1961 Cooper-Climax "Kimberly Cooper Special"

In May 2011, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the British invasion of Indianapolis at Goodwood, England.
Since 1911 and for 50 years, the front-engine, Peugeot-derived racing cars dominated the racing at the famous speedway. When Jack Brabham and John Cooper appeared at Indy on may 5, 1961, they started a revolution that has proven the smart way to go for the next 50 years.
 

After winning their second Formula One World Championship in October 1960, John Cooper and Jack Brabham tested a T53 "Low Line" F1 car at the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The results were encouraging enough for wealthy enthusiast Jim Kimberly to sponsor a specially built car for the 1961 race. Designed and constructed in less than 4 months, the new car appeared to the Brickyard May 5, 1961, and was quickly put into its pace by Jack Brabham. After a few modifications, the car qualified in 13th spot, only 2mph slower than pole position. After an eventful race in which Brabham was forced to make 3 long pit stops, he completed the 200 laps in 9th spot and made many raising an eyebrow.
It would take three more years for the "Rear Engine Revolution" to be complete, but the sole Cooper T54 was the death knell of the traditional front-engine, rigid-axle cars that had ruled the Indy 500 since the early 1920s.
 

		This Cooper, the sole model T54 ever built, was a special model with longer wheelbase and offset chassis to address the specific issues of the famous speedway. But by 1965 the car had vanished, and it took a lucky break and a bit of publicity for all the remaining components to form once more what had been a glorious machine. After two years of hard labor and lots of detective work, the bits came together as a thing of beauty. Above, Jack is pictured prior to qualifying the car, still not adorned with all its race-day sponsors. The special 16" Dunlop wheels, an inch larger than that of the F1 cars, were made of a magnesium rim riveted to a steel center. The story of the car's saga is fascinating and will soon be the subject of a new book.

The unique 1961 Cooper-Climax T54 which Sir Jack Brabham drove to a 9th place finish at the 1961 Indianapolis 500 was featured in the 2004 Goodwood Revival races held the first week of September. The car participated in demonstrations along with other milestone cars driven by Sir Jack Brabham on Saturday and Sunday, September 3rd and 4th. After the 1961 Indy 500, the car was lost, seemingly forever, that is until found in 1990 in poor condition but nearly complete. Restored to its former glory, the car first re-appeared at the 1991 Monterey Historic races where it won the prestigious Monterey Cup, the Phil Hill trophy. Since then it traveled all over the world, winning awards that include Best in Class at the 2004 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance and the Road & Track trophy at the 1991 Newport Concours. The car has returned  four times to the United Kingdom  since it left the Cooper works in Surbiton on May 3rd, 1961, at the Goodwood Festival of Speed as a guest of Lord Charles March. Powered by an experimental 2.8-liter Coventry-Climax FPF engine, the car is credited for having started the rear-engine revolution that ensued at the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway, culminating in the win by Lotus and Jimmy Clark in 1965, and a dominance ever after of the more advanced design. The car is on display at the Marconi Automotive Museum for Kids in Tustin, California.

After the 1961 race, the car was returned to the UK for a demonstration at Silverstone, then came back to the USA and was displayed at the older IMS museum though 1962. It was then sold by Jim Kimberly to British Motors distributor Kjell Kvale in San Francisco in early 1963, modified by Joe Huffaker and powered by an Aston Martin engine, but it failed to make the show due to the very optimistic power delivery of the antiquated and heavy engine. Afer the 1963 Indy 500, the car simply disappeared from the public eye. It re-appeared in 1990 as a bad wreck, its main components having been the basis of a rear-engine sprint car. The remains of both were purchased by Philippe in partnership with Robert G. Arnold, and the car restored to original condition by Philippe, Thomas Beauchamp and Gene Crowe, with a series of period photographs supplied by Dave Friedman.
 

		One of the two original engines used by Cooper at Indy was eventually sold to Roger Penske and powered the famous Zerex Cooper Special to many wins. Hap Sharp blew it up while driving the car at Pensacola, FL in 1963.  The remains sat at one of John Mecom's warehouses in Houston for a long time until it and other engines were sold at auction. The engine block had traveled further to Colorado. All the parts were gathered and the engine block welded by famed Indy car builder Quincy Epperly. The engine was then rebuilt by gene Crowe at Steve Jennings Racing Engines in Santa Ana. Attention was paid to use all the original components so as to preserve as much of the original car as possible. Here, Sir Jack inspects the car being rebuilt during a visit in California in March 1991. Jack never believed that the car could be ready in time for the August date, but it was, thanks to a superhuman effort by all the parties involved..

Barely ready in time for the 1991 Monterey Historic races and driven by Sir Jack Brabham, it won the prestigious Monterey Cup, the Phil Hill trophy.

2006 Monterey Historic Races

15 years separate these pictures of Sir Jack Brabham and Philippe with the glorious machine, at the 1994 Goodwood Festival of Speed with the late John Cooper standing next to Sir Jack at left, and at the 2006 Monterey Historic Races at right.

The Cooper T54 was the star of the Rolex display at the 2006 Monterey Historic races. It has since appeared at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, and was one of the 33 Indy cars selected to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Indy 500. 2011 was also the 50th anniversary of the revolution it created at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Pebble Beach 2010
 

In August, 2010, we were invited to show the Kimberly-Cooper Spl to the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. The Cooper stood proud, close to the Lotus-Ford Type 38 that ended the front-engine car domination in 1965.
 

Left: It was a cold and damp day, but it did not matter as we had great fun! Here we perform our uppity-snob pose for a friend's camera... Above: The wonderfully kind Alice Hanks, wife of the late Sam Hanks, winner of the 1957 Indy 500 and of the 1957 "Race of Two Worlds" at Monza, Italy, came to visit us as her husband's Bardhal Special was on display next to our car.

2011 Goodwood Festival of Speed

Watch the video HERE!     Warming up the engine... The beautiful old grandmother behaved, but unfortunately one of its cylinder liner decided to have a fit after its 50-year service, so the car had to be parked for the Sunday climbs. One more time, we will take its old heart apart and offer it new liners and new pistons, as it has been running with the now very used parts that made Roger Penske famous and Jack Brabham a hero of the "500" forever. The car has now achieved a level of patina that only 22 years of used can reflect, and we have no plans to change that. There are too many old cars out there that have lost all their original character because their owners decided to make them perfect, and they never were when new.

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