Brooks, Tony

[NKT]

May you send me any information about Tony Brooks career?I had already searched at google and others but I only had seen stats and small resumes

[strad]

http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/drv-broton.html

[D-Type]

Nobody has yet written a biography of Tony Brooks. There are mini-biographies in Maurice Hamilton’s Grand Prix - British Winners and Nigel Roebuck’s Grand Prix Greats and of course in Steven Small’s Grand Prix Who’s Who. The first two would cost you £20 - £30 on e-bay whilst Who’s who is currently being remaindered. Any of the histories of GP racing in the 50’s or any of the “50 years of Formula 1” genre will also feature him.

Quite simply Tony Brooks was one of the finest drivers of the fifties. Because of his unassuming manner he is frequently overlooked.

I won’t regurgitate a string of statistics as you can find them anywhere. Let’s just look at a few highlights. 1955 Syracuse (non-championship) GP - driving in his first overseas race and his first Formula 1 race in a Connaught he beat a full Maserati works team to score the first all British GP win since 1923. Winning 1957 Spa GP with the Aston Martin DBR1 on its international debut and then going on to win the Nurburgring 1000km with the same car. In 1958 everybody refers to Stirling Moss winning three World Championship GP’s to Mike Hawthorn’s one but overlook the fact that Brooks also had three wins. Then in 1960 he narrowly missed the championship. Had he not made a precautionary pit stop to check his car for damage after a start line shunt he would almost certainly have won the US GP and the championship. (For the full story carry out a search on “Sebring” and “Harry Schell”).

Brooks was a skilled driver in the Varzi style rather than a fighter in the Nuvolari mould. But if he had to he could mix it with the best of them. In my opinion he ranks a close second to Stirling Moss in the “Best driver never to win the championship” stakes.

[stroller]

In my opinion he ranks a close second to Stirling Moss in the “Best driver never to win the championship” stakes.

At a recent after-dinner speech by Moss, at which a friend of mine attended,Moss himself ranked Brooks in his all time top ten.

[Barry Boor]

I am lucky to be able to say that I am old enough to have watched Tony Brooks drive. The man was an absolute artist.

I always felt that the reason he never quite made it to that #1 spot was simple - he just didn't need it badly enough.

Then again, had he not been run into leaving the grid at Sebring in 1959 I believe he would have been champion by the end of that afternoon.

A few years ago at the Coy's Festival I was honoured to obtain Tony's autograph; I still remember that it was HE who thanked ME for asking him to sign!!!

Typical of the man.

[David McKinney]

Originally posted by D-Type
1955 Syracuse (non-championship) GP [he scored] the first all British GP win since 1923

....apart from the 1924 San Sebastian GP and the 1946 GP des Frontieres

[krt917]

Originally posted by D-Type
In 1958 everybody refers to Stirling Moss winning three World Championship GP’s to Mike Hawthorn’s one but overlook the fact that Brooks also had three wins.

Just a small point, Stirling actually won four championship counting GPs in 1958 - 3 for Vanwall, and the first for Cooper in Argentina.

Agree with your sentiments, though. Brooks was known to be very smooth and was superb at circuits like the old Spa and Nurburgring (he won the GPs there in '58). I always reckon that someone who was quick on tracks like that must have been great.

He did have grit too. I seem to recall hearing that he came second to Fangio at Monaco in '57, despite having a gear-lever that was making mincemeat of his hand.

One of those strange ironies is that Moss and Brooks (and maybe even Collins) were probably better than Hawthorn and yet it was Mike that became the first British World Champion!

[Aysedasi]

Originally posted by D-Type
.....and Nigel Roebuck’s Grand Prix Greats and of course in Steven Small’s Grand Prix Who’s Who. The first two would cost you £20 - £30 on e-bay....

£20-£30 eh? Another one of my favourite books. Worth that price for the illustrations alone......

[D-Type]

David and KRT917, I stand corrected .
I have to live up (down) to my signature sometimes.

Of course I meant to type 1924 San Sebastian GP.
But I have never heard of the 1946 Grand Prix des Frontieres. Looking at the results, I don't think that Brooke's opposition compares to a team of works Maseratis.
Was the second placed Alfa of Steinbach a P3? And would Adant's third place be the last competitive appearance of a Bugatti (in Europe anyway).
And I clearly can't count.

From Nigel Roebuck’s Chasing the Title (another of my remaindered buys)

At the Goodwood Festival of Speed ball in 1998, Chris mears, the wife of four-time Indianapolis winner Rick, was seated at dinner next to Tony Brooks. By the end of the evening, she was aware that Brooks was a former Grand Prix driver, but this most self-effacing of men had told her little of his career. She wanted to know more, and spoke to Mario Andretti.
‘That guy,’ said Mario, ‘was the best of the best of the best…’

So we have Brooks rated very highly by Fangio, Stirling Moss and Mario Andretti. Praise indeed! Definitely a racer's racer!

[Aysedasi]

But he didn't like rain in his pants at Le Mans......

[Roger Clark]

When he joined Ferrari in 1959 Brooks insisted that his contract exclude Le Mans. There were not many drivers who could get the Old Man to accept that.

[John Turner]

I think that Stirling when he has been asked to nominate his 'dream team' has often said 'Jim Clark & Tony Brooks'. As all have said Brooks is one one of the all time greats.

[NKT]

Thanks for the information.May you present a summmary?

[Mike.ca]

Originally posted by D-Type
Nobody has yet written a biography of Tony Brooks.

An absolute outrage, IMHO. Let's hope that it will be remedied.

[strad]

http://8w.forix.com/brooks.html
Here's a read for you.........

[nicanary]

A bit of a late addition to the thread, but I've just finished Eoin Young's book "the amazing summer of 55" - it's a good read.

He devotes a whole chapter to the Syracuse GP, including the saga of how the whole team got there with drama.Apparently after the race the organisers were so baffled as to how Tony had done it that they stripped his engine for measurement.

Now I don't want to sound rude to Messrs. Clarke and Oliver but that old nail was at the end of its life. What was in effect a Lea-Francis sports car motor couldn't have been tuned any further - if they had bored it out the liners could have been used as sunglasses.

A brilliant drive from an unassuming man who probably didn't know what all the fuss was about.

[D-Type]

The comments are true of the previous car, the Type A that ran in Formula 2 from 1950 to 1953 did have a Lea Francis engine and some of these 2 litre cars in private hands carried on in minor Formula 1 races in 1954-55). But the Type B that was developed for the 2.5 litre Formula 1 had an Alta engine. It's the one that originally had a fully streamlined body that was later changed to an open wheeler, which naturally became known as the "Syracuse" model.

My main reason for posting is to say that Tony Brooks's autobiography, Poetry in motion, has now been published. This gives some insight into his character and attitude to racing. His opinions of some of his contemporaries are interesting. I recommend it if you are interested in the period.