MOTORSPORT: Brabham race team reborn

Barely four months after the death of Sir Jack Brabham, the triple Formula One world champion's youngest son has launched an ambitious project to revive the Brabham name as a racing car constructor.

David Brabham unveiled Project Brabham in Britain overnight with the aim of participating in next year's World Endurance Championship for sports cars (including the Le Mans 24-Hour) and ultimately F1 as well as the new environmentally-friendly, all-electric Formula E.

The ambitious project is based on crowd-funding, with the aim of raising £8 million (about A$14.7m) to compete in the WEC's second-tier LMP2 next season. LMP is the acronym for Le Mans Prototype.

The Brabham family is Australia's motor racing royalty, having achieved huge success on the international stage.

The third of the late Sir Jack's F1 world titles, in 1966, came in a car of his own manufacture and bearing his name – a unique feat unlikely ever to be repeated. Sir Jack died in May this year, aged 88.

New Zealander Denny Hulme won the title the next year driving for Brabham as the team also claimed its second successive constructors' world championship.

Brazilian Nelson Piquet won two of his three world titles in 1981 and '83 driving for the Brabham team which then was owned by Bernie Ecclestone before he became F1's commercial supremo.

David Brabham, now 49 and based in England, twice raced briefly in F1 but his greatest success has been in sports car racing, including outright victory at Le Mans with Peugeot in 2009 and also in America with the Panoz and Highcroft teams.

His eldest brother, Geoff, also won Le Mans with Peugeot in 1993, was a multiple sports car champion in America and competed in more than 100 Indy races, including 10 starts in the Indianapolis 500.

The pair also once were regular and successful endurance co-drivers in Australian touring car racing.

Another brother, Gary, was a race driver too and sons of Geoff and David have followed the family tradition: Matthew having achieved considerable success in junior open-wheelers in the US in the past three years; and Sam competing in Formula Ford in Britain this year.

Sir Jack and his low-profile designer, fellow Australian Ron Tauranac, were among the world's most successful racing car constructors in their heyday, but later there were disputes over the use of the Brabham name with other, unrelated parties at times 'hijacking' it.

Legal proceedings in Europe have ensured the family's right to use its own name in the racing business.

David Brabham said that, while the initial focus of Project Brabham would be on the WEC, “the ultimate dream is to bring this same model to F1 and potentially other exciting new series such as the FIA Formula E Championship”.

He said the project's business model was intended to appeal to three groups: fans, drivers and engineers.

“We are going to provide unrivalled access to our team for all three, through a knowledge-sharing portal that will be the first of its kind in the sport,” he said.

“Knowledge is normally a closely guarded secret in motorsport, but we see the bigger picture and recognise the advantage of being more transparent, which means our community will get much closer to the action.

“It's a truly monumental effort to start a race team, so the drama will be high and the experience completely unique.

“From the moment we achieve the crowd-funding target [people investing] will gain access to the inner workings of our fledgling team, so [they] can live the experience with us.

“We have endured a long and testing journey to protect and bring the Brabham name back under the family's control, then decide the next step in the journey of this iconic brand.

“I have long dreamt of seeing the Brabham racing team back out on the track, winning at the highest level and continuing the legacy my father laid down when he first started the team in the 1960s.

Brabham says crowd-funding gives people the chance to be part of the team from the start.

“Once we have built a large community we will start to see the power of a collective force that will attract the funds and partners to make this journey a success,” he said.