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Sydney Sporting Icon Sir Jack Brabham Honoured At Sydney Telstra 500
One of Sydney’s greatest sporting sons Sir Jack Brabham will be honoured at this week’s Sydney Telstra 500 in the 50th year celebration of his first of three Formula One World Championships.
Sir Jack, 83, and his wife Margaret will be special guests of V8 Supercars Australia at the Sydney Telstra 500 in a rare reunion of most of the family including sons Geoff, Garry and David who will be joining three generations of Brabhams.
Sir Jack is the oldest surviving Formula One world Champion.
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Included in the party are grandsons Matthew, Finn, Sam and Jayson as part of an extended family that have congregated in Sydney from all parts of the world for this special celebration of the life of Sir Jack and his enormous achievements in motorsport and business.
During the Sydney Telstra 500 spectators will get the chance to see Sir Jack’s legendary cars on display in The Dome where there will be a host of historic racecars for fans to saviour. Those include the Cooper T51, Brabham Speedcar, Brabham BT24, Brabham BT6, Brabham BT11a and the Brabham BT35.
On Sunday of the event a Brabham BT24 will be driven by grandson Matthew and a Brabham BT6 by son David as part of a tribute to Sir Jack. This will be followed by a convertible carrying Sir Jack, Margaret and grandsons Finn, Sam and Jayson.
Sir Jack’s sons Geoff and David have both won the famous Le Mans 24 hour race and are motorsport greats in their own rights. They are two of only four Australians since 1923 to have won Le Mans. David this year won both the Le Mans classic outright and the American Le Mans. David will compete at the Sydney Telstra 500 in the Uber Star Mini Challenge.
Sir John Arthur "Jack" Brabham, AO, OBE (born in Hurstville was Formula One champion in 1959, 1960 and 1966. He was a founder of the Brabham racing team and race car constructor that bore his name (Source Wikipedia).
Brabham was a Royal Australian Air Force flight mechanic and ran a small engineering workshop before he started racing midget cars in 1948. His successes in midgets and Australian and New Zealand road racing events led to him going to the United Kingdom to further his racing career.
There he became part of the Cooper Car Company's racing team, building as well as racing cars. He contributed to the design of the mid-engined cars that Cooper introduced to Formula One and the Indianapolis 500, and won the Formula One world championship in 1959 and 1960.
In 1962 he established his own Brabham marque with fellow Australian Ron Tauranac, which became the largest manufacturer of customer racing cars in the world in the 1960s. In 1966 Brabham became the only man to win the Formula One world Championship driving one of his own cars.
Brabham retired to Australia after the 1970 Formula One season, where he bought a farm and maintained various business interests, which included the Engine Developments racing engine manufacturer and several garages. As of 2008, he is the oldest surviving Formula One world Champion.
In 1966, Brabham was named Australian of the Year and the Queen appointed him an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in 1978. He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1990.
In January 2008, Brabham was named an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) on Australia Day for services to motor sport. In June 2008, the Brisbane-based racing yacht 'Black Jack' was named in honour of Brabham, who attended the launch.
PaddockTalk Perspective
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