Cooper T51 – Widescreen Gallery

Marcel Hundscheid / Speed-O-Graphica.com

Spend some quality time getting to know the Cooper T51 thanks to this widescreen gallery by Marcel Hundscheid of Speed-O-Graphica.

The Cooper Car Company was a British manufacturer of racing cars founded in 1947 by Charles Cooper and his son John Cooper. The marque developed its fame during the ’50s and early ’60s in the Formula One Championship and Indianapolis 500.

Cooper produced single seaters for Formula 3, Formula 2 and Formula 1 and with the development of the rear-engined concept, started a revolution in motorsports. The British manufacturer built a reputation during the early 50s by dominating the Formula 3 championship. Building off of that success, Cooper created a Formula 2 car, followed by their first Formula 1 car at the end of the 1950s.

Owen Maddock designed the Cooper T51 for use in both Formula 1 and Formula 2 back in 1959. The car itself was derived from the earlier T43 and T45 and equipped with fuel tanks located on either side of the cockpit.

Sir Jack Brabham wrote history as he became the first driver to win a championship with a rear-engined car in 1959 driving the Cooper T51. The car used no less than eight different engines such as the 1.5 and 2.2-litre Climax engines, 1.5 and 2.5-litre engines from Maserati as well as Castellotti, Borgward or Ferrari engines.

The Cooper works team back in 1959 entered the Monaco Grand Prix with Jack Brabham, Bruce McLaren and Masten Gregory. Rob Walker Racing entered the world champion event with Stirling Moss and Maurice Trigtignant. Other notable drivers were Phil Hill, Wolfgang Von Trips,  Tony Brooks, Masten Gregory, Olivier Gendebien and Roy Salvadori.

The Cooper T51 participated in 24 Grand Prix events, claimed 5 victories and 6 pole positions. The car’s final victory was scored back in 1960 at the Argentine Grand Prix as Maurice Trintignant crossed the finish line first.