Original subtitles

(tense music playing)

(indistinct chattering)

- [Narrator] 70 years ago something special started.

(engine revving)

Formula 1.

Man and machine in perfect unison pushing each other

to their limits.

Supported by teams aiming for that top step.

- The name of the game was winning.

- [Narrator] Seeking perfection.

(engines revving)

The road hasn't always been smooth.

(car crashes)

We've marveled at great moments.

Had smiles brought to our faces.

(man laughs)

Cried with our heroes.

(engines revving)

Witnessed incredible bravery and terrible sadness.

(engines revving)

Moments never to be forgotten.

For 70 years, this has been their Everest.

(upbeat tense music) (engines revving)

This is what makes them special.

This is the story of Formula 1.

- Motor sport is in our DNA.

We are a family.

I think it's not only act company.

It's a fantastic brand, but it's a family.

I think that the history of Ferrari is fantastic.

So whoever is working Ferrari knows exactly what's about.

It's not only a job.

It's not a job, it's a passion.

(tense music playing)

- It's more than the car manufacturer.

It's more than a brand, is a way of life.

- The prancing horse creates as an emotion.

- We have been nominated

as the most important brand in the world twice.

- They are part of the fabric of our business, of our sport,

of our history and heritage.

- It was an unbelievable competitive car.

- Ask any amateur racer in the world

if they'd like to go and race a Ferrari somewhere,

and the answer is immediately yes.

- I realize what means an Italian driver in a red car.

- Ferrari's expression is in fans.

The other thing any other team does.

- I go to Italian restaurants all around the world

and I'll never paid for a meal for years.

- I have pieces from all my career

but definitely Ferrari is the most special.

- Ferrari has been and still is the most important part

of my life.

(crowd applause)

- It's easily understood what Ferrari is what it is,

especially if you knew Enzo Ferrari.

(engine revving)

(speaks in foreign language)

- He was tough.

He liked people to fight within the,

in the team against each other.

He felt well that was more competitive,

and he was smarter than anybody around him.

(speaks in foreign language)

- He was so pure, you know,

and racing was the only thing that he really cared about.

No question.

(speaks in foreign language)

- Then he started the Scuderia Ferrari, I think 1927.

Very, very smart involved man lived purely for racing.

Having been a grumpy racer himself back in the '20s

for Alfa Romeo.

(speaks in foreign language)

- [Commentator] For the first time in first world racing,

Alfas were beaten and a new star was born in Gonzales,

who driving his Ferrari had won the British Grand Prix.

- If you go to Maranello for an interview, for a meeting,

he put immediately the dark glass

just to cover his reaction, his emotion.

And he was a really a very good guy to create unique image,

but he was sometime in the prison of his myth.

He has never been in his life to Rome.

He has never been in a lift.

He has never been in a plane

but he was I'm sure he was ready to do it,

but he didn't want to do this to maintain the myth.

- He didn't go to the races

and he didn't even go to the Italian Grand Prix.

He went to practice for the Italian Grand Prix

but didn't actually go to the Italian Grand Prix itself.

(engine revving)

- [Commentator] The race was a walk away

for the Alfa Romeo's Farina, number two was first,

followed home by Fagioli,

number three. (engine revving)

- Because there were no challenges to the Alfetta as a 159,

they decided for a 1952 the world championship will be run

for Formula 2 cars.

The car was Ferrari 500, a I-500 cc per cylinder.

Four-cylinder engine, two liters, Formula 2 car.

And Ferrari was really in his element there

because that little four-cylinder engine of his,

was completely bulletproof.

And he had Alberto Ascari,

and the man just flew brilliantly in his Ferrari 500.

In fact, I think he won nine Grand Prix on the track

- [Commentator] And to Alberto Ascari,

a further Grand Prix victory,

a victory which was to confirm him

champion of the world a second time.

(orchestral music)

- We were getting in the '50s.

This fascinating situation,

there were two great young racing drivers from Britain

who were rising up the ladder side-by-side,

Mike Hawthorn and Stirling Moss.

- Mike Hawthorn is arms and elbows.

He is larger than life, he's the bow tie, he's Mr. Debonair.

He's a Ferrari driver who moved mountains, actually.

I mean, there were journalists who were at Reims

the day he won the,

who say that it was one of the greatest moments

for British sport ever.

- [Commentator] By half distance, two cars only mattered,

Fangio and Hawthorn.

First one then the other leg,

and after 300 miles of motor racing Hawthorn beat Fangio

by a single second.

- Very strong character but never rude, never abrupt,

just there, Mike Hawthorn.

Synonymous with racing drivers of the '50s.

- In spite of the fact that he was missing a kidney,

probably would not have passed a medical exam,

had they given him one.

And in spite of all that

he came on through and delivered the goods.

- He tells me on the last race people were saying,

"Well Ferrari will win this round,"

but it's completely different type of circuit.

Peter Collins which was Mike Hawthorn's great friend.

They were both driving for Ferrari.

They were the closest friends.

Enzo Ferrari hated the fact that they were such good friends

because Enzo Ferrari liked his drivers

to be fighting each other.

But when Peter Collins was killed

at the Nurburgring in 1958.

- [Commentator] Peter Collins and Mike Hawthorn, Ferrari,

they were fighting a terrific battle.

It was soon after this that John Collins, number two,

had his fatal accident.

- He was thrown out of the car, Hawthorn was following him,

saw the accident happen, looked in his mirrors

and thought he'll be all right.

And when he realized that Collins was dead,

I think Hawthorn's whole approach

to racing probably changed.

- Mike really went into a shell for a little while

and I think that's when he was thinking about giving up.

- But then when he thought about it

he thought I can beat that little man Moss

to the championship and I can do it for Peter.

So he set about the final few races of that season.

- If you talked to Stirling, he actually effectively

he was the architect of his own downfall

in terms of not winning the world championship.

- In the Portuguese Grand Prix,

Mike Hawthorn was disqualified from second place

by a petty transgression.

- Hawthorn had spun off during the race

and had gone down an escape road

and the organizers originally were then gonna disqualify him

for leaving the track.

And Stirling had no idea of the effects that this would have

but this was Stirling (clears throat)

because he was a sportsman stood up for Mike and said,

"Well, no, actually this guy rode part of the race track."

So Mike his results stood.

- He was disqualified for something I don't think

he should have been and I gave evidence on his behalf.

And I would still do it and I would have done it before.

I mean, it was then a sport.

Now I mean, if it happens, you'd never dare do that

because your sponsors would be down on you

like a ton of bricks.

But in those days you could, you know,

the sport called for that and it was the right thing to do

- That is an example of the comradeship and friendship

between Moss, Collins, Hawthorn, they were not rivals

any more than they were competitives on the track.

- The final race of the 1958 season Moss had to win

and set fastest lap to be champion.

And even if he did that, if Hawthorn could finish second

then Hawthorn would be champion by one point.

- He felt that he had to do something in his last race.

Really for, you know, the memory of Peter.

- Well Moss did exactly what he needed to do in the Vanwall.

He won the race.

He set fastest lap and Hawthorn was running in third place

which meant most was going to be champion.

But of course, Phil Hill, Hawthorn's teammate at Ferrari,

who was in second place, slowed down,

let Hawthorn lead him over the line by a second.

And that meant that Hawthorn was champion.

(engines revving)

- It's great that Hawthorn became

the first British World Champion,

but equally Stirling had won far more races

and was the dominant guy for most of the year.

- I was used to coming close to (chuckles)

the world championship, I never made it.

I think if I'd taken an offer I had from Ferrari before

I would have got it, but I wanted to drive British cars

and that was it.

- [Commentator] The sporting club's presentation

of a cocktail cabinet to Mike Hawthorn was made by

the Club Chairman, Charles Forte.

(engines revving)

In his speech of thanks,

Mike touched on his retirement from motor racing.

- In eight years I got to the top,

so I decided now is the time.

- Everybody was gobsmacked, but he felt he'd done it

for Peter, he'd done it for Ferrari.

Remember he'd only been racing for about eight years

and that's why when the accident happened, it made,

it was a shock that ran through this country.

- The irony is just, it's too much to take even today.

And it's so sad, so, so sad.

- Certainly, he was one of the finest drivers

that has been produced in this country.

- Maybe at the back of his mind there was this threat

that he perhaps knew he wasn't going to live too much longer

into his 30s.

But I think all that would have done,

would have been to make sure

that he had as much fun as he could today.

- No, he lived for the moment, yes,

but then he, I think he wanted to settle down

and have a family and he just wanted to be a family man

I think, and have a nice house, and home, and garden.

- And I think it's nice

that history is enabling us never to forget Mike Hawthorn

or to take him for granted

because the history books will always tell us

that he was Britain's first Formula 1 World Champion.

- When the rear engined situation became very obviously

what you needed, you weren't going to be winning Grand Prix

if your engine wasn't behind the driver.

Ferrari famously said, "Oh, I'm not gonna do that.

No, no, no.

Horses pull carts, they don't push them."

- [Commentator] The latest Ferrari engines are reckon

to be giving 40 horsepower more than

the Coventry Climax engine used by BRM,

Cooper, and Lotus.

(engines revving)

Phil Hill and Von Trips round to happen for the last time,

and Phil Hill wins the 1961 Belgian Grand Prix

less than one second ahead of Von Trips.

(engines revving)

- Ferrari in the end his obstinacy

and stubbornness was overcome by this continual lust

for victory.

(engines revving) (tense music playing)

I think Phil Hill was so proud of the fact

that finally Ferrari was listening to better judgment.

- Ferrari at the time was with people very provincial

in the sense very, how can I say,

with the mentality of Maranello, I try to open mind

and then we started the discussion with Ferrari

for the drivers.

- The whole team was so angered to do something better

because the past was so terrible

that I came there in the right moment

and everybody was on the same track.

(engines revving)

And to win the championship in '75 was,

I would say looking back, pretty easily.

- [Narrator] A triumphal welcome for the red cars,

for Regazzoni, who was towered above everyone,

and for Niki Lauder,

who at the end of an outstanding season has brought back

to Italy a title which gives glory

not only to the sporting world,

but also to the whole Italian car industry.

(crowd cheering)

- And I went immediately to call Enzo

and for the first time he said to me,

"Thank you, thank you for what you have done."

And I was sure that he was crying

because I understood from the voice.

(crowd cheering)

- Enzo Ferrari was the commendatory and he's for me,

the most charismatic man ever

because he was a typical Italian with a warm heart

but you never felt it because if you complained

about his Ferrari he bisect you.

- Enzo Ferrari was wanting to win races,

rarely building cars.

I think that was his passion and everything he did

I think was to win races and win championships.

(engines revving)

- [Commentator] Villeneuve heads home.

(engine revving) (tense music playing)

Into little curve bend for time.

(engine revving)

Nobody can catch Villeneuve now.

Jody Scheckter is 3 1\2 seconds behind

and that's an eternity in this business.

(engine revving)

- You know, Gilles won the first two races,

both South Africa and Long Beach.

(tense music playing)

And so I was under massive pressure

and I was signed as a number one driver,

which then made me get another notch or two up.

And it was, you know, like there was normally

every to each you race and your tension goes like that

but that year it just stayed like that.

It was just every second you were thinking about

how you can do better.

(crowd cheering) (Tense music playing)

(engine revving)

I wanted to win the championship and I'd won it.

And that's what meant everything to me.

(tense music playing) (engines revving)

Gilles' weakness was he wanted to be the daredevil, fastest,

all of that.

He was a very serious, worked hard at his racing.

I think he was probably where I was some years before.

Didn't think of winning the championship,

just he was driving, driving fast.

- He was that kind of person for me I admired him for that.

(engines revving)

(indistinct chatter)

- Gilles was a force of nature.

He really was.

I can't actually think of anybody really before or since

who reminds me of Gilles.

- He was for me the most crazy, quickened guy in my time.

I will never forget.

He was so weird, driving,

fled out all the time that he impressed me.

(engines revving) (crowd cheering)

- [Commentator] And Villeneuve, Villeneuve through.

Villeneuve is through.

What an absolutely fantastic maneuver.

- Everybody who ever saw Gilles in a car will remember

what it was like to watch

and Jesus up ship, animal competitiveness of them,

of that man.

- [Commentator] Gilles Villeneuve anybody put his foot down,

and Villeneuve in the Ferrari wins from the seat one man,

brighter man as the engine is,

the Spanish crowd just as far as they go mad fast.

(crowd claps)

- But out of the car, you know, he was just a sweet guy.

He wasn't,

he was gentle.

He was funny.

He was,

and he was also totally, totally honest.

- What you saw is what you got.

It wasn't for image because the way

he was out of the car was exactly the same as he was

in the car.

There was not two Gilles, there was only one

and he was always the same.

- [Reporter] How was the race all the while?

- Super, the car was fantastic from the start.

The car was holding perfect and I was just cruising.

- [Reporter] So that's your second Grand Prix win.

- Yeah.

- [Reporter] Was it an easy win, would you say?

- Yeah, fairly easy, yes.

Today when everything is fine like that and car,

I guess it's quite easy.

- Now in a track, I tell you what, like I said,

he was tense from the minute that I fired up that engine

and that was him.

That was his style.

And that's why Mr. Ferrari just loved the guy.

He just loved that he loved the spirit.

- I mean for Ferrari, you know,

he's the only driver who have his the statue in Maranello.

And so Ferrari, that particular feeling to recognize

immediately the certain driver and certain respect

that certain driver have for his car.

- And it was all about pushing the envelope.

Not because it would make you go faster but

because it made him feel special.

It made him feel that he would do stuff

that others wouldn't be able to do

or wouldn't have the guts to do.

(engines revving)

- In this kind of sport it's for sure more dangerous

than other sports.

But I believe it's somehow written

when and how you gonna die in my view.

And if you do things within the limits specifically set

within your limits and not above.

And I feel you can do what you like.

- Michael Schumacher arrived in Formula 1 with the mental

and physical ability to drive every corner

of e6very lap flat-out.

(engine revving)

Michael was the right man for the right time

and we all had to raise our game.

(engine revving)

- Michael Schumacher was an interesting character, you know.

He was fully focused on racing, you know.

He was the guy that really got us all into fitness

and realized that having a better fitness level could help

you drive a racing car and help you with that consistency

from the first lap to the last step of the race.

(crowd cheering)

- We can all remember him jumping about on the podium

when the rest would look exhausted and worn out.

And he knew that if he could,

if his physical side was never a consideration

then his mental side would function so much better.

His sleeping patterns, his fitness,

he just took the whole thing to another level.

- Michael, in the race was the best driver I'd ever seen,

able to do 75 laps with the same time, like a qualify.

He was fit.

He was fantastic.

- Well, Michael was always my the master, you know,

so I always wanted to be close to him especially me.

I signed a contract with Ferrari as a kid, you know,

and Michael was like the god.

(engine revving)

- In the whole weekend I felt that we're quite good.

And I don't know why but when I was in the motor room today

I thought I'm able to win this race

but then I was effectively, I was actually in the race.

I was just in third and fourth position

and I though, oh well I think my dream doesn't come up.

And then suddenly the situation changed.

I went in for dry tires and it was absolutely

at the right moment and I could win the race.

And I'm really happy that I didn't win the race

because of accidents or somebody has a, I would say,

a problem on the car, or whatever reason that will fall out.

I really won this race by myself and by the team.

Everybody did a fantastic job.

I really have to say, like I had the car today.

I wasn't actually in the qualifying as that good

as it was in the race.

And it was unbelievable.

And I have to say, thank you to the team.

- Michael Schumacher.

I don't think Michael was too concerned about it

but he was a pretty misunderstood character

because he was quite an intimidating character in many ways.

But if you knew him personally, it was quite the opposite.

Very engaging, very personal.

- I enjoyed being Michael Schumacher's teammate in '92.

I found him really good to work with, very open.

He ruined my F1 career in some respects

because people didn't realize just how good he was

and would become,

and rewriting their record books everywhere.

I was more experienced in the race,

could often race better than him.

He was blindingly fast.

He was early into Formula 1.

It was his first full season,

but I really enjoyed the experience.

We had some fun together.

I'd pick him up in my helicopter

and fly him up to Silverstone on occasions.

So we were just fine, but I was the old man

and he was the new kid in town.

- I don't know if anyone who worked

with Michael had a bad word to say against him.

Who worked with him.

Lots of people who raced

against him had a different opinion.

- I saw his attack on the outside at breaking

but then going around the corner for me it was,

I, first of all, I didn't see him, but the second outside

around the corner usually lose ground.

So I didn't really expect him to be there anymore.

- Nuts, you know.

I'm amazed of how you actually got in front of me

when we were breaking a little bit.

Oh no, he didn't see me there, well, you know.

(audience laugh)

Not a chance.

You know, you gotta either be blind or stupid to not see me,

but I don't know, it's racing.

- [Reporter] Jenson with that,

you're watching the pictures there on a TV.

Can we just gain a neutral perspective on this and get your.

(audience laugh)

- I missed it.

I didn't see that part.

(audience laugh)

I think I was looking away at that point.

(audience laugh)

- You've got to hop in that car

and think that you can beat anybody.

And that sounds arrogant

but you've got to have a little bit of arrogance,

an enormous amount of confidence,

and that's what makes a good driver.

I mean, you look at Michael Schumacher, he's mistaken a lot

for being arrogant and he's very talented

and he's got an unbelievable will to win.

And that's what you need in Formula 1 to succeed.

(crowd cheer and applause) (engine revving)

- [Commentator] Winner and new world champion.

(audience clapping)

The youngest world champion to have won it

for the second time in a row.

- Really?

Nice to know.

(laughs)

- [Commentator] Michael, you were saying just now

it's gonna take a little while to sink in.

How long do you think it's gonna take?

- I'm not sure, but it slowly comes.

(crowd cheering and chanting)

- When I started my F1 career in 2000, Michael was the man,

you know.

It's when he started winning his championships with Ferrari.

It was obvious he'd already won too with Benetton,

but this was a very special era of Michael Schumacher

in Formula 1, Michael and Ferrari.

(engine revving)

- And then he really took off and, you know,

he's the man that could go to Ferrari, get the right people

around him and start winning championships.

And he had to be very patient for a number of years.

Whereas in fact Vettel and Alonso have not been able

to do that.

- Please, about the principal situation,

the pace is all right.

From, there's a lot of areas potentially you can build on.

And I mean, we don't see, we don't face a situation

where we two or three seconds off the pace.

I predicted it's gonna be about around the second

which it is right now, but I'm quite pleased because I see,

as you tend to say, the light in the end of the tunnel

and it's becoming brighter and brighter.

- I think his greatest skill was collecting people.

Even when he went to Ferrari and, you know, he would say,

"I want Ross Brawn."

If they had said, "Yeah, no, no, he's too expensive.

I'm not gonna have him."

And he would say, "Well, I'm not gonna stay."

He brought the best people into Ferrari

that have Ferrari has ever seen.

(engines revving)

- Racing against the Michael.

The race was never over until you get checkered flagged.

(suspenseful music playing)

So you never couldn't take it easy.

You never couldn't slow down.

You never couldn't.

He was always fighting to the last chance that he had.

It was really tough ago.

Never underestimate him.

Michael was so tough.

(engines revving)

(suspenseful music playing)

- I think he should play in 2000, you know,

finally winning a driver's championship,

was incredible emotion.

- [Commentator] Okay Micheal, we are going on broadcast.

Give us your feelings to the broadcaster.

- [Michael] Forget words (beep).

You are great Ross, you are great Ross.

All of you guys.

No, I can't (screams) (beep), we dit it, we did it.

Oh, (beep), give Corinna a big kiss for me.

(engines revving)

- It was just a wonderful thing.

And working so long for it made it all the better,

all the sweeter.

(crowd cheering and chanting)

(beep)

(both laugh)

- [Commentator] Drivers world champion, year 2000.

How do you feel?

- It's difficult to find proper words for such feeling.

I mean, there was such an outbreak of emotion initially

when I crossed the line.

(crowd cheering and chanting)

(speaks foreign language)

(crowd cheers)

- And for Michael to win five on the bounce, you know,

I think that was very special,

and you need the car underneath you,

but every driver,

every guy just won a world championship has been

in a very good car if not the best car,

but he just kept pumping them out.

And I mean, he had a lot of competition

in those years as well.

- [Reporter] Corrina congratulations, amazing day.

What about that?

- I'm very happy.

I'm very, very happy so what can I say?

Six times never did it so.

- [Reporter] What's it gonna mean to Michael this?

- I don't think that he will realize it today.

I think maybe in three, four days,

it's better to ask this question.

- [Reporter] 1957, one man Fangio,

won his fifth world championship

and now you've won your sixth.

Can you just describe your emotions?

- Probably not appropriate, honestly

because it's has been a tough year,

has been a tough late stage of the season.

And it has been a very tough race, honestly,

probably one of my toughest.

But I think what is much more to mentioned is the team.

And I only can repeat ever so often because again today

I mean, they have done an incredible job.

We never give up.

We always there, we always fight.

And I think that's one of the big strengths

of the Ferrari team and everybody in Ferraris is that way.

And it's just a huge, big family

which we all be proud of being a part of it.

(crowd applause)

- Michael has been more than important for Ferrari.

Not only because he won many championship,

not only because he was a Ferrari hero,

but because he was always close to the team

in the good moment and then the difficult moment.

We win together, we lose together.

- I've decided together (sad piano music)

with the team that I'm going to retire from racing.

It has been an exceptional, really exceptional time

with motor sport in more than 30 years has given to me.

I really loved every single moment

of the good and the bad ones.

Those ones make life so special.

- You know, he could have carried on

and I think he would have won, a good chance,

he would have won the championship again in 2007

because they, you know, he would have had the continuity

with the team and they would have, but he was tired

and decided to stop and have a rest.

- Michael Schumacher was obviously incredibly fast.

You don't win seven world titles without being so

but I think he was just clever.

In the car he had enough capacity to work out what was going

on around him, out of the car, get all the right people

and facilities getting all pointed in his direction.

- You know, he lifted Benetton to the world championship.

He lifted Ferrari to world championships

because he was lifting teams.

He was on a journey with teams

and to making them successful.

Yeah, his legacy was he changed

what a Formula 1 driver should be.

- You know, for sure when I was a child

he was my hero and I was looking up to him and I still I'm

but there is the friendship between us.

(crowd cheer and applause)

- Even when I was quicker than him

he was not liking so much, but respecting me, you know,

and because I was like, you are my teacher, you know, so

and the relationship was so great

and it was fantastic feeling to work with him, you know.

- Whether Louis beats his seven titles or not, you know,

I will always regard him as one of the greatest

if not the greatest in Formula 1.

- He's a lovely human being.

I mean, the work he did away from motor racing

which he always kept quiet about, his family and so on.

And he's a lovely guy.

(crowd chanting and cheering)

(engine revving)

- When it came to an end

and we, you know, we had a difficult year or two,

the team never split up.

The team stayed together.

In fact came back in 2007 and won the championship again.

(crowd cheering)

- It took a long time to hear that we finally won it.

And it's amazing day.

- I enjoy the time in Ferrari with the people

with not only the race team, you know,

the whole thing about Ferrari, about Maranello,

about all the people there is just a different world.

- There's always been something emotional

about the whole thing.

They take that flair and that emotion

which is very much Italy into their racing

and this in turn has captured the world's imagination.

- When I was 10, 11 years old, we did some go karting

in Italy and stopped in Maranello to have a look.

And we were lucky because it was a day where they were going

around with a Formula 1 car.

And so we went on the bridge to see.

Is obviously, you know, something very, very special

to become a Ferrari driver driving one of the two cars only

in the world.

- You feel proud (upbeat music)

when you are going into the paddock in this T-shirts,

you feel proud and yeah,

this is what I enjoy the most.

- A lot of people say that Ferrari and F1 are inseparable.

They're one in the same thing and I agree with that.

It's so storied.

It's so emotional.

(commentator speaks foreign language)

(engines revving) (crowd cheering)

When the garage door goes up and you're in a Ferrari,

this is like, this is magic.

(sentimental piano music)

- I had a Cooper in Australia, I had a Cooper-Bristol,

and the fact that I had the Cooper-Bristol

I went to see the Cooper Car Company when I got to England.

And luckily it went very well with John Cooper

and finished up driving for him and working for him.

And it was a great era.

(engine revving)

- [Commentator] Number three was the winner.

The Cooper driven by Jack Brabham.

And I could commend them for British cars this season.

- If you met him outside Grand Prix racing,

you would never put a bet of racing on your head.

You know, he was calm, quiet, almost slow I would say,

as a character.

And yet when he got in the car, I mean, he just came alive.

It was just, he was dynamite in the car.

- When he put the helmet on

that's when he completely changed.

Yeah, he became a very different person with the helmet on.

- Jack was phenomenally quick.

To the end of his career he was phenomenally quick.

- Well, I was always aggressive

it didn't matter what car I was driving,

but the rear engine got on of course, really mattered.

And they put rear engine in cars that 'cause

absolutely the future.

- Jack is a really misunderstood guy.

He was a very good engineer, you know,

and he was very clever at getting across

what the car should do.

And coming up with light-weighting ideas and stuff.

- We were always striving to win.

And the engineering side was always a very good interest

as far as I was concerned.

And just as much pressure as I was driving.

- Jack is one of the greatest race car engineers,

I think has ever been.

Far more clever than he's ever been given credit for.

One of the cleverest guys that I've ever known

in motor racing.

- When I first worked for Jack, his place of work was

in Ron Tauranac's shop but in the car factory.

And he had a lays, brand new colchester lays

which had a sign on there, J B only hands off.

And his desk sets just the other side of the aisle

from the lays and that's where he used to sit.

He used to sit there in his gray coat doing his paperwork,

maintenance, phone calls.

That's more or less at office at the time.

- [Commentator] All that frontline gets off together,

Moss, Brooks, and Brabham.

And as they come through would cut at the end

of the first lap, Brabham is leading Moss.

- Whenever I see pictures of dad driving in those late '50s

and '60s, the car was never straight

and was always drifting.

- We're all born, aren't we?

With a delight in seeing a car sideways, being controlled,

being held, or being steered on the throttle.

Brabham was a master of that.

- [Commentator] Brabham, hanging it out

in the wind of course.

And he gets the checkered flag for victory.

- He was wonderful to watch.

He was certainly there were smoother drivers, but boy,

when Brabham was attacking, it was a sight to behold

and he was for all his quiet voice

and under demonstrative ways,

he was actually a very flamboyant racing driver.

- And that came from his dirt track days,

when he built his first midget in 1948

and went racing.

Didn't really know what he was doing, but he straight away

he must have had that natural ability and feel and finesse.

- Well, the first race was a race where I had to cope

with the dirt being thrown in my face.

It was a longer dirt track

and I felt the wheels of the cars in front of me

they steer off the road.

And that was the worst part really.

It took me three minutes to get up the front.

- He was always up there on the pace, wasn't he?

But I wonder whether it was because of his background

that he did struggle a wee bit when he first came

and then, you know, and he kind of grew up

with Cooper's initially.

- [Commentator] You will see that once again

that's Brabham's Cooper.

The gallant entry in this battle of the giant.

- Then who was the guy that was making

the Cooper's work properly?

Where was Jack doing it?

And he just kind of eased in there.

I remember John Cooper one day saying,

"Jack sort of joined us by osmosis.

We didn't really know he was coming.

And then, there he was steering us

to the world championship."

- Unfortunately, I run out of petrol in the last lap

and our cases within a, probably a hundred yards

of the finish line.

So I jumped out and pushed the car the rest of the way

and eventually got the car over the line

a little enough points to win the championship.

- Winning the world championship two years in a row,

'59 and '60, that was the final sealing if you like,

of the fate of the front engine car.

- When we first started there was no gearboxes

for rear end cars.

So we had to make our own.

- He found an engineering solution was the term actually

and made it work.

Whereas Rob Walker, Alf Francis went to Colotti.

- The record shows that Moss had a lot of trouble

with the Colotti gearbox in 1959 and probably 1960.

- [Commentator] Sensation as Moss comes in.

The gearbox is packing up

and the Rob Walker Cooper is retired leaving Brabham

out in front.

- I think Moss retiring was certainly a factor

in Jack winning some of the races.

- [Commentator] It has been a thrilling start

of a growing pre-season.

With the victory going to the man who sat back

and watch the leaders go out with engine

and transmission trouble.

- Jack always wanted to find his own solution

because he had the brains

and the common sense to seek these solutions.

And after a while, I think he,

I think I'm sure he felt restricted by the four walls

of that lovely building, that Cooper factory.

- They were very concerned about Jack, maybe moving on.

And then Brooks began McLaren motor racing in 1964

in the Tasman series in cars that were effectively built

by himself, but were still called Coopers.

So there were tensions because they realized

both their top drivers from the early '60s had aspirations

to become constructors themselves.

- After Brooks had done some testing, Jack would ring him up

and say, a pretty short answer on the phone

Jack would say, "Good day."

And then he wouldn't say anything further.

And then Brooks embarrassed would start talking,

and talking, about what (laughs) what testing they had done

and what they'd learned and whatever.

Eventually Brooks woke up to this

and the next time Jack rang

with a good day, Bruce said, "Good day."

And they didn't say anything

and then eventually Jack started talking

and Jack never rang again after that.

- Jack obviously was always very concerned

about not overspending, but I think he felt

that he could do a better car given all those dimensions

within which he was operating.

And at that point, the relationship between Jack Brabham

and particularly Charles Cooper, not so much John,

kind of fell apart.

- The Coopers to me, didn't seem as if they really

wanted me to go forward.

They were quite complacent really to winning while they do

but a positive opinion now we had to move forward,

and so I knew

that Ron Tauranac was an extremely good car designer.

So I got him over from Australia and we formed a company

and started our own car building.

- To branch out on his own to design his own machinery.

The Brabham gone pre-car.

That was a very noble thing to do

because he could have all gotten passionate

for it at any time.

- [Commentator] Number 16, Jack Brabham

and his new Brabham Climax.

(engine revving)

It went well, but not well enough.

Jack was forced to retire after nine laps.

(engine revving)

The car was built to his own specification disappointing

to end it's first starting like this.

- I had the idea and I was gonna do it anyway,

was build an engine,

but I went to Repco and asked them if they could help me.

And they agreed to, and they built the engine,

done a very good job of it.

And we started winning races again.

- Jack selected Jochen from the whole Climax era

and then got him involved his man over there

in the development of the Repco engine.

- Repco needed some help in the drawing office.

And so within two or three days I was on a plane

to Australia, which I was pretty pleased about to be honest.

- Jack was ready to impact all that he felt

about racing cars into his own project.

He was always able to look around

at what everybody else was doing to assimilate that

and to translate it into the next Brabham design

and then the Brabham would magically appear.

And it would not only would it be a great drivable race car

but it would be a beautiful looking car as well.

- And the other thing about Brabham of course,

was that he was the, you know,

he was the trailblazer in being a driver

who formed his own team.

Took a while for the team to be successful

but it was actually competitive more or less

from the word go.

Particularly when Jack had Dan Gurney were driving

with him as his teammate.

And they finally did when a race.

Brabham became the first driver to win a race

in a car baring his own name and so, in Reims in '66.

- [Commentator] The roaring start at the French Grand Prix,

destined to be the fastest Grand Prix of all time

on the road circuit.

And amongst the racing cars, veteran driving his,

Jack Brabham, in a machine of his own design and make.

- I think to have designed and built your own car

and to have won Grand Prix with it is an exceptionally,

tasty, delicious thing to have done.

(engines revving)

- [Commentator] He was driving a red car Brabham, number 12.

He's average speed was also the fastest ever set up

in a Grand Prix, nearly 137 miles an hour.

- You know, it was an extremely proud moment

when dad won his first Grand Prix in a Brabham,

and then to win the world championship

in that same year was an absolute highlight for him.

- [Commentator] Australia's Jack Brabham received

the club's gold medal

for his unique double. (audience applause)

The manufacturer's and the driver's titles.

In his Repco, Brabham, he became the first man

to win a world championship in a car of his own make,

and he's also World Driver's Champion for the third time.

- Great satisfaction, it was definitely the pentagon

of my career really.

And I was very, very, very satisfied for what I've done.

And it was just a great era.

It really was.

(engines revving)

- [Commentator] Into the lead, goes Jack Brabham,

number two on his tail is Surtees' Ferrari, number four.

Surtees just couldn't catch Brabham,

who not only set the lap record,

but won at an average of over 116.

(engines revving)

- He went Formula 1 in the day to beat Ferrari.

That was his big challenge.

- At the end of '59, he got a call from Maranello

and he went down to see Mr. Ferrari.

And they made him quite a good offer to drive for the 1960.

And he said, "I came back and thought about it."

Then I said what'd you say?

"I turned them down," he said,

"Because the only reason that me, and Brooks,

and John Cooper,

and Collins John went racing was to beat Ferrari,

but I couldn't possibly join them, could I?"

(laughs)

- At the back end of my career I had a contract from them

and I mentioned that to Jack and he get,

"Not gonna go drive alone (beep) Jesus."

You know, so he used some other things, but yeah,

so he was very disappointed that I was considering going

to drive for the guys that he loved beating.

- The offer against the Ferrari's

and beating them was fantastic.

(laughs)

This is one race that requires a lot of skill,

a very good predictor and a lot of luck.

(laughs)

- If you could go there and beat the likes of Ferrari

with a small team like Brabham at that time,

that meant a lot, that meant a lot to him.

- [Commentator] Jack holds off (engines revving)

the Ferrari, so it's a Repco Brabham day

with the boys from down under, well on top.

- '66 he won the championship.

He was running a business selling cars.

He was doing Formula 2.

He won the Formula 2 championship with the BT18 in the Honda

where they won 10 out of 11 races.

And, you know, to do that, he was age 40 when he did that.

And I remember when I hit the age 40 and thought about

what he achieved at the same age,

that's when it really hit me just how incredible

that man must've been.

- He won three world championships

and I don't know why he isn't remembered as well as,

as highly as he should be.

- And then of course they won there again

the following year.

They won the championship with Denny Hulme.

- If you think about the politics of Denny Hulme joining

the team and then winning a championship,

with Jack in the other car

when Jack could have won the championship,

and how that caused no issues at all.

And yeah, that speaks volumes I think

to the whole essence of Brabham.

- [Commentator] A racing car is only as good as its driver

and completing the Brabham team triumph,

Dennis Hulme, Champion Driver of the World.

- Jack was a fantastic driver, but he was

like the perfect person for me.

And when I started in Formula 1 in winter of '69,

beginning of '70, because he was a gentlemen,

he was a lovely guy to talk to.

He was a great engineer, a fantastically fast driver.

And the history that goes with Brabham, you know,

I think he's like

the almost perfect Grand Prix driver story.

- And he was driving beautifully.

The car was great.

The Brabham team was getting better and better.

Okay, he was 44 but he'd been racing wheel to wheel all year

with the all can win.

Arguably the fastest driver on the planet at that point.

(engines revving)

And he could have been world champion that year.

So small margins of things that went wrong

and yet he just stopped and walked away,

and he said, "Ah, it was all family pressure."

- Yeah, I would have liked to have stayed

in there a bit longer

because I was still a raven compared to this driver.

But unfortunately the family pressures didn't help

because not only Brooks McLaren,

but Peter's Collins was killed that year as well.

- He would love to have been with Brabham

as it grew from what he and Ron had started.

- His partner, Ron Tauranac was sort of left running

the company.

And that's when he wanted to sell.

- The whole thing just changed.

The name was the same, but everything else changed.

And it wasn't the same Brabham team really.

It was the Eccleston team.

- I think I was decided more or less.

I was gonna travel the world and then have a nice time.

So I thought it'd be nice and relaxing, nothing to do.

That's how I got involved.

- Bernie contacted me to say

that he was gonna buy a Brabhams.

And he asked me to come along and join him.

- Bernie was ahead of his game in so many ways.

I mean, he was bringing in drivers

with money who were pretty good, if you think of

the Wilson Fittipaldi, the Graham Hills at that point,

I mean, Graham had call it a backing, Carlos Reutemann.

And that was the new Brabham.

And that was kind of a foreign Brabham

from Ron Tauranac's point of view.

- [Narrator] Graham Hill hadn't had much success

since winning the title in '68,

but hopes were high for the Brabham team

under new owner, Bernie Ecclestone.

- Bernie always wanted to do something different.

Gordon always wanted to be very creative

and do something different.

And I think as a team and myself, we were always given

the freedom to come up with ideas and always come up

with something new.

You'll see something like having an articulated vehicle

for transporting the cars.

We were the first to do that.

And when you think about it,

why didn't other people do that?

- It was innovation and a Brabham.

And we had plenty of it.

Not all of it worked as you know, but Bernie loved it.

(engine revving) (upbeat guitar music)

We were also a bit sort of renegade, if you like.

I mean, my image was long hair, pink, sunglasses,

plastic sandals, painted fingernails, you know,

that bled through into the team.

And we had that sort of rebel sort of atmosphere

and sort of position, I suppose, you know,

and Bernie barely didn't mind at all.

I think he quite liked it.

And we used to play loud rock and roll music in the pitch,

particularly when we were next to people who are Renault.

- Our team meetings used to take place at the lunchtime

in the pub and we would be sitting there

and we would be just Bernie, Gordon, myself.

We'd just be talking about rules regulations, and okay,

what can we do to do that?

What can we do to do that?

And yeah, it's common knowledge that sometimes

our cars would be a little bit light, but when it comes to

the actual scrutineering, the cars would be fine.

There was one seat that it took two mechanics to lift

the seat and it was there

for everybody to see most of the teams,

but up to as many tricks in the book as they could.

(upbeat guitar music)

- Bernie loved the unfair advantage, you know.

And if ever were on pole, he used to get guards

to just cover it.

He wouldn't let drivers out again,

you just covered the cars up as a sort of a statement

to the other teams.

- For that victory with Carlos.

That was the first victory of the Bernie,

of the real Bernie grabbers.

The Bernie, Gordon, myself.

- Winning the first Grand Prix and at Kyalami

with my dad and my mum up there was wonderful,

because my dad, you know, he was a very strong, quiet type

but I knew deep down, he was pretty proud of what I've done.

- We celebrated big time.

And I knew 'cause I was driving this Volkswagen minibus

that the team was and we were staying at the Sleepy Hollow,

quite a well-known motor racing hotel in Kyalami.

And it had these steps leading down

and I drove the Volkswagen

down these steps and unfortunately broke it in half.

And that was the start of a very crazy night.

- I have a special relationship

because I drove for him for two years.

He was my team manager.

I had my up and downs, which you have

with every strong personality, which is completely normal.

Very few people really understand him because he's ironic.

He's funny, he's hard, he's tough.

So and if he tells you this is blue, well,

then you know he means yellow,

but you have to know him to understand him.

Some people are completely worried when they talk to him,

but he's a charismatic man.

There's no question about it.

- Every day was interesting with Bernie.

And he would often come up

with ideas that you thought were a bit crazy

but they usually turned out to be absolutely right.

I think that's one of the greatest things about Bernie.

He had just having a critical vision

for what will become the norm.

- '81 was obviously very special

because that was our first, first world championship.

And again, we went into that world championship,

not really expecting to win the world championship

but as things turned out

and we see everything fell into our lap.

And yeah, there was young Nelson Piquet, World Champion,

there was Brabham supplying the car

for the world championship and yeah, very, very,

very, very happy days.

- [Commentator] Nelson Piquet, World Champion of Formula 1.

(crowd cheers)

- But I think the second world championship

actually meant more because we were up against the might

of a Renault.

- How can you be so relaxed?

You're only two points away from becoming world champion.

- Well, I think all I've seems are like,

well I'm not very relaxed (chuckles) I'm very nervous.

- We won the race with Patrese

and we won the world championship with Piquet.

So that was pretty special day.

And as they say beating the mighty Renault,

that Renault had already prepared all the hats

and the stickers and the flags for being world champion.

And we took it away from him.

(slow piano music)

- The way and I gave it one, maybe I said, I wanna win

for the team, for the mechanic, for everything,

but now I really wanna win for myself and for sure

I will try to win every one, not one

because I think I'm just beginning motor racing

and I think I'm very young still

and I still have all the wish to still racing a lot.

- It's a team that really took things to the limit

but it was a fun team and it was very much a family too.

And it was great to see so many good people come out

of the team.

- Bernie's era ended with a massive deal with Alfa Romeo

when he had a burgeoning constructors' association to run

and to harness and to manipulate.

- He then removed himself from Brabham, sold it

and wrapped the whole business.

But there was nobody else in these days there

who could do that.

So everybody who complains says why wouldn't

you have done it?

He was the only guy who understood

what Formula 1 could mean in the future.

- The Brabham name continue, but it went downhill obviously.

And the Brabham family, I don't think

at that point were very comfortable

with where Brabham was going.

And it was a very sad, sad ending

for a name that should be remembered up there

with Ferrari, Lotus, Brabham, Mercedes,

all the great formula one teams.

(sentimental piano music)

- Well, we've been talking about so much history

and the legacy of Brabham and, you know,

towards the end of my career

I started to think about the future.

And I just felt that, you know,

Brabham should be out there doing something, you know.

We've now started Brabham Automotive out of Australia.

We produced the BT62, which we first came out

with the ultimate track car.

That's then turned into a, let's say a road version

that we're doing, a road car compliant and we went racing

for the first time last year in November

with the competition spec in a Brabham car around.

So for myself to be in the BT62 crossing the finish line

in our very first race winning on Brabham straight

at brands hatch in a Brabham was pretty cool.

And you do relate back to how Jack must have felt

and to carry that legacy forward

by winning again was something really special.

(sentimental piano music)

(upbeat guitar music)

(engine revving)

(flag flapping)