Cooper's rise to power fifty years ago and this year's championship winning Brawn ...
On December 12th 1959 Jack Brabham pushed his Cooper T51 across the line at Sebring for a fourth place finish in the United States Grand Prix. That gave the Australian enough points to win his first World Championship. It also secured the Constructor's Championship for the Cooper team. History was written that day as it was the first World Championship for a mid-engined car as well as the first time a customer engine beat major manufacturers the likes of Ferrari and Maserati. Cooper's revolution had immediate effect as no other front-engined machine ever won the championship again. The T51 represented the fourth evolution of the single seater introduced halfway trough 1956. The lack of a proper engine prevented the team to compete in Formula 1 on a relatively level playing field until 1959. This was finally made possible by the arrival of a 2.5 litre version of the Climax engine, which proved to be the final piece of the puzzle. Today we celebrate Cooper's revolution and Brabham's heroic efforts at Sebring with a detailed look at the highly influential Cooper T51 Climax.
This year's Formula 1 season also saw a new team take home the trophies at their first attempt. News of a Mercedes-Benz take-over earlier this week also means it was Brawn GP's only attempt. Their Mercedes-Benz engined BGP001 propelled Jenson Button to six wins in the opening seven races. Rubens Barrichello added two more victories during the team's fairytale season. For most of the pre-season, it looked like there would be no team at all after Honda had announced its withdrawal from Formula 1 at the end of 2008. Team principal Ross Brawn eventually found enough funding to take over the team and just a few weeks ahead of the first Grand Prix the BGP001 was rolled out. It immediately impressed during testing and Button and Barrichello caused a major upset by finishing first and second at the team's debut. The BGP001 was the big star of the most surprising Formula 1 season in many years. As a 'Silver Arrow', Brawn will enter the 2010 season with two new drivers as Barrichello and Button will move to Williams and McLaren respectively next year. It will be very interesting if the impressive form can be maintained.
Enjoy the links:
2009 Brawn GP BGP001 Mercedes - Images, Specifications and Information
1959 Cooper T51 Climax - Images, Specifications and Information
If you should see a man walking down a crowded street talking aloud to himself, don't run in the opposite direction, but run towards him, because he's a poet. You have nothing to fear from the poet - but the truth.
(Ted Joans)
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