John Cooper radically changed racing car design. His rear-engine chassis transformed conventional thinking, and the success of Cooper team winning 16 Grand Prix in nine years and the Constructors' and Drivers' titles in 1959 and 1960 illustrates the genius of his idea.
Cooper (17-07-1923 - 24-12-2000) was born in the South of England and left school at 15 to serve in the Royal Air Force, after World War II he, and his father Charles Cooper who ran a small garage in Surbiton, built simple inexpensive single seat racing cars for independent racers, (often utilising surplus military hardware). The cars were extremely successful and in 1948 they set up the Cooper Car Company to accelerate production.
John Cooper was a typical Brit of the age and always downplayed the story about how they decided to put the engine in the back of their racing cars', insisting it was a matter of convenience. He explained the car was powered by a motorcycle engine, they put the engine in the back, driving a chain. John Cooper is reported as stating that; 'We certainly had no feeling that we were creating some scientific breakthrough...We put the engine at the rear...because it was the practical thing to do'. The small car producer had a remarkable number of fabulous drivers in the race seats including, Jack Brabham, Stirling Moss, Maurice Trintignant and Bruce McLaren. (Brabham won back-to-back World Championships in 1959 and 1960 for Cooper).
Following a demonstration of the Cooper cars around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway the rear engine concept was quickly adopted in the United States. (In the second warm-up lap the car was fast enough to have claimed third on the grid in the previous race).
John Cooper was instrumental in development of the British Motor Corporation Mini. The Mini Cooper was a phenomenally successful rally car and was adored by many ordinary road drivers. Before John Cooper's death, the Cooper name was licensed to BMW for the higher performance versions of the cars, inspired by the original Mini, sold as the MINI.
Cooper was the last surviving Formula 1 team principal from the formative years of the sport when individual brilliance was at a premium. John Cooper helped establish Britain's domination of motorsport technology, which continues today, and he received the CBE (Commander of Order of the British Empire) for his services to British motorsport.
