After Jack Brabham won his second World Championship on-the-trot at Boavista, Portugal in late August 1960 he returned to Australia between the Italian and US Grands Prix (Riverside that year) to contest the Craven A International, a one-off race sponsored by a cigarette company, at Mount Panorama on October 2.
The great one raced a Cooper T51 Climax 2.5 (perhaps chassis #F2-4-59) to a convincing win from the similar cars of Bill Patterson and Bib Stillwell, albeit their cars were powered by 2.4-litre and 2.2-litre Climaxes respectively.
Brabham started from pole and won by 36 seconds. Coopers occupied the first five places of nine finishers in a field which included such pre-War ancients as Tom Sulman’s Maserati 4CM and Frank Elkins Holden engined Bugatti Type 37.
Australian motor racing was still in transition – very quickly – to the modern mid-engined era.
These photographs posted by Leigh Stringer on social media this week beautifully capture the vibe and feel of that long ago weekend at Bathurst.
The Gold Star (Australian Drivers Championship) had been won by Alec Mildren’s Cooper T51 Maserati that year, he won four of the seven championship rounds. This Bathurst event wasn’t a title round, but it didn’t stop 28 cars starting the race, and even more entering it, such was the attraction of racing on the same grid as our Champ!
Credits…
Leigh Stringer, oldracingcars.com
Tailpiece…
No shortage of Esso capped assistance for Brabham, perhaps Tom Sulman’s Aston Martin DB3S behind? Where is John Medley’s Bathurst Bible when you need it, not here with me in the UK at the moment?!
The end of this story has information on the Cooper T51s in Australia, it draws together the results of 15 years of research by several marque experts; The Naughty Corner ‘Renta’ GP Winner… | primotipo… and this one may be of tangential interest, Coopers Type 41-51; Cooper T41/43/45/51/53… | primotipo…
Finito…
primotipo... 