1955 Cooper T40

The lights at the Surbiton factory would be on late into the night as employees at Cooper frantically prepared a new car for the British Grand Prix at Aintree in 1955. Other than looks, the car would be unimpressive during practice and would end up retired, out of the race after 30 laps due to an expired engine. However, while the rear of the field would rarely garner any attention, to have missed the Cooper-Bobtail T40 at Aintree was to miss the very future of grand prix racing.

While the legend of Cooper Car Company's racing history would have to begin with the ever-popular 500 c.c. design with its rear-engine design, the impact Cooper would have on Formula One design would actually build off of the 500 model and would develop into the T39.

Cooper would be one of the manufacturers on the forefront of aerodynamic body design and understood that a lightweight, aerodynamic car could compete with an engine of smaller capacity and horsepower than those that relied heavily on engine horsepower. Therefore, with the T39, Cooper would look to apply those elements into an affordable design that could easily compete in the 1.1 and 1.5 sportscar classes.

But besides these innovative features, the T39 would be littered with many other interesting design features that would influence design from its day forward. But one of the most influential aspects to the whole program wouldn't be the T39, but a man.

Jack Brabham would come to England from Australia and he was one of the very few that possessed remarkable driving talents and great engineering understanding as well. When he made the move to Cooper it would be much more of a partnership than an owner-employee relationship. Brabham would come around the factory often and would routinely pitch in a helping hand and an innovative idea.

Brabham would find himself impressed with the T39 but would be more interested in its potential than what it had already been designed to do. Mercedes-Benz had debuted its streamlined W196 in 1954. This would offer proof to Brabham's already strong belief that the T39 could be developed for use in Formula One.

The basis was already there. The T39 would make its debut in the hands of Ivor Bueb at the Easter Monday races held at Goodwood and would come away with a well-earned 3rd place result after fighting with a couple of Connaughts with larger capacity engines under the cowlings. Then, at Silverstone, the T39 would prove dominant and would come away with the victory as it would even prove capable of equaling the pace posted by those in 2.0-liter machines.

The T39 could keep up with its bigger-engined rivals precisely because it was a much lighter car than those of its same class or within those classes just a step or two up. The reason for this would be found with the car's chassis itself.

Just four tubular members would serve as the basis for the chassis. These members would form a design similar to that of an eye as the steel members would curve inwards and downward at each end of the car, and therefore, would be at its widest in the middle. Utilizing bracing hoops forward and aft of the cockpit area, the chassis would weigh just 65 pounds.

The aerodynamic bodywork would be fitted over top of the chassis and would sport an oval-shaped radiator inlet in the nose and rather flat upper lines to the bodywork in between the greatly contoured front fenders. These fenders wrapped tightly around the front and blended seamlessly into the leading edge of the nose bodywork. Lights and other such equipment would be added to the car to help it conform to sportscar regulations, but for Formula One, only added unnecessary weight.

Just behind the right front wheel an 8 gallon fuel tank was positioned. However, Cooper did offer the option of fitting a 14 gallon tank in the same area. This would offer better weight distribution given Cooper's other significant offering—the rear positioned engine.

Being a small operation, Cooper would have to find his components and parts from just about any readily available source he could. Therefore, Cooper would use the front-wheel-drive gearbox from a Citroen and would turn it to provide the rear-wheel drive needed for the rear-mounted Coventry engine. The gear-shift itself would be positioned within the driver's cockpit welded to a tube shaft running along the right-hand side of the car.

Behind the wrap-around windscreen and two-piece door on the left-hand side of the car, the rear of the car would be just as neatly designed as the front. John Cooper and his team had been reading the works of people such as Professor Kamm. It would be from Professor Kamm that the 'Kamm' tail would develop. But Cooper and his team would go beyond merely cutting off the tail of the car, which Cooper, by the way, considered a 'Bob-tail' instead of a 'Kamm'.

Given the rear position of the engine and the team's desire to maintain aerodynamic efficiency over the whole of the car, an idea needed to be come up with to cover the carburetors and air-inlets positioned on the top of the engine. Meeting the challenge head-on, Cooper and his team would design a piece of bodywork that would be incorporated as both a headrest and cover for the top of the engine. Air would be fed to the engine's carburetors and inlets via a vent positioned on the left side of the bodywork covering the engine and to the side of the driver's head. The Bob-tail design allowed the car to reduce its rear-end drag as much as possible without having long, trailing bodywork to do the job, which would have added undo weight to the already underpowered car.

Brabham's vision, which would become known as the T40, would be practically the same car, just with a larger engine to enable him to compete against the best teams and cars Formula One.

What Brabham had in mind was a 2.2-liter six-cylinder Bristol engine. Unwilling to wait and develop the car, Cooper and his team would instead mate a 2.0-liter Bristol engine into the new T40.

The T40 would be a slightly new car in more than just designation and powerplant. In order for Cooper and his team to be able to fit the larger engine into the car the chassis would have to be extended by some two inches. Additionally, the first gear on the Bristol gearbox would be removed in order to fit into the car. Thankfully, because of the extreme lightweight of the car, it would be determined first gear meant little to the overall package of the car.

Losing the lights and other unnecessary components only necessary for sportscar racing, the new T40 would be even lighter than its already lightweight predecessor, the T39. But given the fact the T39 didn't make its debut until April, the Cooper Car Company would be scurrying around trying to finish Brabham's idea in time for the British Grand Prix at Aintree toward the middle of July.

Thankfully, the majority of the new T40 would remain very close to that of the T39. Therefore, the team would not have take time developing parts and components it had not already had in mind to use. Unfortunately, the fact the T39 was also quite new meant the development and construction of the T40 would also be slow as well. The shortness of time would also lend to the decision being made to install a 2.0-liter Bristol engine into the car instead of Brabham's proposed and hoped for 2.2-liter option.

Time would tick on by and still the car would not be done. Even on the eve of the British Grand Prix weekend the car was still just in the final stages of completion. Cooper and his team would work tirelessly to finish the car in time.

When it was finally finished, the car would be quickly loaded and transported up the road to Aintree for the British Grand Prix. Going up against the likes of Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari and Maserati, the small single car effort from Cooper would be hardly given any attention. Not many would glance back toward the rear of the starting grid, which is where Jack Brabham would find himself after posting a best effort in practice that was some twenty-seven seconds slower than Stirling Moss' pole effort.

While the last minute construction of the car would cause everyone's nerves to be on edge, the fact that the clutch would fail on the morning of the race certainly would not help to calm the team.

The loss of the clutch, and the fact the first gear of the Bristol gearbox had been taken out, would come into immediate play when the flag dropped to start the race. Brabham would be left stranded at the tail-end of the grid with no power to drive him forward. His Cooper team would come out and would give him a push start to get the car going.

Finally, Brabham would set off. Being more than off the pace, Brabham would be quickly swallowed up by the front runners but the fact he would shift the car without use of the clutch would be truly fantastic. Unfortunately, the 150 hp 2.0-liter engine would struggle in the incredible heat and against the hectic pace and would end up retiring from the race after 30 laps.

Barely anyone would notice the streamlined car was gone from the race, but the trained eyes up and down the pitlane would realize that what everyone else barely missed from the enthralling race was the future of Formula One. This fact would become apparent to everyone else when Cooper debuted its T51 in 1959 and went on to win the World Championship with the first rear-engined car. And the reason why everyone would understand is because elements of the T40 would be able to be seen in the design of the T51. And those innovative features that would end up failing after one-third of the British Grand Prix in 1955 would be unbeatable just four years later.

Sources:
'1955 Cooper T39 News, Pictures and Information', (http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z17832/Cooper-T39.aspx). Conceptcarz.com: From Concept to Production. http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z17832/Cooper-T39.aspx. Retrieved 13 September 2012.

Muelas, Felix. 'Brabham's Cooper Debuting Among the All-Conquering Mercs', (http://www.forix.com/8w/gb55.html). 8W: The Stories Behind Motor Racing Facts and Fiction. http://www.forix.com/8w/gb55.html. Retrieved 13 September 2012.

'1955 British Grand Prix', (http://www.manipef1.com/grandprix/1955/britain/). ManipeF1. http://www.manipef1.com/grandprix/1955/britain/. Retrieved 13 September 2012.

By Jeremy McMullen