Comments by "John D" (@johnd8892) on "The man who built his own Formula 1 car... and won" video.

  1. 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.
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  2. 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.
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  3. It was the Oldsmobile version of the Buick engine. In another documentary on TV on Seven Mate , Jack explained they chose the Oldsmobile version as it had an extra head stud per cylinder and that extra strength was preferred.
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