MOTORSPORT: At last, Brabham on the big screen

Almost 60 years after he literally pushed a Cooper-Climax that had run out of fuel to the first of his three Formula 1 world titles, the story of Australia's greatest motor racer, Jack Brabham, is about to be seen on the big screen.

The documentary film Brabham will premiere at the Brisbane International Film Festival on Sunday, October 6, and a trailer for it has just been released.

The film is making a late start -- it has taken almost five years to produce, having begun within months of Sir Jack's death in 2014, aged 88.

The work of Aurora Films, it was co-written by Akos Armont and Tony Davis (author of the Brabham book that has been on sale for several weeks) and directed by Armont (of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales fame).

It is being billed as 'the untold story of F1', delving into Brabham's mysterious private life and relationships with his family -- including three sons, who all raced -- as well as archival footage of his unparalleled career and interviews with his contemporaries.

These include Jackie Stewart, like Brabham a triple world champion and knight of the realm; the now late John Surtees, the only winner of motorcycle and F1 world titles; and his greatest rival, Stirling Moss, another knight but somehow never a world champion.

There's also input from Bernie Ecclestone, the British second-hand car dealer who acquired the Brabham team in the early 1970s for a song and later became the commercial tsar of F1 until recently.

And from Mark Webber, who grew up idolising Brabham, whose racing days had ended long before the Queanbeyan kid came along and won nine grands prix, although Alan Jones is the only Australian to have emulated Brabham's F1 world title success.

Perhaps the film will finally do public justice to the contribution of the unsung hero of Brabham's career, designer Ron Tauranac, who has outlasted his partner in the long line of 'BT' (Brabham-Tauranac) cars, although his health too is failing in his 90s.

The BT moniker is being revived by Brabham's youngest son, David, with the Brabham BT62 road -- and potential race -- car and their often-difficult relationship is woven into the film.

While it apparently airs some dirty linen, the film may at last correct an enduring imbalance -- that the single-minded, trailblazing former Air Force mechanic and speedway racer who conquered the world for Australia, initially in Coopers but most significantly with the Repco-engined Brabham BT19, has always been more acknowledged overseas than in his homeland.

Curiously, the film was screened at a regional festival in WA, but Reading Cinemas at Newmarket in inner northern Brisbane is the venue for the red-carpet premiere at 3:00pm on Sunday, October 6.

A second screening is scheduled there for Wednesday, October 9, with tickets on sale at biff.com.au/ev