Jack Brabham Trophy Race October 24th 1971 @ Brands Hatch
Classic Race with an amazing lineup. The Jack Brabham Trophy Race 1971 . It was on The UK's Channel 2 program "100 Greatest Sporting Moments" back in the late 80's early 90's http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKjLw...eature=related
You Tube comments - " I wonder how many iffy mods Colin's car had on it"
"Jack must be using his mirror more than looking out of the windscreen, mustn't he Graham?
"Highly unlikely, I've never known him to use his mirror at all."
They say ol' black Jack only ever used his mirrors to line U up for a spray of stones from the edge of the track. GREAT video - never seen it & enjoyed it immensely. - I was going to say did they run Colin's car over the scale afterward ? Half of it was probably hidden under the bench in the pit garage. He'd likely have taken out all but one bolt on each bumper, blocked the heater hoses & drained the heater core & sucked the foam out of the sunvisors.
Been trying to find an entry list mate..no luck at this point..Brabham. Ken Tyrell, John Surtees. Colin Chapman, Frank Williams, Max Mosley, Rob Walker?,,,
The Tragic thing is that this was the meeting jo Siffert was killed at..
Mark I Escorts became very successful as a rally car, and they eventually went on to become one of the most successful rally cars of all time. The Ford works team was practically unbeatable in the late 1960s / early 1970s, and arguably the Escort's greatest victory was in the 1970 London to Mexico Rally being driven by Finnish legend Hannu Mikkola This gave rise to the famous Escort Mexico (1.6 L "Kent" engined) special edition road versions in honour of the rally car.
Both the Mexico and RS1600 were built at Ford's Advanced Vehicle Operations (AVO) facility located at the Aveley Plant in South Essex. As well as higher performance engines and sports suspension, these models featured strengthened bodyshells making them an ideal model for rallying.
Used at Oulton Park, Brands Hatch and Mallory as well as the 1971 Trophy Race at Brands Hatch which was a race for Formula One team managers and former drivers, the latter all racing legends and apparently for the big race all the keys were put in a hat and drivers given a number in order to determine who got what car.
When the cars were finished with they were returned to Ford and sold on to make way for the new Mk 2 with some of them given to journalists and upcoming motorsport competitors.
Jack Brabham – 65.0
Colin Chapman – 65.4
John Surtees – 65.6
Max Mosley – 66.0
Phil Kerr – 66.4
Frank Williams – 66.6
Mike Costin – 66.8
Eric Broadley - 67.0
Jackie Epstein – 67.2
Ken Tyrrell – 67.4
Ed Nelson – 67.4
Doug Hardwick – 67.8
Alan Rees – 69.6
Ian Williams – 69.6
Tim Parnell – 74.8
Jackie Stewart was manager and pit signaller for Tyrrell and he felt obliged to deprive Ken of his usual lunch-time glass of wine.
Phil Kerr was complaining that he didn’t have enough time to get his roll-bar settings sorted our while Frank Williams reckoned his engine was a real wanker.
Costin and Broadley both felt they could have done better with a little “sorting out” back at their respective factories.
Ronnie Peterson was so disgusted with Rees’ showing that he refused to hand out any more pit signals.
Chapman managed to bend the rules by taking his Escort into the paddock at the end of practice instead of returning it to parc ferme and Tony Rudd spent 20 minutes with his head stuck under the bonnet.
THE RACE (as reported in Motoring News)
The Escort race opened proceedings at 11.15 on race morning, but bright summery weather had already attracted an estimated 40,000 people into the circuit by then and they were all on tenterhooks around the club circuit.
The race was on from the moment when Grahame White dropped the flag, and Chapman was doing his best to rub the trim strips from Brabham’s Escort as they rushed headlong into Paddock Bend. Frank Williams had barged his way through to third place and it was a miracle that no one was actually pushed off at Paddock Bend, for by the time they got to Druids there was hardly a car without a mark of one sort or another, and more was to come.
Brabham held a tenuous lead starting lap two, by which time a particularly brave Frank Williams was doing his level best to oust Chapman from second place, resulting in a long autocrossing moment for Williams along the bottom straight, which lost him his place, for John Surtees came storming through. Frank thus fell into the grips of Max Mosley and the two of them diced splendidly for the remainder of the race, with Mosley trying all he knew to show one of his less happy customers just how it should be done.
The rest of the field really wasn’t in it, for a largish gap opened out before Costin hove into sight with Phil Kerr and Jackie Epstein trying to find a way past on all sides.
Eric Broadley briefly held off one of his principal customers, Doug Hardwick, then began a wheel-to-wheeler with Ed Nelson, Ken Tyrrell and Ian Williams. Bringing up the rear were Alan Rees and Tim Parnell, who between them have the distinction of being the smallest and largest Formula 1 team managers respectively.
It was naturally the lead battle which commanded everyone’s attention, for Brabham was up to all his old tricks as Chapman desperately tried to find a way through. Whichever side Chapman chose, somehow when he came to draw alongside, that particular bit of road seemed to be full of red Escort. Surtees had already had a scare (“I was minding my own business and they all ran into me”) but nevertheless watched the duel from a safe third, his Escort looking very second hand indeed. Mosley, still chasing Frank Williams for all he was worth, had somehow hooked bumpers with someone, while Costin was holding his pursuers through the corners because a wing had been pressed on to a tyre and evertime he turned right, the wheels caught on the arch and the whole lot slowed down!
Chapman got more and more desperate as the laps ticked off, and his efforts to nudge Brabham off line at Paddock had the crowd on tip toes, while the door-shutting at Druids was nobody’s business. On the ninth lap it looked as though he was going to try the inside line through Paddock for a change, but just as Brabham eased over, Chapman yanked the steering wheel hard left and came up on the outside.
They were almost side by side through Paddock, and Brabham was slightly off line. At the bottom of the hill the Escort all but got away from him and Chapman was through, giving him a quick nudge en passant. Motor racing’s David Niven looked all set for his greatest-ever strategical victory with less than three quarters of a lap to the waiting flag.
Bit it was not to be. Pounding through Clearways, Chapman tried to grab top gear, only to find that there was nothing there (“absolutely nothing,” he said, “not a gear of any sort”) and Brabham scrambled past on the outside, having lost only a couple of seconds in the excitement.
Chapman had to coast across the line, and a grateful Surtees was handed second place on a plate, with Chapman a bitterly disappointed third. This hasn’t been a very good season for him and his cars, but it was very unfair to suggest as someone did that he had retired because his suspension had broken!
Frank Williams stayed in front of Max Mosley for fourth place (you’d have thought Max was chasing him for cheques) and a delighted Phil Kerr found a way past Mike Costin’s battered machine for sixth.
So Jack Brabham won the race which had been named for him, and earned a great round of applause. But what a disappointment for Chapman! Televiewers across the country caught a glimpse of him moments after he had seized the lead, with a grin from ear to ear which was dashed from his face so soon afterwards.
More, please Mr Stuart Turner, and please ask them all to do it again.
1. Jack Brabham – 11m 08.6s
2. JohnSurtees – 11m 11.2s
3. Colin Chapman – 11m 11.4s
4. Frank Williams – 1m 16.2s
5. Max Mosley – 11m 18.0s
6. Phil Kerr – 11m 24.4s
7. Mike Costin
8. Jackie Epstein
9. Doug Hardwick
10. Edward Nelson
11. Eric Broadley
12. Ken Tyrrell
13. Ian Williams
14. Alan Rees
15. Tim Parnell
FL. Colin Chapman – 1m 05.2s
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