The man who built his own Formula 1 car... and won
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ก.ค. 2023
- Much of the research and photos for this video came from this amazing book:
www.amazon.com/Jack-Brabham-S...
This is the story of Jack Brabham, and how he became a Formula 1 racer and ultimately won the Formula 1 championship in his own car.
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He is held in high regard in our country. Sir Jack Brabham. 🏁🇦🇺🍻
Yea mate 👍👍🍺🍺
Black Jack - my boyhood hero/idol. I followed his endeavors and watched all his races in New Zealand. A truly great and extremely talented man. 👍🌝
The likes of someone like him will never be seen again. Long live the legend of Sir Black Jack Brabham. And Bruce MacLaren & John Britten from NZ, too.
Unforgettable John Britten 👏👏👏RIP 🙏🙏
He's held in high regard everywhere. I am an American. I believe one of the 3l formula cars used a highly modified aluminium block American V8.
I worked for Sir Jack for 20yrs at one of his dealerships in the UK. Wonderful man would always chat to us a d tell us many racing and engineering experiences. Oh and his real name was John. R.I.P BOSS
Ha ha In Australia the name John is often nicknamed as Jack. I’m not sure if is elsewhere.
@@weswright3187 Yeah, Jack is an old nickname for someone named John. Not so common anymore though.
@@weswright3187 Yeah, that is true in pretty much the entire English speaking world.
@@weswright3187anywere in UK or comenwealth , my daughter s got a boyfriend called Jack but his name is John as was my uncle Jack.
As a small child I knocked back the chance to see Jack Brabham race Longford in Tasmania, still kicking myself
A key part of the story is yet another Australian - Phil Irving - who developed the Repco engine.
Phil Irving deserves his own video. He was lightning quick on his motorbike (Vincent)
I met Phil Irving in early 1971, when he gave a talk at the Triumph Sports Owners Association, a really interesting guy with so much experience. I still have a signed copy of his seminal book Tuning For Speed.
@@Sean_Coyne I bought Phil's book as an apprentice and learned a lot -enough to break my FJ many times through overreving. Those were the days ,sitting on oil can , Rothmans dangling from the lips , no mask grinding out the ports to fit 2 inch SU manifolds.
Phil Irving was definitely a legend. There is a book out there somewhere about him titled ‘The Air Was Purple’ I think. He was brilliant and he had that gift of ‘talking’ things together and getting them to work. I would love to find that book. Jeff
What a legend.
They are building Brabhams in Australia now btw.
In the old Holden factory at Elizabeth.
Run by Jack’s son David Brabham.
Didn't know that - thanks from S.A
I love a 10 minute drive from the old Holden factory, and I didn’t know that. It’s good to see the old GMH plant still being used to produce cars.
That's complete and utter rubbish!
In 2020 the Epicurean Food Group invested 110 million dollars into the plant to turn it into a mushroom farm.
The facility is expected to be in full production by mid 2024.
Brabham Automotive's manufacturing facility is in Edinburgh Park.
Three weeks after getting my driver's liicence in 1972 l managed to almost collide at speed with a police car coming in the opposite direcction on a rural road. My licence was suspended and l had to redo the driving test . The examiner. Ozzie Stevens, looked at the paper work and said: "Ah! Been playing Jackie Brabhams have we ?"
I’ve got a great book about Sir Jack and one of the things that was very apparent from the interviews and everything else was that in spite of the fact he was very much a self made man and had every reason to have an enormous ego he was quite a humble man who respected the other drivers and teams immensely. He openly admitted that many times his machine or himself didn’t quite have the speed to match his rivals so he would just try to make his car as reliable as possible and drive as consistently as he could and it often paid dividends. He was very judicious and wise as a driver/engineer and I think that’s one of the main reasons he survived through an absolutely deadly period in Formula 1 history. A true gentleman R.I.P. Sir Jack.
Jack told the story in another documentary of how after the first race of the 1960 F1 season in Argentina, he and John Cooper saw that the rest of the field were catching up to their 1959 Championship winning car design,
The response was that on the long flight back from Argentina to the UK, he and John Cooper redesigned the car to be more competitive with a new suspension system and improved aerodynamics.
Worked well. The redesign was soon up and ruining. Running so well to win the 1960 World Championship again for Jack Brabham and Cooper cars.
I suspect Jack had the most input into that process. When Jack later left Coopers to form Motor Racing Developments cars, Cooper drifted down the rankings and finally withdrew from F1.
Jack was also a key person in convincing John Cooper that the Mini should be developed into the Mini Cooper using the Cooper shop hack Mini as a demonstrater . The shop parts getting hack Mini using the BMC A series that Cooper had on hand but highly developed into the power plant of the 1 litre Cooper Formula Junior racing car. This meant the developed engine was an easy swap into the Mini. Jack then chased Dunlop to get their new disc brakes to be made in a size that suited a Mini. The prototype was then taken by John Cooper to BMC who did not need much convincing to get the Mini Cooper off the ground to the benefit of both Cooper Cars and BMC.
Saw one at an autocross race...it was a real screamer, too bad the driver never figured out the track layout...he DNF'd every run
The 997 Mini, small bore, long stroke, with disk brakes not much larger then a go-kart's.
Jack designed most of the 60’ car. Mini only added final touches, also in 66, he was also building cars for different classes by himself, which were able to succeed in their categories,all the while jack designed his car,managed his own team and fought for the championship that season.people forget or discount him from the batch of motorsport greats,but even me despite being a colin chapman descendant,can’t possibly deny,jack is truly second to none,his feel for design and the car was unlike anything else,no one had come close to that feat at a time with dominant big constructors and very likely no one ever will.
So Jack was the first and Bruce was the last car builder and racer in F1.
There has been a number of other Kiwis that have done extraordinary things over the years
Richard Pearse first person in the world to built and fly his own aircraft before the Wright brothers.
There was the builder of plastic fantastic. The first plastic monocot motorcycle frame did extremely good down under on the race tracks
Macintosh frames also extremely ahead of the time building some of the best superbike frames
BCM (or similar brand name) building their own two-stroke motor, GP engines and frame and racing and motor GP before they change to 4 strokes.
The Hamilton Jet boat which was the 1st jet boat to be able to travel up rivers in the world in the company still going today?.
Plus so many more
But do not forget Burt Munro and the worlds fastest Indian motorcycle who kept putting so much time and redesigning the engine to become so fast.
This is all just in New Zealand and I’ve missed so many of the other mechanical geniuses that have come from New Zealand.
Very true indeed👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Bruce still has a team named after him in F1 …sorry Jack mate !
You beauty Bart. You omitted Jack giving Denny Holme and Bruce McClaren drives, cars and support- like an antipodean mafia in a deeply class ridden England. When Jack originally got to Europe he apparently tried to get a gig with Ferrari who sent him on his way and this experience helped fuel his desire to outdrive Ferraris into the ground. Not a bad ambition considering the windmill that Ferrari was, and still is.
Good point. In 1966 Jack won the F1 season with the Brabham-Tauranac designed and built vehicle. Ford beat Ferrari at Le Mans with their GT40 (how many people involved in the project? how many $Millions spent on the project?). In 2019 Hollywood spends $98Million US to make a movie about the "under-dog beating the big rich racing company" i.e. Ford v Ferrari. What a nation of unflushable floaters the USA is.
Jack Brabham's dislike of Ferrari is one of the reasons why Mark Webber didn't sign up with Ferrari. Until I read your comment I didn't understand why it would have hurt Jack Brabham but I know now.
"Black Jack" as many car racing fans and the press called Mr. Jack, was so unique in the F 1 arena during his years of developing and racing a reliable product. His several Indianapolis "500" events he qualified and raced in were noted.
In the 1969 Indy race, the talented Peter Revson made the Brabham-Repco V-8 history that almost made Revson the "Rookie of the Year" winner (which went to the greats of Mark Donahue instead due to his starting and finishing position). I was there at the '69 Indy...amazed at how that Repco engine sounded...somewhat like the "song" of the Novi powered cars had in earlier years.
Master Jack...now that was one designer/car owner/driver the competition couldn't take for granted!
Mechanical engineer from Sydney, Australia, here. Thanks for the wonderful documentary. The late Sir Jack Brabham is a legend down here. I hope I am wrong, but I doubt whether we shall ever see his like again.
I remember reading an article in a motor mag in the 60's, The Olds block was tried and found wanting so Repco cast an entirely new block and heads, There were 2 names mentioned who did most of the work on the engine, one being Phil Irving, the man behind the design of the Vincent V twins and another Repco employee named Charlie Dean.
Ron was an Australian who grew up in a small town near Newcastle. Ron was also enlisted into the RAAF during WWII. He would later start RALT production open wheelers in the UK
Great story. In my youth, I read about Jack Brabham in the automotive press and he was one of my heroes. Good to learn more about him.
Jack Brabham is a legend in F1 racing and the Australian racing fraternity. Another great Australian engineer/driver was a bloke called Frank Matich. He made his name in F5000s and was very successful and highly respected in the Motor Racing world.
I'm really glad you mentioned John Britten.The completely homemade engine and chassis (carbon fiber) VR1000 was and still is WAY ahead of it's time even today.He was an amazing man.
I had the pleasure of meeting Jack Brabham, a generous, humours and very kind man with none of the pretence and grandiose attitudes of other elite drivers, yet he commanded a instant, quiet respect.
Repco may never have built a formula 1 engine, but was involved in manufacturing and supplying general automotive, motocycles, racing, marine and became a leading supplier of aftermarket parts and innovations. Repco supported some of the toughest and most brutal race events in the world, so their engineers knowledge extended from an education of what needed to work well rather than straight performance.
I had the great pleasure of meeting Jack at an F1 gala dinner. I was a starstuck fool and he was an absolute gentleman. He signed an autograph for me and asked me about myself. He was a true champion and a nice guy.
At 11.58 isn’t that Dennis Hulme. Denny was around Brabham for a couple of years in the mid sixties before he drove for Jack . So was Dan Gurney. These guys knew how to make cars go faster. I would see Denny once a year in the Tasman Series in Australia. Despite even himself saying he was to quite he told interesting stories in the paddock once sitting on the tyre of his car in the paddock . We went there ( Sandown Park in Melbourne) after school at Fridays practice. I loved those days .
A great story. Repco here in Australia are still the go-to for parts to rebuild just about any engine!
Really? My local can't even supply correct oil filter for my Datsun.
@@derekhobbs1102
That's no way to talk about your GT-R.
No wonder it breaks down on you.
Repco was founded in Geelong, Victoria by Frank Hallam as a tuning/engine building shop now it's just a place to buy cheap chinese parts.
@@MrKdr500
Rip Every Poor C**t Off.
Thanks for the info aboat repco In Australia.
He raced against some of the greats, Moss, James Clark, absolute legends. Amazing
I got his autograph at the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix. A true gentleman, as mechanics pushed his car to the start, Jack walking behind it, helmet slung on one arm, signed autographs for all of us eager kids. As a young Aussie living in Belgium, I was so proud this champion and his car were true blue Aussie.
Jack Brabham even trained Bruce Mclaren...and the rest is history.
Jack gained the nickname Chatty Jack. Whenever a journalist asked him a question, he usually replied, either yes or no, nothing more. Hence the name Chatty Jack. His Repco engine had less power than the other teams, but in those days reliability was a consistent problem, however, the Repco was reliable, as in the tale of the Hare and Tortoise, speed is not everything reliability gets you across the line.
To finish first, first you must finish
@@robertholmes6336 Well said.
Great commentary, well researched,and well presented. Easy listening, well done!
As an Aussie, this guy is motorsport royalty to us Rev Heads!
Two other drivers that later developed and drove their own F1 cars were Bruce McLaren and Dan Gurney.
All had a Jack Brabham connection. Bruce at Coopers with Jack and Dan as one of the first Brabham team F1 drivers. I think the Brabham hands on method of developing F1 cars may have helped and inspired Bruce and Dan. Not as successful winning in their own cars as Jack though, but still a major achievement by both.
But Jack won way more times than Bruce or Dan, at least in F1, including the WDC.
And Jack and Bruce are the ONLY CAR BUILDERS THAT WON GRAND PRIX IN CARS CARRYING THEIR OWN NAME. Gurney never did that, too much of a nationalist, and used a "good ol' american eagle".
@@d.e.b.b5788 Not at Le Mans or Sebring long distance races, and he was not successful in CanAm at all. Bruce would have been ahead by the end of his career IF the rear deck of the M8D had not come loose, and killed him, at Goodwood, (while testing Denny Hulme's car for that year's CanAm), on the 2nd of June 1970. He was my friend, he was, as everyone said, never more than half an inch from a smile. I have built a 1/43rd scale Museum, containing a model of every single car he ever drove in his life. My will states that it will never be sold to the fake McLaren organisation that exists now. It is worth thousands, but I will give it to The Bruce McLaren Trust, in New Zealand, no matter how much money I lose.
The real glory days of F1 before computer aided design. We can relate to the determined genius individual who could challenge the established big money teams and win. Now the marketing and selling of F1 overshadows the cars, drivers and real racing. The visceral fear that ran up my spine in 2001 from my first full out F1 engine made my 2019 Spa experience a relative dud. How long before the Ferrari robot wins by 0.00001 seconds over the Red Bull robot and the other dilettante billionaires that buy into F1 and then are gone before another checkered flag falls? The only way modern F1 is better than the glory days is driver safety (RIP Jimmy Clark and others).
@@forestcooper5464 Jim Clark, Bruce McLaren, Mike Spence, Graham Hill, Lorenzo Bandini, Bob Anderson, Elio de Angelis, Piers Courage, Jochen Rindt, Jo Schlesser, John Taylor. Just a list of the drivers killed between 1966 and 1970 on my memorial wall plaque. There were more than just Jim Clark!
What an incredible achievement, more people should be aware of it.
Anyone that has ever had any interest in F1 and its history know of him.
@@thomasb1889 Possibly, I'm an Aussie old enough to, but ask most anyone and they don't even know who he is little own the achievement.
Bradman....... everyone does.
I've been banging on about this for years...... to anyone that will listen.😮💨😮💨
If you love formula 1 or are Australian, he is a household name.
@@arendeepropertymaintenance I'll wager even some younger F1 'fans' Don't.
as I said previously........
I've been banging on about this for years...... to anyone that will listen.😮💨😮💨
@@arendeepropertymaintenance A good movie might be the answer...plenty of characters to mine in that world.
As a teenager I was at the Geelong speed trials in the mid 1970s Jack was sitting in his car waiting his turn to run. In those days, you could get quite close to the cars without a pass of some type. Jack signed my program with a smile, then after 2 cars had their run he was off on his. Total class. R.I.P Jack.
you can still get close to the cars, you pay money for a pass but the money goes to local charity.
australia has a history of producing talent that has a big impact on the world at large. jack brabham and his formula 1 car, ben lexcen and his winged keel americas cup yacht that broke the longest winning streak in sporting history, mick doohan 5 time 500cc motorcycle gand prix champion jack brabhams son david was also very successful winning le mans 24hr, bathurst 1000 and many more races.
Jack Brabham is a legend.
This story should really have included mention of Philip Irving who designed the OHC conversion for the Repco-Brabham V8, but it also has a curious twist, Philip Irving is an Australian and is the only man to have designed a both a Grand Prix winning Motorcycle and a Car engine. The motorcycle was the Vincent-HRD 998cc V twin that Brabham used in his early car.
just... wow! what a guy
What a Wonderful time to not just be alive? But live! The racing of this era was amazing. Even the articles written were some of the best reading a young man could ever wish for. Truly inspiring. Hopefully? There will be a time for any young boy to experience this journey again in the future.
He’s something of a national hero is Sir Jack.
Thanks for making this episode on Sir Jack Brabham which records the pertinent points of his motor racing life. To any Aussie Baby Boomer he is our motor sport hero.
Bruce McLaren was a Kiwi ( NZ ) there were MANY Australians and New Zealanders with a similar story!! Redex it is pronounced 'red'ex, not re'dex,they were a sponsor and helping out with most motorsport events namely the 'Redex' trails going across Australia on Dirt roads ( More of a track than roads as such!! ) VERY VERY HARD on the cars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yep, Red EX , not reed ex
If memory serves me correctly, I think it was a Volkswagen that won the first Redex trial. And Redex was simply just automatic transmission fluid.
@@elroyfudbucker6806 yes the VW Beetle were robust enough to win, later mostly Aussie built Holden's or Fords.
One who sticks to mind is Larry Perkins. He worked on his own F1 car and raced it a few times in the late 70's. He is even represented in the movie Rush in the scene in one of the drivers briefing scenes. And another thing, Larry's dad won a Redex trial in a Beetle.
My dad bought his first bike off Jack, it was a 500cc Velocette KSS. Jack had bought it in the hopes of racing it at the speedway but quickly found out that as he put it, "I couldn't race a bike to save my life". The bike was only a frame and engine, and dad had hopes of building it up but could never get the parts so he sold it on and bought an Indian Scout. He latter sold that and bought a Velocette MAC which he raced for years.
The Buick version of the aluminium V8 was acquired by Rover of the UK and used for many years in their cars. Also the Leyland P76 in Australia.
The 1966-67 Repco 620 F1 engines used blocks which were originally seen in the Oldsmobile Cutlass. The Oldsmobile 215 V8 block was similar to the aluminum v8 used by Buick in 1960-61 but it was an engine entirely unique to Olsmobile. The blocks used in the Repco F1 engines were all ex Oldsmobile road car blocks and they had zero connection to Rover or British Leyland.
A well put together homage to Black Jack. Phil Irving, designer of the Vincent Rapide and another great Australian engineer, also had a lot to do with the initial design of the Brabham V8.
Jack and bruce were very much pioneers in motor sport, now there are endless amazingly talented Aussies and kiwis in top spots of motorsports.
The man and the legend we love you jack from Australia ❤
Ron Dennis was a mechanic at this time and worked on Jack's car if I'm not mistaken (and might have cost him a race finish) and an interesting piece about an interview with Ferrari.
This achievement is likely never to be repeated.
Jack wasn't as recognised in Australia in his final years. Quite a shame considering what he had achieved. Apparently, if he walked down the street in a European country like Germany, he was flocked by people who knew and respected him.
Your reference to Aussie and Kiwi ingenuity is very true, and the reason, out of pure necessity. My grandfather was an inventor and manufacturer (in a neighbouring suburb to where the Repco engine was built), my father a designer/manufacturer. I like to think I have it my blood too. Just the other day a friend was struggling to remove a seized mechanical part. I made a tool in seconds to lever it off with.
F1 is basically a European sport ,- Jack never competed at the highest level in his home country, but Dawn Fraser, Bradman etc , did. Motorsport isn't a "pure" sport - too many variables outside of the driver-participant
@@stephenscholes4758 but still, he was a world champion. Motoracing, and the Australian Grand Prix (although not a points round) did take place pre Brabham. Lex Davison and Stan Jones were known, and a handful of Grand Prix did take place at Albert Park, Melbourne. So the general public were well aware of this.
Brabham would be knighted in '78. Australians soon had access to GP archives, video tapes, television, and later, the internet to easily find out who Jack is and what he accomplished. As new F1 fans sprung up in Australia, like myself, Adelaide would begin hosting the calendar event in Adelaide from 1985. Among many laps of honour and demonstrations, including an amazing one with Fangio at Sandown, how could one not know who Jack Brabham was.
The separation of whether it is a sport or not bears little significance either.
@@arconeagainif only Black Jack had a TikTok presence eh mate. 😊
@@mphnowhere if only modern F1 followers were educated on the history of the prestigious category. You know, a bit of reading and self education. Yet, they're all too happy to fanboy drivers like Senna because they watched some movie.
Goodonya, mate. You liddle bewdy!
Thank you for this, very well produced, story of Sir Jack Brabham. He was one of my few heroes of the 1960s Grand Pix scene, though I didn't start to follow it in detail until 1967. Brabham along with Graham Hill, Jim Clark, Bruce McClaren, Jackie Stewart, John Surtees et al. the very essence of 1960s
@16:20 you forgot to mention Bert Munro (worlds fastest Indian builder and rider)
Thanks for this great story on our Aussie hero & legend, Sir Jack.
Absolute legend of legends.
Great story! I think those 1960s F1 cars were the most beautiful F1 cars ever
the pre aero F1 cars are so sexy, I know they were dangerous but damn they look good
Before the Repco v 8 was ready Jack was forced into using a stroked version of the climax 2 5 which brought it up to 2.7 this 4 cylinder had so much torque that it split the Hewland gearbox. This car raced in S Africa in the 60 s.
thanks for remembering this amazing Aussie!
Jack is a legend in F1. This was a truly interesting video about an amazing man.
Great video Bart - this Kiwi spotted only one mistake.
The first year of the Repco V8 was not twin cam, but single overhead cam.
No mention of Denny Hulme?🤪
Thanks for doing this my man.
5:44 States that Jack saved at least 50 pounds in weight just by changing the flywheel ?.. nearly 25 kilos weight saving.. What did that flywheel weigh originally ?
@@adambrinkley4014 Sounds unlikely it was 50 pounds eh adam! LOL
@@DennisMerwood-xk8wp It didnt weigh 50lbs ,he shaved 50lbs of the initial weight ! so it may have been 70 lbs plus.
@@adambrinkley4014 Race cars don't have 70lb flywheels. Maybe tractors do, but not racing engines.
@@soaringvulture My point exactly.
Love those 60s first mid engined race cars,my favorite was the lotus of the time😊
Yeah, me too. The deep, British Racing Green on the Lotus was pure beauty. Mate the lotus to Jim Clark behind the wheel and you had every young boys aspiration.
I've been watching your motorcycle videos for quite a while, enjoying them immensely. I'm excitedly looking forward to being able to watch what motorsport and engineering stories you can find to cover.
I was a small boy when I saw Jack Brabham’s racing car in parked in our back yard. He and my farther where friends. He had brought the car to my father to do some tuning on the car.
Thank you very much, Bart, for this amazing video of an extraordinary car.
Considering the hurdles Sir Jack had to jump, he has to be considered a genius. A typical Australian of the times. Brave, talented and of course fearless.!!
What an era, you won't see that happen again. I still have my Scalextric Brabam Cooper.
Cheers Bart.a story well told,,,,,,thankyou..:)
Excellent !! Thanks for the stroll down memory lane -- I followed Jack Brabham starting in the mid-50s (as an elementary school kid selling papers on the corner to earn enough to buy sportscar magazines... abut the only way a kid in North Dakota was going to find out about them back then...)
I watched the Brabham BT62 GT2 car in action last year, serious machinery
As an Aussie, of course I know of Sir Jack, but this was great info. Respectfully & well told.
Watched his car race in NZ in 1967 I think! Jim Clark and others too. Glad that Bruce McLaren from NZ came into the story working with Jack Brabham then made his own story in motor racing history. Ihave come over from your series on motorbikes to enjoy the same style in cars - Thanks! Graeme, NZ
Unfortunately there is no mention of Phil Irving in the Repco Motor Development who was another excellent engineer in the development of the Vincent HRD Motor Cycles.
Jack Brabham teamed up with Phil Irving and they holed up in a hotel in London and designed the Repco V8 engine. Irving was working for Repco as a Developmental Engineer. This is mentioned in both Brabham’s and Irving’s autobiographies.
Irving’s genius was in head design and camshafts. Irving working for Repco designed a cylinder head for the pushrod engined Australian Holden car which doubled the horsepower. Not bad for a bolt-on accessory!
Irving’s book “Tuning for Speed” is still the bible for engine tuning.
My mother pushed him in his pram at Penshust. I went to school with 2 of his sons and have always admired him. He is a legion.😊
As far back as I can remember Jack Brabham has been in my brain, an heroic Aussie for sure.
A great story. Thanks.
I met Jack Brabham as a child in the pits with my Dad. Mr. Brabham have plenty of time to talk to a young kid about his car.
Never got to see him race in Formula 1.
I did get to see him in retirement racing Formula Ford against Australia's best racing drivers. Jack lapped everyone.
Very cool video.
I really appreciate the research you put into this.
It must have taken many months.
I am 65yo and Jack Brabham was my childhood hero.
Loved that thank you very much
I am loving your new channel.
I had the chance to take part of the restorations of both a BT 19 and a BT 29. Thank you for your early summary of Sir Jack.
Very professional production. Good luck with the channel.
Great video mate!
wonderful documentary - well done!
While never a fan of Sir Jacks my respect for this man and what he accomplished is off the charts.
He was certainly the king of the space frame open wheel car and gave those monocoque cars a run for quite a number of years.
Also many think the F-1 engine Repco modified, based on the 215 c.i. Oldmobile, was designed by Olds. It is actually a Buick designed engine which all you Brits will know as the Rover V8. Oldsmobile changed the design into their version which an auto parts REplacement Parts CO./Speed Shop in Australia made into an 3-liter F-1 engine at the request of Brahbam that ended up ruling F-1 for 1.5 seasons. It was a remarkable if not fortuatous feat.
His secret?
The engine was light enough to fit in their 1.5L chassis which was all the BT-19 was, a beefed up and refined BT-11.
Would love a story on the Ford-Cosworth DFV.
As a side note the 1966 car was a single overhead cam engine.
This would make a fantastic movie
I'm not even in the same universe as Sir Jack, but having built my own race car (a Pro Stock Camaro in 1975) literally from the ground up, I can intimately grasp the challenges, disappointments, frustrations and downright ass-bashing work involved. The pictures of dignified builders in their spotless white smocks or uniforms, confidently attaching a widget to a gadget as though assembling a resplendent Mecano creation. Funny how they don't mention the 18-20 hour workdays, crawling around the floor on your back under a car in a pair of grimy coveralls, working out sheet metal, engine/suspension mounting plus a thousand other details at 2AM with Lynard Skinnard blaring out of the cheap AM radio. All the while, the unsaid part bouncing around the back of your mind is "I have to strap myself into this monster and launch myself down the track to over 150mph in under 9 seconds without it launching a unilateral murder/suicide pact.
A little of that kind of insight would be fascinating.
Nice script! Very entertaining! I just stumbled across this, watched the whole thing and now I’m Subscribed! Actually, you had me at Velocette. My dad had a Velocette Thruxton Clubman (with the Avon fairing) in his motorcycle shop. As a child, I would lay across the tank and drift off to sleep. I still think it’s the most beautiful bike and believe it still holds the 500cc Endurance Record, averaging @105mph for 24 hours.
Wow what a nice comment and amazing memory. I couldn't agree more, the Velocette Thruxton is so beautiful. I often think about the memories my kids will have as they spend loads of time on my old motorcycle and car. Cheers!!
Ron Taurenac was the major designer/builder of the Brabham cars -and the later formula one RALTs (using his initials) I may have misspelt his name . I met Jack Brabham in 1980 at Tocumwal where I 'demonstrated' a newly built prototype ultralight aircraft (VeEnstra SV8) to him while the designer tried to interest him in the new two seater we had just built but not flown (Jack had a new engine from Hewlands the F1 gearbox makers that he was agent for ) due to a raging cross wind and turbulence I had to take off the ca. 15 ft wide strip with one wing down and nearly decapitated both of them !--as they stood on the edge of the strip -only a dirt road in fact. -- he gave me a dirty look afterwards but realized the problem . His property manager built an other ultralight at his bush farm and it suffered aileron flutter on take off and rolled into ball - Jack said he came closer to getting killed in that then than he had in F1 racing.
sorry about the cross outs -it is unintentional and due to some computer glitch.
Good stuff, thanks
Awesome video!
What about Colin Chapman ,John Cooper, Enzo Ferrari, Dan Gurney ???
None of them won a Drivers' World Championship in a car of their own design.
Chapman was so obsessed with reducing weight in his cars that they were bordering on being dangerous. Several crashes were attributed to structural weakness. Ferrari cared little for his drivers if they died whilst racing because he knew there'd be plenty to replace them simply for the honour of driving for the Scuderia Ferrari team.
Very interesting on your story, but nicely put. I’ve actually pushed this car in the museum I work in it’s not very light you know, share, strength and determination . By the way as an American, I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of ( mystery racer. ) more commonly known as the slug, not a nice name I know, but we are currently rebuilding the thousand horsepower Sunbeam land speed car the first car 200 mile an hour I know it’s nothing to do with the video you’ve just done, but if you’re looking for something I know you’re going more in the car is now than motorcycles. Motorcycles are my first love, but I also make a living restoring preserving both racing and roadgoing cars and motorcycles in a museum in England. Want to know more get in contact.
Michael from England.
Lucky you, one of the best looking LSR cars ever, I reckon.
8:00
My fond memories of that shape , racing Scalextric's.
Well written and presented.
Job well done as your profile had it all and seamlessly well enough to make the novice (I’m not) to be interested about having education and tenacity in their tool box as well as a spanner or two.
Your hope and wish that there are more “Jacks” out there, are there…just not in Formula 1.
Thank you!
I doubt anyone else achieved more in motor racing than Brabham
I remember watching him as a kid. In 57, I was 12 years old and I liked Stirling Moss. UNTILthe grearestdriver of the all came along! JIM CLARK. I still admired Javk Brabham, anyone who cloud win in Monty Carlo had to be a nutter in those days and the death toll in formula 1 was horrendous.
dirt racing seems like the new step where pretty much anyone can take a old junkyard motor and build a tubeframe and just go to town seeing if itll work
The stories are different, the places and situations are different but, AJ Foyt pretty much did this at Indy and if anything his carrier is as fantastic as the group of F1 folks mentioned.
Aside from all the cheating.
This could have been about Dan Gurney and his Eagle or Bruce McLaren as well.
When you mention Australian/New Zealand Engineers,
Don't forget Burt Munro and his "Fastest Indian"
Not to forget the lad from Auckland, Bruce McLaren, who also built and raced his own cars.
Speed car was huge in Australia up to the 90s.
Hey mostly accurate, good video :) worth a sub
My boyhood hero in the 1960s.