Happy Birthday Sir Jack Brabham

Today marks the birth of Formula One legend Jack Brabham who not only won three World Championships by driving the car, but also helped with the development.

Brabham was also well known for pushing his car over the finish line on a couple of occasions after running out of fuel.

The Australian won his third title with the Brabham name. He became, and still remains, the only driver to win a Championship under their own name.

Originally a greengrocer, Brabham was introduced to motorsport by a friend who he helped build a midget car. When his friend retired, Jack took over.

Brabham went on to enter his first of 128 races in Aintree, 1955.

Just four years later, Brabham went on to win his first World Championship after victories in Britain and on the sports iconic Monaco track. He was driving for Cooper Car Company.

In 1960, Brabham followed up his success with a second World Championship after winning consecutive races in Holland, Belgium, France, Britain and Portugal.

Jack went onto set a team up under his own name which made its debut F1 appearance in 1961 after being successful in Formula 2.

This car went on to win 2 races in 1964. These race wins were made by his teammate Dan Gurney.

Brabham, who was 40 at the time, won his third world championship in 1966 making him the only driver to win in his own car. This came after persuading an Australian company to supply the team with an Oldsmobile v8 design engine.

Jack retired in 1970 at the age of 44. He sold the team.

His contribution and attitude shown towards British Motorsport were recognised when he became Sir Jack Brabham in 1985.

He passed away in May 2014 aged 88.