A Cooper T23 Bristol Racing car, formerly owned by Bob Gerrard, exiting the International Pit Lane, during the Silverstone Classic Media Day
Cooper built up to 300 single-and twin-cylinder cars during the 1940s and 1950s, and dominated the F3 category, winning 64 of 78 major races between 1951 and 1954. This volume of construction was unique and enabled the company to grow into the senior categories; With a modified Cooper 500 chassis, a T12 model, Cooper had its first taste of top-tier racing when Harry Schell qualified for the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix. Though Schell retired in the first lap, this marked the first appearance of a rear-engined racer at a Grand Prix event since the end of WWII. The front-engined Formula Two Cooper Bristol model was introduced in 1952. Various iterations of this design were driven by a number of legendary drivers – among them Juan Manuel Fangio and Mike Hawthorn – and furthered the company's growing reputation by appearing in Grand Prix races, which at the time were run to F2 regulations. Until the company began building rear-engined sports cars in 1955, they really had not become aware of the benefits of having the engine behind the driver. Based on the 500-cc cars and powered by a modified Coventry Climax fire-pump engine, these cars were called "Bobtails". With the center of gravity closer to the middle of the car, they found it was less liable to spins and much more effective at putting the power down to the road, so they decided to build a single-seater version and began entering it in Formula 2 races. Frederick Roberts "Bob" Gerard (19 January 1914, Leicester – 26 January 1990, South Croxton, Leicestershire) was a racing driver and businessman from England. He participated in numerous top-level motor racing events on either side of World War II, including eight World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, scoring no championship points.
Size: 5517px × 3173px
Location: Silverstone Circuit, Towcester, United Kingdom
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1950s, 2, anti-roll, armco, automotive, bar, bob, bristol, british, cage, car, circuit, cockpit, cooper, crash, driver, engineering, exhaust, f2, famous, formula, gerrard, gloves, green, harness, helmet, historic, international, john, lane, manufacturer, motosport, overalls, owner, performance, pit, pits, practice, race, racing, rare, roll, seater, session, side, silverstone, single, sports, steering, t23, test, testing, tyres, view, wheel, wheels, windscreen, winner
