<ref>Dracket (1985) p.16</ref> Brabham soon "seemed to ''merge'' into Cooper Cars":<ref name=GPcars80>Lawrence (1989) p.80</ref> he was not an employee, but he started working at Cooper daily from the midpoint of the 1955 season building a Bobtail mid-engined [[sports car]], intended for [[Formula One]], the top category of single seater racing.{{efn|Formula One rules did not at that time prevent the use of cars with enclosed wheels.}} He made his Grand Prix debut at the age of 29 driving the car at the [[1955 British Grand Prix]]. It had a 2-litre engine, half a litre less than permitted, and ran slowly with a broken clutch before retiring.<ref name=GPcars80 /><ref>Brabham, Nye (2004) pp.54–56</ref> Later in the year Brabham, again driving the Bobtail, tussled with [[Stirling Moss]] for third place in a non-championship Formula One race at [[Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit|Snetterton]]. Although Moss finished ahead, Brabham saw the race as a turning point, proving that he could compete at this level. He shipped the Bobtail back to Australia, where he used it to win the 1955 [[Australian Grand Prix]] before selling it to help fund a permanent move to the UK the following year with his wife Betty and their son [[Geoff Brabham|Geoff]].<ref>Brabham, Nye (2004) pp.56–57</ref>

Brabham briefly and unsuccessfully campaigned his own second hand Formula One [[Maserati 250F]] during 1956, but his season was saved by drives for Cooper in [[Sports car racing|sports cars]] and [[Formula Two]], the junior category to Formula One.<ref>Brabham, Nye (2004) p.59</ref> At that time, almost all racing cars had their engines mounted at the front but Coopers were different, having the engine placed behind the driver, which improved their handling. In 1957, Brabham drove another mid-engined Cooper, again only fitted with a 2-litre engine, at the [[1957 Monaco Grand Prix|Monaco Grand Prix]]. He avoided a large crash at the first corner and was running third towards the end of the race when the fuel pump mount failed. After more than three hours of racing, the exhausted Brabham, who "hated to be beaten",<ref>Brabham, Nye (2004) p.61</ref> pushed the car to the line to finish sixth.<ref>Unique ''Jack Brabham – Star from Down Under'' p.27 reproduced from [[Car and Driver|Sports Car Illustrated]] 1959</ref> The following year, he was Autocar Formula Two champion in a Cooper, while continuing to score minor points-scoring positions with the small-engined Coopers in the World Drivers' Championship and driving for [[Aston Martin]] in Sportscars.<ref name=Unique30 /> His schedule necessitated a considerable amount of travel on the roads of Europe. Brabham's driving on public roads was described as "safe as houses",<ref>Unique p.111, a reproduction of the profile 'Deeds, not words' by Alan Brinton (1966)</ref> unlike many of his contemporaries—on the way back from the [[1957 Pescara Grand Prix]], passenger [[Tony Brooks (racing driver)|Tony Brooks]] took over driving after Brabham refused to overtake a long line of lorries. In late 1958, Brabham rekindled his interest in flying and began taking lessons. He bought his own plane and on gaining his [[Pilot licensing in the United Kingdom|licence]] began to make heavy use of it piloting himself, his family, and members of his team around Europe to races.<ref name="Brabham 1971 pp.98—117">Brabham (1971) pp.98—117</ref>

In [[1959 Formula One season|1959]], Cooper obtained 2.5-litre engines for the first time and Brabham put the extra power to good use by winning his first world championship race at the season-opening [[1959 Monaco Grand Prix|Monaco Grand Prix]] after [[Jean Behra]]'s Ferrari and [[Stirling Moss]]'s Cooper failed.<ref>Rendall (2007) pp.215–216</ref> More podium places were followed by a win in the [[1959 British Grand Prix|British Grand Prix]] at Aintree after Brabham preserved his tyres to the end of the race, enabling him to finish ahead of Moss who had to pit to replace worn tyres.<ref>Brabham, Nye (2004) p.85</ref> This gave him a 13-point championship lead with four races to go. At the [[1959 Portuguese Grand Prix|Portuguese Grand Prix]] at Monsanto Park, Brabham was chasing race leader Moss when a backmarker moved over on him and launched the Cooper into the air. The airborne car hit a telegraph pole, throwing Brabham onto the track, where he narrowly avoided being hit by one of his teammates but escaped with no serious injury.<ref name="ReferenceA">Straw, Edd (7 May 2009 ) "Jack of All Trades" ''Autosport''</ref> With two wins each, Brabham, Moss, and Ferrari's Tony Brooks were all capable of winning the championship at the final event of the season, the [[1959 United States Grand Prix|United States Grand Prix]] at Sebring. Brabham was among those up until 1&nbsp;am the morning before the race working on the Cooper team cars. The next day, after pacing himself behind Moss, who soon retired with a broken gearbox, he led almost to the end of the race before running out of fuel on the last lap. He again pushed the car to the finish line to place fourth, although in the event this was unnecessary as his other title rival, Brooks, finished only third.<ref>Brabham, Nye (2004) pp.89–97</ref> His championship-winning margin over Brooks was four points. According to Gerald Donaldson, "some thought [his title] owed more to stealth than skill, an opinion at least partly based on Brabham's low-key presence."<ref name=Halloffame />

Despite his success with Cooper, Brabham was sure he could do better. He considered buying Cooper in partnership with Roy Salvadori and then in late 1959 he asked his friend [[Ron Tauranac]] to come to the UK and work with him, producing upgrade kits for [[Sunbeam Rapier]] and [[Triumph Herald]] road cars at his car dealership, Jack Brabham Motors, but with the long-term aim of designing racing cars.<ref>Lawrence (1999) p. 22-4 & Henry (1985) p.19</ref> Brabham continued to drive for Cooper, but on the long flight back from the [[1960 Formula One season|1960 season]]-opening [[1960 Argentine Grand Prix|Argentine Grand Prix]], he had a heart-to-heart with John Cooper. John's father Charlie and the designer [[Owen Maddock]] had been reluctant to update their car, but although a Cooper had won in Argentina, other cars had been faster before they broke down.<ref>Brabham, Nye (2005) pp.112–113</ref> Brabham helped design the more advanced [[Cooper T53]], including advice from Tauranac.<ref>Lawrence (1999) pp.11–12</ref> Brabham spun the new car out of the next championship race, the [[1960 Monaco Grand Prix|Monaco Grand Prix]], but then embarked on a series of five straight victories. He won from the front at the [[1960 Dutch Grand Prix|Dutch]], [[1960 French Grand Prix|French]], and [[1960 Belgian Grand Prix|Belgian Grands Prix]], where title rival Moss was badly injured in a practice accident that put him out for two months. Two other drivers were killed during the race. At the [[1960 British Grand Prix|British Grand Prix]], Brabham was closing on Graham Hill's BRM before Hill spun off, leaving Brabham the victory. He then came back from eighth place to second at the [[1960 Portuguese Grand Prix|Portuguese Grand Prix]] after sliding off on [[Tramway track|tramlines]] and won after race leader John Surtees crashed. Brabham's points total was put out of reach when the British teams withdrew from the Italian GP on safety grounds.<ref>Brabham, Nye (2005) pp.115–121</ref> Mike Lawrence writes that Brabham's expertise in setting up the cars was a significant factor in Cooper's 1960 drivers' and constructors' titles.<ref>Lawrence (1998) p.86</ref>

Coventry Climax were late in producing the smaller 1.5-litre engine required for the [[1961 Formula One season|1961 season]] and the Cooper-Climaxes were outclassed by new mid-engined cars from [[Porsche in Formula One|Porsche]], Lotus, and championship-winners Ferrari.<ref>Lawrence (1998) p.87</ref> Brabham scored only three points and finished 11th in the championship. He had a little more success in the non-championship Formula One races, where he ran his own private Coopers and took three victories at [[1961 Lombank Trophy|Snetterton]] (26 March), [[1961 Brussels Grand Prix|Brussels]] (9 April), and [[1961 Aintree 200|Aintree]] (22 April).

[[1961 Indianapolis 500|The same year]], Brabham entered the famous [[Indianapolis 500]] oval race for the first time in a modified version of the Formula One Cooper. It had a 2.7-litre Climax engine producing {{Convert|268|bhp|kW PS|0|abbr=on}} compared to the 4.4-litre, {{Convert|430|bhp|kW PS|0|abbr=on}} [[Offenhauser]] engines used by the front-engined [[Roadster (automobile)|roadsters]] driven by all the other entrants. Jack qualified a respectable 17th at 145.144 mp/h (pole winner [[Eddie Sachs]] qualified at 147.481 mp/h), and while the front-engined roadsters were much faster on the long front and back straights, the rear-engined Cooper's superior handling through the turns and the shorter north and south sections kept the reigning World Champion competitive. Brabham ran as high as third before finishing ninth, completing all 200 laps. Although most of the doubters in the American Indycar scene claimed that rear-engine cars were for drivers who like to be pushed around, as Brabham put it, it "triggered the rear-engined revolution at Indy" and within five years most of the cars that raced at [[Indianapolis Motor Speedway|Indianapolis]] would be rear-engined.<ref>Brabham, Nye (2004)pp.133–136</ref>