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Formula 1 Motorsports News

Albert Park F1 history under the hammer this weekend

380 Montague Street, Albert Park

A slice of motorsport history is up for sale this weekend when 380 Montague Street, Albert Park is offered for auction.

The 120-year-old property is owned by the colourful Paul Vellacot who has been on the Melbourne car club scene for years. The property consists of two parcels, a three bedroom cottage and the old stables (pictured above), once part of the Morris Dairy.

After Vellacot bought both properties in 1974 he used the stables to house classic cars, mostly old Lancias. Five-time Formula 1 world champion Juan Manuel Fangio was one of the first to sign the stable walls after visiting the property in 1978.

Since then a number of big names in motorsport, including Sir Jack Brabham, Alan Jones, Sir Jackie Stewart and Stirling Moss also left their mark on the historic walls.

The list of documented names includes: Brabham, Fangio, Jones, Moss, Stewart as well as Paul Frere, Tony Gaze (Australia’s first F1 driver), Sandro Munari, Piero Taruffi and Luigi Villoresi.

The stables are protected by heritage order, so they can’t be knocked down. However, the inside walls are not protected and the signatures could be lost as part of any future renovations.

In some small way the history of this F1 curiosity will be preserved online, let’s hope those famous autographs remain on those walls for a few more years yet.

Up for auction this Saturday, 380 Montague Street is expected to fetch around $3 million.

[Source: Port Phillip Leader | Pics: Janine Eastgate & Greg Hocking]

UPDATE 6 Dec: Sold for $3,475,000 to an Australian buyer who lives in the US.

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Motorsports News

Ghosts on the wall at 380 Montague Street

380 Montague Street, Albert Park

Jack Brabham, Juan Manuel Fangio and Paul Frere. They’re some pretty ace names to have signed on your garage wall, don’t you think! And there’s more too:

Not only is this double fronted Victorian one of Albert Park’s last opportunities to capture a residence of such pure potential, this remarkable property is made even more memorable by its accompanying c1891 stables – formerly part of the Morris Dairy, since 1974 a motoring enthusiast’s dream retreat. Winners of twelve Formula One world championships, including Fangio, Jack Brabham, Jackie Stewart and Alan Jones have visited and signed the walls of this evocative structure. Also adorning the walls are nineteen signatures of famous motoring identities including Tony Gaze, the first Australian Grand Prix driver, Stirling Moss, Gigi Villoresi, Piero Taruffi and Sandro Munari.

Yes, the stables/garage form part of a property currently for sale in Albert Park, Melbourne. There’s a very real chance, too, that this motorsport history will be lost forever and knocked over in the name of progress.

On the very remote chance you know any more about this building, please drop us a comment or two below.

[Thanks to Paul for the tip]

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Formula 1

Sir Jack Brabham trophy for Australian Grand Prix

2014 Australian Grand Prix

CAMS has today announced the winning trophy for the Australian Grand Prix will now be called the Sir Jack Brabham trophy. It is a fitting tribute for Sir Jack, who passed away on 19 May.

The current trophy design, being shown off by Nico Rosberg above, already references Sir Jack with the design based on the steering wheel from his 1959 championship winning Cooper Climax.

Sir Jack’s widow, Lady Brabham, was honoured to accept the renaming of the trophy.

“I have been overwhelmed by the tributes that have been pouring in from around the globe,” Lady Brabham said. “It has been comforting to hear kind words from the likes of Jean Todt, Sir Stirling Moss, Sir Jackie Stewart to Alan Jones. Jack would have been so very proud.”

Daniel Ricciardo, fresh from his stunning win in Montreal yesterday morning, says he would one day love to lift the Sir Jack Brabham trophy for himself one day.

“What he [Sir Jack Brabham] achieved was incredible,” Daniel said. “Paying tribute to him each year with the Australian Grand Prix winner’s trophy is a fantastic way to celebrate this legend. It would be something very special to be able to lift that trophy.

“Racing at the Australian Grand Prix in front of a home crowd is a huge buzz; to be able to stand on the top step of the podium and lift the Sir Jack Brabham Trophy would be incredible.”

The public will have the chance to honour the late Sir Jack Brabham at his State funeral on Wednesday 11 June at 1.30pm at the Church of Christ in Southport, Queensland.

[Source: CAMS | Pic: Mercedes AMG]

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Formula 1 News

Three generations

Sir Jack Brabham tribute by SkySports

A couple of weeks on from the passing of Sir Jack Brabham here’s a couple of off-site pieces we think you should check out. The first is a short video from SkySports which features interviews from Jack’s son David and grandson Sam.

Once you’ve watched that settle into this longer audio interview with Ron Tauranac produced by local F1 chaps Box of Neutrals.

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Formula 1 News Video

Remembering Sir Jack

Sir Jack Brabham

Perhaps the only good thing to come from the passing of Sir Jack Brabham is a greater realisation of his enviable, and in many ways unmatched, stature in the world of Formula 1 and motorsport in general.

Equally happy with a spanner in his hand as he was with a steering wheel, Sir Jack excelled in an era where graft and wherewithal were as influential as bundles of cash are today. As Australian F1 fans we should be very proud of his achievements—especially his 1966 championship, won in his own car—and his family doubly so.

It’s no surprise that the tributes have been many since his death. Over the last couple of days we’ve assembled a collection of material that both honours Brabham’s legacy and helps to serve his reputation. Be sure to check out the videos and photos after the break, too, you’ll be glad you did.

Mark Webber: I was very fortunate that I was introduced to Jack before I left Australia and to be in his presence as a 17 or 18-year old as I must have been at the time, just blew me away. He provided me with endless support and advice over the years and became a close confidante—even right up until the last couple of years when, after hearing the rumours that I might move to Ferrari, he told me he would be very disappointed if I went there because for him, it was the absolute betrayal because they were his motivation—the ones he wanted to beat in his day!

Alan Jones: Jack will be the remembered as the greatest Australian racing driver. He is not only the greatest driver this country has produced but is one of the world’s best.

Dan Gurney: A fierce competitor, an outstanding engineer, a tiger of a driver, an excellent politician and a hands-on creator and visionary; he opened the rear-engine door at Indianapolis and raced there. He was a doer, a true Aussie pioneer!

Derek Bell: Above all he created cars in Formula 2 and 3 which allowed numerous young drivers to drive safe fast cars and make names for themselves, myself included. They might not have always been the quickest, but overall the cars never let you down and if not always winning they would always be there at the end!

Edd Straw (Autosport+): What is remarkable about Brabham is that it doesn’t matter that, in terms of pure pace, he was not quite on the same level as a Moss or a Stewart. What Brabham did is unequalled in history, winning the world championship in a car of his own. When greats like him are lost, it seems trite to reflect that we won’t ever see their like again. But in the case of ‘Black Jack’—a nickname he wasn’t fond of—it’s absolutely true.

Peter Windsor: A self-starter, a racer who enjoyed tinkering with damper rebound as much as he enjoyed flying his own aircraft and racing anything on wheels (from F1 cars to sports cars to touring cars to Indy cars), Sir Jack at heart was just a straightforward Aussie who loved motor racing first and the glamour and the publicity just about last.

Further reading

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Formula 1 News

Sir Jack Brabham 1926–2014

Sir Jack Brabham

The world of motorsport has lost a pioneer and true great with the passing of Sir Jack Brabham. The three time F1 world champion died peacefully at his home on the Gold Coast this morning.

Sir Jack was 88 years old and leaves behind his wife Lady Margaret and three sons, Geoff, Gary and David and their families.

Brabham’s first two world championships were won in 1959 and 1960 at the wheel of rear-engined a Cooper-Climax. It marked the end for front-engined cars which had previously dominated the sport.

In late 1960, in partnership with Ron Tauranac, he formed the Brabham Racing Organisation and the pair designed and built their own cars. In 1966 Sir Jack secured his third world title driving the Brabham BT19 making him the first and only man to win an F1 title in his own car.

When interviewed in 2012 Sir Jack described this as his most satisfying title. “It was effectively Australia against the rest of the world, and to win with that package and group of people behind it was a huge thrill,” he said.

The following year Denny Hulme won the world championship with Brabham. The team collected constructors’ titles in 1966 and 1967 as well.

Tauranac bought out Brabham’s share of the team in 1971 before selling the team in full to Bernie Ecclestone in 1972. Under Eccelstone’s ownership Nelson Piquet won drivers’ championships in 1981 and 1983.

Brabham was knighted for services to motorsport in 1978 and became the first racing driver to receive such an honour.

His racing legacy lived on with his sons and continues today with grandsons Matthew and Sam who are currently forging professional careers.

[Source: brabham.co.uk | Pic: LAT Photographic]

Categories
Formula 1

Remembering the deeds of Sir Jack Brabham

Sir Jack Brabham

Aligning US motoring interests to Formula One is something that doesn’t happen all that often. So it was with welcome surprise that our morning rounds saw an article from Winding Road reminding us of the great deeds accomplished by our own Jack Brabham.

Three F1 drivers titles (1959, 1960 and 1966) would usually be enough to set Sir Jack apart from the crowd, but when you consider the 1966 crown was achieved in a car of his own making, well, it is unlikely we will ever see the likes of that again.

Here’s a snippet from the article, follow the source link below for the rest:

One of the first drivers to be knighted for his service to motorsports, Brabham won the Formula 1 drivers’ championship three times. Born in April 1926, Sir Jack was a flight mechanic for the Royal Australian Air force and then ran a small engineering workshop. In 1948, he started midget car racing and moved, in 1955, to Europe to join the Cooper Car Company’s racing team. He helped to develop the design for the mid-engine Cooper, which he raced in F1 and at the Indianapolis 500. Brabham then went on to win the F1 World Championship in 1959…

[Source: Winding Road | Pic: Lothar Spurzem]