17/01/2014
NEWS STORY
The Brabham family has unveiled its first official website charting the achievements of all three generations of drivers and thirty years as an iconic Formula 1 team.
The website - Brabham.co.uk - is the brainchild of three-time world champion Sir Jack Brabham's youngest son, Le Mans 24 Hours winner and double ALMS Champion David, following his successful fight to win-back the Brabham trademark in late 2012 following a seven-year legal battle in Germany.
The return of the trademark to the family's ownership has allowed David to finally progress with confidence planning for the future of the Brabham brand. The launch of the website being the first step in bringing that strategy to fruition.
The site covers everything from the latest news to individual family member profiles and a succinct history of the racing legacy built by three-time world champion Sir Jack - the only man in the history of Formula One to win the title in a chassis bearing his name - and continued by sons Geoff, Gary and David, and grandsons Matthew and Sam.
It also presents David Brabham's successful Brabham Performance Clinic, which helped create the MSA's young driver development and education programme and has coached a host of leading British talent up to the ranks of F1.
The site features images from LAT Photographic's offline archive, with further evocative imagery provided courtesy of Getty Images, Jakob Ebrey, Rick Dole, Peugeot Sport, Blue Matrix Photography and Paul Davies. Visitors can take a pictorial journey from the beginning of the Brabham story and Sir Jack's Midget racing routes right up to the present day.
"It's fantastic for all of the family to finally launch our first ever official website," said David Brabham, "but I am especially proud to see the stunning results after a year spent developing the project and reinstating the Brabham brand.
"It takes even me aback to see the wins and championship titles we have all amassed and cars we have driven across six decades and 30 years in F1, which is as good as any in racing history.
"Winning the trademark legal battle has enabled us to set the scene for what I believe is an exciting future for the Brabham brand. The first building block is this online presence; it's strategically vital to building a solid foundation for the future. But that could only happen after we established a Brand Bible to maintain consistency of the brand, its core values and who we are.
"I think we've created something special and this first phase launch is only the start of it; the site will continue to evolve in line with the return of the Brabham brand."
"The launch of the first official family website is a special moment for us all," added Sir Jack. "The Brabham name is steeped in heritage and success and to see that represented online for the first time is very exciting. The impressive brand that David is re-building will take the Brabham name into the future, and protect my grandsons for their future success. It makes me extremely proud of what we have accomplished as a family so far."
And by an amazing coincidence; who was the man who bought the Brabham team in 1971… clue, he’s short, has funny hair and has been grabbing the headlines in recent days.
And who started out as a mechanic with Brabham and went on to buy out another team founded by an Antipodean… clue, he talks funny, rarely smiles (publicly) and yesterday returned from relative obscurity to take control of his ailing F1 team.
Chris Balfe