Cooper
John Cooper made his name making low-cost cars with chain-driven motorcycle engines for the budget Formula 500 series of the postwar era. He competed in such events, along with the likes of Moss and Ecclestone, but it would be as an innovative manufacturer that Cooper would scale the heights.
The natural home for the 500cc engine was behind the driver, and when Cooper turned his thoughts to competing against Ferrari, Maserati and the other giants, he decided to apply the same principle. The Cooper garage in Surbiton would be the launchpad for the rear-engined revolution.
1955 was a key year, not so much for a breakthrough on the track but for Jack Brabham's arrival from Australia to try his hand against the best drivers in the business. He gravitated towards the Cooper stable and this combination would go on to dominate the field. Brabham stole the show at Monaco in 1957, running third in his underpowered Cooper-Climax before suffering a fuel pump problem. He pushed the car over the line for sixth place.
"Moss provides maiden victory"
Stirling Moss had the honour of giving Cooper its first victory, at the 1958 Argentina GP, though this was for Rob Walker's stable. Maurice Trintignant then gave Cooper its second win, in Monaco, for the same privateer outfit. At that season's Nurburgring race Cooper and Brabham noted the performance of Kiwi Bruce McLaren — winner of the F2 race and fifth overall — and signed him to the F1 team for 1959. Another piece of the jigsaw was thus slotted into place.
Brabham gave the latest T51 model a winning debut at the 1959 Monaco GP. A new 2.5-litre Climax engine finally gave the car the power it needed to compete with the best, and at 458kg it had a considerable weight advantage over the front-engined opposition: Brabham also won at Aintree, and in the decider at Sebring had to resort to muscle power once again, pushing the T51 across the line for fourth place. He took the title by 4 points from Brooks' Ferrari. Moss had given Rob Walker two wins that year in a T51, and McLaren's victory in the US meant a Cooper had taken the chequered flag in five of the eight European rounds.
"Five wins for Brabham"
The marque was even more dominant the following year, winning six out of nine, Brabham reeling off five straight victories mid-season. He duly claimed his second crown, McLaren taking the runner-up spot. Cooper comfortably retained the Constructors' Cup.
Cooper struggled with the introduction of the new 1.5-litre formula in 1961, and although McLaren took third in the '62 championship, and Jochen Rindt matched that four years later, the Surbiton stable fell behind the pace set by other marques. Pedro Rodriguez gave the marque its final victory in South Africa, the opening round of the 1967 championship, but the Maserati engine was no match for the Brabham-Repco, and Lotus upped the stakes even further by rolling out the Cosworth DFV that season. Cooper withdrew the following year, though the lineage of F1 success continued through the teams set up by Brabham and McLaren.
