MOTORSPORT: Brabham movie a few bucks short

The feature-length documentary Brabham: The Untold Story of Formula One is almost finished – but it still needs a few tens of thousands of dollars for completion.

Due to be previewed at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne in March, before its release in cinemas, maker Aurora Films is seeking at least $50,000 and as much as $200,000.

Contributions, which are totally tax deductible, can be made via funding webpage Crowd88 – the project is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, meaning participants should receive a share in proceeds from sales of the film.

The website is showing $11,000 already raised – 22 per cent of the minimum required.

Aurora says the $50,000 is needed to finish making the film about Australia’s late triple F1 world champion Sir Jack Brabham and that the extra funding would be spent on international marketing.

The movie is to be distributed by Transmission Films, which in the past couple of years has handled the film on Bruce McLaren – the New Zealand understudy of Brabham and who founded what became the second most successful team in F1 history.

Apart from lots of historic footage of Brabham – who went from speedway in Sydney to conquering the world’s premier racing formula in unique ways – there are interviews in the can with his contemporaries Sir Stirling Moss, Sir Jackie Stewart and the late John Surtees.

The makers also have spoken to long-time F1 ‘ringmaster’, Bernie Ecclestone, who bought the Brabham team after Sir Jack’s retirement at the end of 1970, the man who designed the ‘BT’ cars, Ron Tauranac, the youngest of the Brabham sons, David (creator of the new BT62 hypercar), and nine-time GP winner Mark Webber.

Sir Jack won 14 GPs from 126 starts (compared to Webber’s 215) and was the first Australian to win in F1. He was also the first world champion in a rear-engined car (a Cooper-Climax he pushed over the finish line at Sebring in the US in 1959 after it ran out of fuel), and – most notably, in 1966 – the only driver to win a title in a car of his own construction. Brabham also pioneered the rear-engined revolution at America’s Indianapolis 500 and was the first driver to be knighted for his service to motorsport.

The movie has been in production since 2014, the year of Sir Jack’s death, aged 88.

The project was publicly revealed immediately after this year’s Australian GP.

Aurora says it is now in its final editing stages but it needs the dollars for the drive to the ‘chequered flag’.

The Documentary Australia Foundation says that Brabham’s achievements “have, in many ways, gone uncelebrated in recent years”.

“This is a story of triumph against the odds and an example of the rewards of education, innovation and perseverance,” it says.

“This film will have the capacity to inspire, delight and inform audiences.

“We believe that the film has the capacity to reach out to and motivate the current Gen Y and Millennials in Australia, to remind them of the great tradition and the enormous entrepreneurial spirit and productivity that we, as Australians, are capable of.

“The Brabham story may be the greatest success story to come out of vocational-based training that this country has ever seen [Brabham trained in the RAAF].

“This is not a story of privilege or outstanding scholarly success, rather that of a young person taking advantage of the applied training available to him and using those skills to attain more sophisticated expertise.

“Brabham revolutionised the arena of F1, and his contribution to engineering, design, entrepreneurial invention, intellectual property and motor racing has the capacity to enthuse viewers both young and old.

“Brabham’s ‘ordinariness’ reveals an accessible person, despite his phenomenal success; young people will be able to identify with his humility as they reflect on their own potential.”

Despite the wretched mechanical unreliability that hampered the latter half of this F1 season (and is a worry with his move to Renault’s factory team next season), Daniel Ricciardo is wrapping up at Red Bull Racing on a high.

The carsales.com.au global ambassador visited the British base of the team for which he drove 100 GPs, scored seven wins, 29 podiums and three pole positions late last week to say his farewells.

He and his teammate of almost three years, Max Verstappen, spent two hours signing autographs and memorabilia for the hundreds of staff.

Verstappen said the Aussie had been an exemplary teammate and taught him a lot about consistent performance and the art of overtaking.

RBR team principal Christian Horner said Ricciardo had “been a pleasure to have in the team the last five years”.

“He’s been with Red Bull (initially in its junior development squad) since 2007, and it has been great to see him grow and evolve,” Horner said.

“Ironically, when we were first faced with a dilemma of who do we replace Mark Webber with [in 2014] – there was Jean-Eric Vergne, there was Daniel Ricciardo, there was Kimi Raikkonen – our biggest concern about Daniel wasn’t his pace but it was that we hadn’t seen him race wheel to wheel while he was at Toro Rosso [Red Bull’s secondary F1 team].

“And ever since he’s been in a Red Bull Racing car he’s done nothing but overtake – and arguably has become the best overtaker in the business [Ed: What’s the argument, Mr Horner?].

“He’s driven some fantastic races for us. His personality has been a tremendous fit for the brand. His energy in the team has been hugely popular, the dynamics with him and Max have been great.

“All we can do, as that chapter closes, is wish him the best of luck for the future.”

Although he won in China and, famously with a down-on-power car, in Monaco, Ricciardo said 2018 had been “by far the most intense and challenging season I’ve experienced”.

“There’s been some incredible moments in 2018 ... mentally it’s tested me, but I feel it’s only going to make me stronger down the track,” he said.

As a parting gift, RBR gave Ricciardo a personalised KTM 350 SXF to indulge his fondness for motocross.

He has one more visit to make to RBR, for its Christmas party, but that will be the final ‘Au Revoir’.

Then comes a holiday back home in Western Australia “just chilling out for a bit” before getting to work at Renault, a tough assignment as the French manufacturer tries to reprise its glory days of more than a decade ago against the modern might of Mercedes, Ferrari and what will be Honda-powered Red Bull.