 |
| Brabham |
"Brabham"
After winning successive world titles with the rear-engined Cooper, jack Brabham's thoughts turned to running his own team. He left Cooper at the end of 1961 and, with friend and fellow Antipodean Ron Tauranac as chief engineer, entered the fray at the Nurburgring the following season...
The Climax-powered BT3 failed to go the distance that day, but within two years Jack was back on top of the podium, this time as a team boss. Dan Gurney gave the marque its maiden success, at Rouen in 1964, and also took victory in Mexico that year.
When Gurney competed in the 1965 Indy 500, Brabham drafted Denny Hulme into the team for the Monaco GP, the Kiwi having competed in Formula Junior events for Brabham. Following Gurney's departure to set up his Eagle team, Hulme took the no. 2 seat on a permanent basis.
"Repco deal"
There were no wins in 1965, a Lotus-BRM-dominated season, but with the introduction of the new 3-litre formula for 1966, the Brabham team came to the fore. Jack cut an engine deal with an Australian company which supplied parts under the Repco name. Brabham became the first man to take a Grand Prix victory in a car bearing his own name when he crossed the line first at Reims. Three more wins brought him his third world crown, and Hulme's valuable contribution helped the team lift the Constructors' title. Brabham had just turned 40, and at Zandvoort he took time out to poke fun at himself by appearing with false beard and walking stick. He won the race.
Denny Hulme retained the title for the stable, despite the arrival of the new Cosworth DFV to power the Lotus cars. Hulme won just twice, Monaco and Germany, but consistency put him ahead of his boss and Clark in the final table.
Belgian Jacky Ickx gave Brabham the runner-up spot in '69, albeit a long way off the pace set by Stewart in the Matra-Ford. Jack called it a day the following season. He should have signed off with a fourth victory in the British GP, heading the Lotus 72 of ex-Brabham driver Jochen Rindt by a street at Brands Hatch. But his BT33 died and he coasted through for second. It was later found that the engine had been left to run rich after starting from cold, and thus used four gallons more than it should. The mechanic who no doubt got it in the neck that day was none other than future McLaren supremo Ron Dennis.
"Fan car banned"
Tauranac bought the company — Motor Racing Developments — but it soon changed hands again, former F3 driver Bernie Ecclestone stepping up to the role of team boss. Gordon Murray was promoted from assistant to Brabham's chief designer. The Murray-designed BT44 scored three wins in 1974, with Carlos Reutemann at the wheel. Reutemann's third place in 1975 was Brabham's best effort of the decade, and the team hoped that switching from Cosworth to Alfa Romeo power, and signing Lauda from Ferrari, would put it on top again. The Austrian joined in 1978, the year of the BT46B, the famous 'fan car'. It swept to victory on its debut in Sweden — and was then promptly banned by the FIA, who ruled that the fans were there to suck air from underneath the car rather than cool the engine.
Brazilian tyro Nelson Piquet made his debut for Brabham that year, and it was he who gave the team their final two championships, in 1981 and 1983. Brabham reverted to Cosworth power, while Murray was again producing innovative designs. For 1981 he devised an ingenious hydraulic system whereby the car sank during the race — improving ground-effect and cornering speed — but complied with the regulation 6cm height between ground and bottom of the car for the mandatory tests. Piquet edged Williams duo Reutemann and Jones that season, and two years later pipped Renault and Prost, Brabham by now running a BMW unit.
In 1986 Piquet joined Williams and Riccardo Patrese notched just two points in a miserable campaign. To compound the misery, Murray departed to McLaren. Ecclestone withdrew at the end of 1987, though Brabham reappeared on the grid two years later, having been bought by Swiss financier Joachim Luithi. He was soon in jail for tax evasion. The team struggled on until 1992, when the Brabham name finally disappeared for good.