Australian motor racing legend Jack Brabham -- a three-time Formula One world champion and the only driver to win the title in a car bearing his name -- has died aged 88. SIA reports quoting the CNN.
Over the course of a 15-year Formula One career beginning in 1955, Brabham won three drivers' world championships, becoming the first Australian to win the title. The first two, in 1959 and 1960, were earned as a driver for the Cooper team. The third, in 1966, he won as a 40-year-old racing for Brabham, the successful car manufacturer and racing team he founded. The team won the constructors' championships in 1966 and 1967, with teammate Denny Hulme finishing top in the drivers' standings the year after Brabham's triumph.
"He lived an incredible life, achieving more than anyone would ever dream of and he will continue to live on through the astounding legacy he leaves behind," Brabham's youngest son, David, wrote in a message on the family's website.
David, who, like his two brothers, followed his father into a career in motorsport, said the racing legend had passed peacefully at his home on Australia's Gold Coast. "It's a very sad day for all of us". A one-time mechanic in the Royal Australian Air Force, Brabham moved to Britain to pursue his racing career in the 1950s, becoming a full-time Formula One driver in 1958 and the first Australian to win the title the following year.
He sealed his 1959 victory in the driver's championship by pushing his car to the finishing line, after running out of fuel on the last lap at the inaugural U.S. Grand Prix to finish in fourth place. Brabham retired at the end of the 1970 season, the year of his 14th and final grand prix victory, selling his racing team at the same time.
He was knighted for services to motorsport in 1979. Brabham, the team he founded with Australian designer Ron Tauranac, won four Formula One drivers' championships and two constructors' championships during its three decades in operation.
Noted motorsport figures associated with the team included Hulme, Nelson Piquet, Bernie Ecclestone and McLaren chairman and CEO Ron Dennis. Dennis paid tribute to his former boss in a statement on McLaren's website, calling him "one of the most illustrious names in motor racing history" and said Brabham's achievement in becoming Formula One champion in a car he built himself "will surely never be matched".
"The word 'legend' is often used to describe successful sportsmen, but often it exaggerates their status. In the case of Sir Jack Brabham, however, it's entirely justified," he wrote.
"When I started out in Formula One in the late 1960s, I worked first for Cooper and then for Brabham. Even as a callow youth, I could recognize greatness when I saw it, and I'll always regard it as an honor and a privilege to have worked for Sir Jack. I learned a lot from him too".
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