Who was Jack Brabham?
Sir Jack Brabham was an Australian racing driver who won three Formula One World Championships, in 1959, 1960 and 1966. He is the only driver to win the title in a car he built himself.
Brabham was born in Hurstville, Sydney, in 1926. He began his career racing midget cars before moving to Europe in the 1950s.
He won his first two world titles with the Cooper team, helping to popularize rear-engined cars in Formula One.
Builder and champion
In the early 1960s, he founded his own team, Brabham, with designer Ron Tauranac. In 1966, he won the world championship driving a Brabham car, a unique achievement.
Brabham was knighted in 1979 for his services to motor sport, becoming the first racing driver to be knighted for this reason.
He died in 2014. His sons, Geoff, Gary and David, also raced, and the Brabham name remains famous in motor sport. He was named Australian of the Year in 1966.
The Brabham team later won further world titles with other drivers, including Nelson Piquet in the 1980s.