Making his own way
Jack Brabham had three young sons when he retired from F1 in 1970, sold his interest in the Brabham team and packed up the family for a quieter life back in Sydney. And, having seen so many drivers killed during his own career, he didn’t want his sons following in his legendary wheel tracks.
But 18-year-old Geoff had different ideas. He’d been away at boarding school while they were in the UK, largely separated from his father’s racing life, but had attended numerous race weekends and suddenly – perhaps at the sight of the Brabham Ford-sponsored Formula Ford in his dad’s dealership – wanted to have a crack. But Jack needed to see he really wanted it, and was prepared to work hard.
After considerable nagging, Jack let his son have a test, and Geoff did well enough to be allowed to buy an El n 620 for the 1973 season. He was 21 and caught the eye of the top Grace Brothers team, who put him in John Leffler’s well-sorted title-winning Bowin P6F for the 1974 Formula Ford Driver to Europe Series. He
nished third behind Terry Perkins and Andrew
Miedecke, but thinks he should have won.
“Lousy starts cost me the championship,” he says. “I’d be on the pole and I just could not get off the line. Actually that was my dad’s fault, because he got me terri ed of spinning the wheels off the line. It wasn’t until the end of the year I’d gured out to forget that and just go; then I started to make good starts.”
Grace Brothers put him in a Birrana 274 F2 car the following season and he won the Australian F2 Championship in dominant fashion. That was the springboard Geoff needed to take the plunge and move to England to race for a living. His dad organised a Ralt RT1 F3 car from his old partner, Ron Tauranac, 10,000 pounds sponsorship from Esso, a little house opposite Jack Brabham Motors and garage space at the dealership.
After helping to assemble the car, Geoff went to Oulton Park but crashed in testing, so his rst race in the UK was the big British GP support race at Brands Hatch. And, if that wasn’t enough pressure, the timekeepers made a mistake and put him on the front row! Needless to say, the established aces mauled him in the race.
For the next couple of years Geoff battled to continue in British F3, but still scored occasional wins and podiums against the works teams and highly-funded Brazilians.