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Grandson of English immigrants, Jack grew up in Sydney and after studying Mechanical Engineering
he was drafted by the Royal Australian Air Force as a mechanic on Australian based fighters.
When the war ended he immediately started building midget racing cars, for which he hired an
American driver. When his driver
quit he decided to try it out for himself, and quickly became the dominant driver of the
midget racing
community. After considering leaving the sport in 1951, he met an engineer named Ron Tauranac, resulting
in him entering hillclimbing events and sports car races later that year. He purchased a Cooper-Bristol from
England for the sports car racing, and managed to land sponsorship for it, yet due to Australian racing regulations
he was not allowed to place commercial branding on his car, prompting him to travel to New Zealand to race.
While in New Zealand he raced in the Tasman Cup events. Brabham impressed all by being competitive with, and even
beating, Formula 1's top drivers who came over for off-season competition. With the contacts he developed and
confidence to drive against the worlds top drivers, he moved to England to compete in Formula 1 in 1955.
In his first four seasons in F1 Brabham had little luck and did not score many top finishes, though in 1959 while
working intensely with the
Cooper Car Company as works driver success started
coming. He won the Daily Express
Trophy, followed by championship wins at the British and Monaco GPs, thrusting him to the top of the
driver's title that
he eventually claimed. 1960 was the same story and he again won the championship, this time in commanding style
by winning five consecutive races. 1961 saw a rule change that thrust
Ferrari into the technological lead, so
after a painfully uncompetitive season Brabham left Cooper to form the
Brabham Company with friend Ron Tauranac,
who had already started up the project while Brabham was a Cooper driver. The new team had a few years of development
before they won their first GP, with
Dan Gurney winning the 1964 French GP. In 1966 Brabham's union with fellow
Australian company Repco proved very successful, as he went on to take the 1966 World Championship. He would stay in
Formula 1 for 4 more seasons, winning 3 more races and staying very competitive before leaving the sport after the 1970
season at the age of 44. He sold his share of the Brabham team to Ron Taurnac and moved back to Australia with his
family.
In 1979 he was knighted, and since he has watched his sons Geoff, Gary, and
David aspire for racing careers. Both Gary
and David made it to Formula 1, David most prominently with the
Simtek team, but washed out after four years of uncompetitiveness.
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