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JACK BRABHAM RACE CAR SOLD TO RAISE FUNDS FOR DEMENTIA

Jack Brabham's Cooper Climax T55 auctioned off to raise funds - Photo: Supplied

By Bruce Williams

Jack Brabham's Cooper Climax T55 auctioned off to raise funds - Photo: Supplied

Jack Brabham’s Cooper Climax T55 auctioned off to raise funds – Photo: Supplied

A car raced by Jack Brabham and John Youl more than half a century ago has just been sold for A$450,000.

The Cooper Climax T55 was auctioned by prestige international dealer Bonhams at the recent Goodwood Revival historic race meeting in England and sold for £244,375 – up to £150,000 (almost A$280,000) more than had been expected.

The buyer is not known yet, but the seller, Greek shipping magnate Peter Livanos, pledged all the proceeds to Race Against Dementia, a charity founded by Jackie Stewart which funds research into dementia, from which his wife Helen suffers.

Rivals Brabham and Stewart were both triple world champions in Formula 1 and later knighted.

Brabham raced the T55 in Australia in 1962, finishing second – 22.5 seconds behind – victorious Englishman John Surtees in an older Cooper Climax T53.
The T55 was later sold to and raced by Tasmanian John Youl of the Symmons Plains property.

It was called a ‘Lowline’ or ‘Slimline” because Brabham had told British constructor John Cooper he wanted a car that he could lie in rather than sit.
Brabham was a two-time world champion at the time, later winning his third title in a car of his own construction, the Repco-engined Brabham BT19.
He died in 2014, aged 88. Youl died in 2009, aged 77.

Brabham had raced the T55 six times in Europe in 1961, winning the Aintree 200 in Britain, before bringing it ‘Down Under’ for the Tasman Series.
Only two T55s were built, the other driven by another hero of Formula 1, New Zealander Bruce McLaren.

“The Cooper Climax T55 is a beautiful machine that any collector can be seriously privileged to own,” Sir Jackie Stewart said.
“Early Coopers revolutionised Formula 1 motor racing.

“Through Race Against Dementia we aspire to parallel the revolution that Cooper made in motorsport by pioneering new approaches and breaking new ground (in the treatment of dementia).”

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