Jack Brabham's 1961 Cooper-Climax, the car that began the rear-engine revolution at the Indianapolis 500

The Cooper Car Company was founded in 1947 by Charles Cooper and his son John Cooper. Together, they began by building racing cars in Charles' small garage in Surbiton, Surrey, England in 1947. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, they reached auto racing's highest levels as their rear-engined, single-seat cars altered the face of Formula One and the Indianapolis 500, and their sedans dominated Rally racing. Thanks in part to Cooper's legacy, Britain remains the home of a thriving racing industry, and the Cooper name lives on in the Mini Cooper production cars that are still built in England but are now owned and marketed by BMW. 1961 Cooper-Climax, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 2003, by Rick Dikeman File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... 1961 Cooper-Climax, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 2003, by Rick Dikeman File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Jack Brabhams 1961 Cooper-Climax, the car that began the rear-engine revolution at the Indianapolis 500 Sir John Arthur Jack Brabham, OBE (born April 2, 1926) is an Australian racing driver who was Formula One champion in 1959, 1960 and 1966. ... Indianapolis 500, 1994 The Indianapolis 500 Mile Race, frequently shortened to Indianapolis 500 or Indy 500, is an American race for open-wheel automobiles held annually over the Memorial Day weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. ... 1947 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... John Cooper (July 17, 1923 - December 24, 2000) was a co-founder, with his father Charles Cooper, of the Cooper Car Company. ... Surbiton is a suburban area of London situated in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. ... Surrey is a county in southern England, one of the Home Counties. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population - Total (mid-2004) - Density Ranked 1st UK 50. ... 1947 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Auto racing (also known as automobile racing, autosport or motorsport) is a sport involving racing automobiles. ... The inaugural Formula One World Championship was won by Italian Giuseppe Farina in his Alfa Romeo in 1950, barely defeating his Argentine teammate Juan Manuel Fangio. ... Indianapolis 500, 1994 The Indianapolis 500 Mile Race, frequently shortened to Indianapolis 500 or Indy 500, is an American race for open-wheel automobiles held annually over the Memorial Day weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. ... Rallying (international) or rally racing (US) is a form of automobile racing that takes place on normal roads with modified production or specially built road cars. ... The Mini Cooper was a development of the original British Motor Corporation Mini. ... The BMW logo is a circle (known as a roundel) divided into quadrants of alternating white and light blue color. ...

From Shortage, Innovation

The first cars built by the Coopers were single-seater, 500cc Formula racing cars driven by John Cooper and Eric Brandon and powered by a JAP motorcycle engine. Since materials were in short supply immediately after World War II, the cars were constructed by joining two old Fiat Topolino front-ends together. According to John Cooper, the stroke of genius that would make the Coopers an automotive legend -- the location of the engine behind the driver -- was merely a practical matter at the time. Because the car was powered by a motorcycle engine, they believed it was more convenient to have the engine in the back, driving a chain. Imme R 100,Germany, 1948/1949 A 125 cc motorcycle, the Italian-manufactured Cagiva Planet. ... World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons like the atom bomb World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a mid-20th-century conflict that engulfed much of the globe... Fiat S.p. ...

They must have supposed that even if the handling problems attributed to the Auto Unions were real, they would be more manageable with an engine little more than a tenth the size. 1936 Auto Union Wanderer Auto Union was a joint venture of four German automobile manufacturers, established in 1932 in Zwickau, Saxony, during the Great Depression. ...

Called the Cooper 500, this car's success on the track instantly created a demand from other drivers (including, over the years, Stirling Moss, Peter Collins and Bernie Ecclestone) and led to the establishment of the Cooper Car Company to build more. The business grew by providing an inexpensive entry to motorsport for seemingly every aspiring young British driver, and the company became the world's first and largest post-war, specialist manufacturer of racing cars for sale to 'privateers.' Built with parts salvaged from military barracks and aircraft factories, and fitted with a series of different motorcycle engines, Cooper 500s won 64 out of 78 major races between 1951 and 1954. Sir Stirling Moss OBE (born September 17, 1929 in London) is a British auto racing driver. ... Bernard Charles Bernie Ecclestone (born October 28, 1930 in the UK) is the president and CEO of Formula One Management and Formula One Administration, and as such is generally considered the primary authority in Formula One racing. ... 1951 was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... 1954 was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The front-engined Formula 2 Cooper Bristol was driven by a number of legendary drivers -- among them Juan Manuel Fangio and Mike Hawthorn -- and furthered the company's growing reputation by appearing in Grand Prix races beginning in 1950. It wasn't until the company began building rear-engined sports cars in 1955 that they really became aware of the benefits of having the engine behind the driver. Based on the 500cc cars and powered by a modified Coventry Climax fire-pump engine, these cars were called "Bobtails." With the center of gravity closer to the middle of the car, they found that it was less liable to spin out and much more effective at putting the power down to the road, so they decided to build a single-seater version and began entering it in Formula 2 races. Juan Manuel Fangio (June 24, 1911 - July 17, 1995) was a noted Argentinian racing car driver and winner of the Formula One championship five times, including four in a row from 1954-57. ... John Michael Hawthorn (April 10, 1929 - January 22, 1959) was a race car driver, born in Mexborough, Yorkshire, England. ... 1950 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1955 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Coventry Climax was a British specialty engine manufacturer. ...

Rear-Engined Revolution

Jack Brabham raised some eyebrows when he took sixth place at the 1957 Monaco Grand Prix in a rear-engined Formula 2 Cooper. But when Stirling Moss won the 1958 Argentine Grand Prix in Rob Walker's privately-entered Cooper and Maurice Trintignant duplicated the feat in the next race at Monaco, the racing world was stunned and a rear-engined revolution had begun. The next year, 1959, Brabham and the factory Cooper team became the first to win the Formula One World Championship in a rear-engined car. Both team and driver repeated the feat in 1960, and every World Champion since has been sitting in front of his engine. Jack Brabhams 1961 Cooper-Climax, the car that began the rear-engine revolution at the Indianapolis 500 Sir John Arthur Jack Brabham, OBE (born April 2, 1926) is an Australian racing driver who was Formula One champion in 1959, 1960 and 1966. ... 1957 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The principality of Monaco holds one of the oldest races on the Formula One automobile racing circuit. ... 1958 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Argentine Grand Prix was a round of the Formula One championship, held intermittently from 1953 to 1998. ... Maurice Trintignant, born October 30, 1917 in Sainte-Cécile-les-Vignes in the Vaucluse departement of the Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur Region of France, is a race car driver. ... 1959 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1960 was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Brabham took the Championship-winning Cooper to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a test in 1960, then entered the famous 500-mile race in a modified version of the Formula One car in 1961. The "funny" little car from Europe was mocked by the other teams, but it ran as high as third and finished ninth. It took a few years, but the Indianapolis establishment gradually realized the writing was on the wall and the days of their front-engined roadsters were numbered. Beginning with Jim Clark, who drove a rear-engined Lotus in 1965, every winner of the Indianapolis 500 has had the engine in the back. The revolution begun by the little chain-driven Cooper 500 was complete. Indianapolis Motor Speedway, located in Speedway, Indiana (a separate city completely surrounded by Indianapolis) in the United States, is the second-oldest surviving auto racing track in the world (after The Milwaukee Mile), having existed since 1909. ... 1961 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... There are several famous people called Jim Clark. ... Lotus Cars is a British manufacturer of sports cars and racing cars based in Hethel, Norfolk, formed as Lotus Engineering Ltd. ... 1965 was a common year starting on Friday (link goes to calendar). ...

Once every Formula car manufacturer began building rear-engined racers, the practicality and intelligent construction of Cooper's single-seaters was overtaken by more sophisticated technology from Lola, Lotus, BRM and Ferrari. The Cooper team's decline was accelerated when John Cooper was seriously injured in a road accident in 1963 and Charles Cooper died in 1964. Their final Formula One victory was achieved by Mexican driver Pedro Rodriguez at the 1967 South African Grand Prix. In all, Coopers participated in 129 Formula One World Championship events in nine years, winning 16 races. Lola Racing Cars (also Lola Cars International) is a racing car engineering company founded in 1961 by Eric Broadley and based in Huntingdon, United Kingdom. ... British Racing Motors (generally known as BRM) was a British Formula 1 motor racing team. ... The Ferrari Gestione Industriale badge on the front of a 330 GTC Ferrari is an Italian manufacturer of racing cars and high-performance sports cars formed by Enzo Ferrari in 1929. ... 1963 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1964 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Grand Prix motor racing driver Pedro Rodriguez was born January 18, 1940, in Mexico City; his younger brother and racing partner Ricardo was born 2 years later. ... 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The South African Grand Prix was an event on the Formula 1 calendar. ...

After the death of his father, John Cooper sold the Cooper Formula One team to the Chipstead Motor Group in April, 1965.

Grand Prix Victories

Buenos Aires (Good Airs in Spanish, originally meaning Fair Winds) is the capital of Argentina and its largest city and port, as well as one of the largest cities in South America. ... January 19 is the 19th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Monte Carlo is a very wealthy section of the city-state of Monaco known for its casino, gambling, beaches, glamour, and sightings of famous people. ... May 18 is the 138th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (139th in leap years). ... May 10 is the 130th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (131st in leap years). ... The British Grand Prix is a race in the calendar of the FIA Formula One World Championship. ... Aintree is a suburb of Liverpool, in the north-west of England. ... July 18 is the 199th day (200th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 166 days remaining. ... The first Portuguese Grand Prix was held on the Boavista street course in Oporto on 14 August 1958, followed in 1959 by a grand prix at Monsanto Park, Lisbon. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... August 23 is the 235th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (236th in leap years), with 130 days remaining. ... The Italian Grand Prix is one of the longest running events on the motor racing calendar. ... The Lambro River runs through Monza. ... September 13 is the 256th day of the year (257th in leap years). ... The United States Grand Prix is a motor racing event which has taken place at various times since 1959 in several locations, at first as a part of the American Grand Prize series and later as a race in the Formula One World Championship. ... Sebring is a city located in Highlands County, Florida. ... Bruce Leslie McLaren (30 August 1937–2 June 1970), born in Auckland, New Zealand, was a race-car designer, driver, engineer and inventor. ... December 12 is the 346th day (347th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... February 7 is the 38th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... The Dutch Grand Prix was a Formula One automobile race held at Circuit Zandvoort, from 1952 to 1985. ... Circuit Zandvoort is a motor racing circuit located near the town of Zandvoort, in the Netherlands, near the North Sea coast line. ... June 6 is the 157th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (158th in leap years), with 208 days remaining. ... The Belgian Grand Prix is an automobile race. ... The route of the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps as laid out for the Belgian Grand Prix The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps is the famous venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix and the SPA 24 Hours endurance race. ... June 19 is the 170th day of the year (171st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 195 days remaining. ... The French Grand Prix is a Formula One race held as part of Fédération Internationale de lAutomobiles annual Formula One automobile racing championship season. ... Location within France Reims (English traditionally Rheims) (pronounced in French) is a city of northern France, 144 km (89 miles) east-northeast of Paris. ... July 3 is the 184th day of the year (185th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 181 days remaining. ... Silverstone Circuit is a racing circuit at Silverstone, England. ... July 16 is the 197th day (198th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 168 days remaining. ... District Porto Mayor   - Party Rui Rio PSD Area 41. ... August 14 is the 226th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (227th in leap years), with 139 days remaining. ... 1962 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... June 3 is the 154th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (155th in leap years), with 211 days remaining. ... 1966 was a common year starting on Saturday (link goes to calendar) // Events January January 1 - In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa ousts president David Dacko and takes over the Central African Republic. ... The Mexican Grand Prix was a Formula One auto race held at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City. ... Mexico City (Spanish: Ciudad de México) is the name of a megacity located in the Valley of Mexico (Valle de México), a large valley in the high plateaus (altiplano) at the center of Mexico, about 2,240 metres (7,349 feet) above sea-level, surrounded on most sides... John Surtees (born February 11, 1934) is a British racing driver, and the only one to have become World Champion on both two and four wheels. ... October 23 is the 296th day of the year (297th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 69 days remaining. ... The South African Grand Prix was an event on the Formula 1 calendar. ... Kyalami is a motor racing circuit, and suburb in Gauteng, South Africa north of Johannesburg. ... The Grand Prix motor racing driver Pedro Rodriguez was born January 18, 1940, in Mexico City; his younger brother and racing partner Ricardo was born 2 years later. ... January 2 is the 2nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...

Mini Legacy

As the company's fortunes in Formula One declined, however, the John Cooper-conceived Mini Cooper -- introduced in 1961 as a development of the Alec Issigonis-designed British Motor Corporation Mini with a more powerful engine, new brakes and a distinctive paint job -- continued to dominate in saloon car and rally races throughout the 1960s, winning many championships and the 1964, 1965 and 1967 Monte Carlo Rallies. The Mini Cooper was a development of the original British Motor Corporation Mini. ... Sir Alec Issigonis (1906-1988) was a designer of cars, now remembered chiefly for the development of the Mini in 1959. ... The British Motor Corporation (BMC) was a car company, formed by the merger of the Austin and Morris companies in 1952. ... Lots of Minis The Mini is the name of a small car produced from 1959 to 2000, and the name of its replacement (known as New MINI) launched in 2001. ... The Monte Carlo Rally (officially Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo) is an automobile racing event organized each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco who also organize the F1 Grand Prix of Monaco and the Monaco Kart Cup. ...

Several different Cooper-marked versions of the Mini and various Cooper conversion kits have been, and continue to be, marketed by various companies. The current BMW MINI, in production since 2001, has Cooper and Cooper S models. 2001: A Space Odyssey. ...

References

• John Cooper Works
• Cooper Cars
• John Cooper - A Very British Marque, A Very British Man
• John Cooper: The Man Who Beat Italia
• John Cooper (1977). The Grand Prix Carpetbaggers: The Autobiography of John Cooper. Doubleday. ISBN 0-3850-3081-9
• Cooper Cars, by Doug Nye, 1983, Osprey Publishing, 2003, Motorbooks International

External link

• Counter Counterfeit Commission