MINI John Cooper Works: A Big Name Representing Decades Of Motorsports - The Car Guide
Ask anyone “Who is John Cooper. ” and they’re sure to answer, “He’s the guy who makes the MINI John Cooper Works. John Cooper was born on July 17, 1923. His father, Charles, owned a race car maintenance and repair shop. In 1946, they started making small, inexpensive race cars equipped with motorcycle engines. Driven by their associate Eric Brandon, their rear-engine Cooper 500 won Britain’s first post-war race on July 13, 1947, at the Gransden Lodge military airport just a few kilometres from Cambridge. Catching the attention of Formula 1. The Coopers had just started a revolution on the small automobile racing scene. And since Formula 1 was essentially English back then, the Cooper name quickly became well-known. In 1958, Stirling Moss won the Formula 1 championship driving a Cooper T43. The following year, Jack Brabham won the driver’s and manufacturer’s races in a Cooper T51, which also featured a rear-engine. In 1961, the Mini and Cooper names were united for the first time. John Cooper and Alec Issigonis, the man behind the Mini Minor, were good friends. John already had plans to send the Mini into competition, but Issigonis had his reservations. Source: www.guideautoweb.com
