Farewell to a legend of Motorsport!

Started by Thevak, May 19, 2014, 07:59:24 PM

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Thevak

Farewell Jack!

A true legend! You will never be equalled!
1970 GT Junior 1300
2002 147
1988 33 1.7EI

colcol

I had him sign his life story book at the Grand Prix about 10 years ago, looked frail back then.
Was from the old school, when you couldn't buy things of ebay, you actually had to make them, used to repair anything that came into his garage, ended up repairing a speedway car, had castings made up by a bloke who was a metalurgust, called Ron Tauranac, Ron said he was the best turner he ever had, most turners needed a drawing, not Jack, just explain what you wanted, and he would go away and make it.
Was called 'Black Jack' in the early days, due to his likeness of a cartoon character called 'Black Pete'.
Had a fondness for Honda's, because he liked their engineering, always liked beating Ferrari's, as they were the benchmark, back in the day.
Only man ever to have won a Formula 1 championship in his own car and the V-8 powered Repco motor was because of his organisation skills, to get his own engine up and running and not to rely on others.
Was actually racing and winning in Formula 1 at the age of 44, lots of drivers killed in those days and reluctant to retire, but under pressure from then wife Betty,
We can thank then Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser for recomending him to become Sir Jack Brabham, RIP, Colin.
1974 VW Passat [ist car] 1984 Alfa 33TI [daily driver] 2002 Alfa 156 JTS [daily driver]

Gary Pearce

Very sad to hear the news, it is all over the TV press here in Italy at the moment. As early as a few hours after Sir Jack's passing the English international news channel ran a short history complete with video footage of Grand Prix wins etc which has been repeated throughout the day. I suspect possibly some sort of recognition at this weekends Monaco F1 Grand Prix, as is was at Monaco that Sir Jack achieved his first F1 win in 1959 I believe.
Our greatest ever International driver and those fortunate enough to be at Phiilip Island only a few months ago would have had the opportunity to see him travel a few laps of honor (as a passenger) around our fabulous race track.
Condolences to the Brabham family.
1966 Giulia GTC
1967 Giulia Sprint GT Veloce
1974 Metalic Green Montreal
1966 Giulia Super Blue
1980 Mazda B1800
1989 MX5
2013 MB C250 Coupe