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Sir Jack Brabham's highest-profile race in Australia


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#1 gtsmunro

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Posted 21 May 2014 - 23:29

Australian Muscle Car Magazine face book page has a picture of the ill fated Moss/Brabham Torana from Bathurst 1976 claiming it was Sir Jacks highest profile race on Australian soil. They are basing this fact solely on tv ratings being much higher in the '70's than in the early '60's due mainly to the lack of tv's in peoples homes in the early 60's. They do not provide ratings figures for either, they're assuming. However based on crowd figures, Bathurst 1976 attracted  37,000 people. From what I can find, the 1963 Grand Prix at Warwick Farm attracted 45,000. In 1961 also at Warwick Farm the International '100' had a crowd of 65,000.  According to Australian Muscle Car Magazine, the 1963 Australian Grand Prix was only a big deal in Sydney. So with that 'evidence' was Bathurst 1976 Sir Jacks highest profile race in Australia, and do we base the results on tv ratings or crowd figures, post race magazine sales? Was there more of a build up towards Bathurst than the '61 International '100' and '63 Australian Grand Prix?


Edited by gtsmunro, 21 May 2014 - 23:39.


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#2 brucemoxon

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Posted 21 May 2014 - 23:35

One of the key elements in communication is to pitch at your audience. As far as the readers of Australian Muscle Car will (mostly) be concerned, the Bathurst 1000 will have  a much higher profile than a Tasman Series race, even if it's also the Australian Grand Prix.

 

 

 

 

Bruce Moxon



#3 Piquet959

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Posted 22 May 2014 - 00:25

Have they thought at looking at the crowd at Sandown when Sir Jack and Fangio drove the ring off the Brabham and the W196. I was there that weekend and the crowd was enormous.

The demonstration laps were not supposed to be a race but really both Sir jack and Fangio turned it Ito one. It was interesting to see the you tube clip and to see Fangio try to stick the nose of the merc under the Brabham at the old Peters corner

Ok it was a bit of a mismatch as far as the cars were concerned . A Masserati sports car, a Cooper, the W196 and the Brabham but the cars really showed the progress and the development and was greatly received by the attendees, me included.

#4 Lee Nicolle

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Posted 22 May 2014 - 12:16

Have they thought at looking at the crowd at Sandown when Sir Jack and Fangio drove the ring off the Brabham and the W196. I was there that weekend and the crowd was enormous.

The demonstration laps were not supposed to be a race but really both Sir jack and Fangio turned it Ito one. It was interesting to see the you tube clip and to see Fangio try to stick the nose of the merc under the Brabham at the old Peters corner

Ok it was a bit of a mismatch as far as the cars were concerned . A Masserati sports car, a Cooper, the W196 and the Brabham but the cars really showed the progress and the development and was greatly received by the attendees, me included.

Dont forget a chubby bloke in a Porker, later in the day with the door removed.



#5 onelung

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Posted 25 May 2014 - 12:19

So maybe I'm too old(?) for this, -  but just exactly what profile is Sir Jack supposed to have acquired (maybe none?) through winning the 1955 Australian Grand Prix at Port Wakefield in 1955?



#6 Doug Nye

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Posted 25 May 2014 - 17:49

Do single-seaters count for nothing in modern Australia? Jack, Repco-Brabham, Bathurst circa 1969 springs to mind? Or have I got this wrong? I have driven a GT car round Mt Panorama, and a saloon - but the challenge it must have posed in a single-seat open-wheeler has always impressed me.

DCN

#7 Wirra

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Posted 26 May 2014 - 00:28

Do single-seaters count for nothing in modern Australia? ... DCN

Open-wheelers have meant nothing in this country since the demise of the Tasman Series in the early 1970s. There was a brief resurgence with Formula Atlantics in the early 1980s following AJ's championship but only touring cars have any mass appeal. Everything else has been reduced to club racing standards enjoyed only by a few technophiles.  Most attending the GPs do so for the glamour, etc. Those interested in the technical side cannot get within cooee of the F1 cars so don't bother attending.


Edited by Wirra, 26 May 2014 - 03:39.


#8 Diecastkiwis

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Posted 28 May 2014 - 09:08

its hard to compare as crowd numbers are quoted as the number attending the race in the old days and now its a total of the people attending the whole weekend plus friday

 

surely if Brabham and Moss had not made a name for them selves racing in the early years they would have been concidered a couple of old farts(fast old farts) in a torana and got only novelty coverage if any



#9 Ray Bell

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Posted 29 May 2014 - 00:21

Originally posted by Doug Nye
Do single-seaters count for nothing in modern Australia? Jack, Repco-Brabham, Bathurst circa 1969 springs to mind? Or have I got this wrong? I have driven a GT car round Mt Panorama, and a saloon - but the challenge it must have posed in a single-seat open-wheeler has always impressed me.


Maybe not wrong, Doug...

It has to be seen in perspective. Jack's appearance at that meeting was an out-of-the-blue thing and it wasn't really promoted greatly... either before or after. The ARDC had a way of keeping their meetings well out of the public mind and it worked to the extent that there wasn't an exceptional crowd at Bathurst that day.

Or is this not the determining factor when looking at the original question?

Jack's appearance at the same circuit in 1960 would have been different, current World Champion in a current F1 car and all of that. But alongside of that appearance we'd have to also look at his turning out in the BT19 at Surfers in 1966. For half a lap.

#10 Dick Willis

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Posted 29 May 2014 - 02:55

For mine its Bathurst, October 1960 in a 2.5 Ciimax and a new lap record,  as related by Ray in the previous post