Gary Thomas Brabham (born 29 March 1961) is a former professional racing driver and a convicted child sex offender from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. He is the son of three-time World

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

Champion

Sir Jack Brabham Sir John Arthur Brabham (2 April 1926 – 19 May 2014) was an Australian racing driver who was Formula One World Champion in , , and . He was a founder of the Brabham racing team and race car constructor that bore his name. Brabham was a Ro ...

and the brother of

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

winners Geoff and

David Brabham David Brabham (born 5 September 1965) is an Australian professional racing driver and one of the most successful and experienced specialists in sports car racing. He has won three international Sports Car series and is one of four Australians t ...

. His solitary F1 berth came with

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

, a team that failed to prequalify for a single F1 race in its lone season of existence. Brabham's career never fully recovered, despite winning the 1991 Sebring 12 Hours and being the first Australian to start the Gold Coast Indy Grand Prix.

Early life

Brabham, born in Wimbledon, England, was the second-born of the triple World Champion Sir Jack Brabham. Despite hopes from his mother that he would avoid the motor-racing scene altogether, he grew up on a diet of

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula For ...

in both Australia and the UK. He made his racing debut in 1982, finishing his first race at

Calder Park Raceway Calder Park Raceway is a motor racing circuit in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The complex includes a dragstrip, a road circuit with several possible configurations, and the "Thunderdome", a high-speed banked oval equipped to race either clo ...

in third despite being in a 9-year-old car. He later broke the Formula Ford lap record at the

Sandown Raceway Sandown International Raceway is a motor racing circuit in the suburb of Springvale in Melbourne, Victoria, approximately south east of the city centre. Sandown is considered a power circuit with its " drag strip" front and back straights be ...

in the same car.

Career

Starter formulae

Later in 1982, he was chosen to go to Europe for 1983. Despite very little support from the Australian public, Brabham raced in the British Formula Ford 2000 Championship for Neil Trundle Racing, in a Reynard SF83. He finishing the season in 11th place. During this season, he also made his sports car-racing début, sharing a March-Ford 83S, with Alo Lawler at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently host ...

. For the following season, he remained in the same series, joining Penistone Racing, partnering Julian Bailey in their Reynard SF84. Brabham regularly outpaced his team-mate, and despite team orders not to outperform his team-mate, he still was not disgraced taking sixth overall in the final championship positions. During 1984, he tried his hand at other categories, including racing sport cars in the

Thundersports Series The Thundersports Series was a domestic championship which took place in mainly at Brands Hatch ran circuits, for prototype sportcars and also featured cars that were eligible for Can-Am and Group C2 racing. To bring some real excitement, noise ...

, taking his maiden victory at

Snetterton Snetterton is a village and civil parish in Norfolk, England. The village is about east-northeast of Thetford and southwest of Norwich. The civil parish has an area of . The United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census recorded a parish population o ...

, sharing a Tiga-

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

TS84 with

Tim Lee-Davey Tim Lee-Davey (born 20 February 1955) is a British former racing driver. Tim Lee-Davey was a member of the British Kart Team and was the Dunlop Star of Tomorrow Formula Ford Champion in 1980 driving the ex-James Weaver Tiga FF79 in his first ful ...

. With no top single-seater drives available for him in 1985, Brabham had a slight reprieve through the Thundersports series, where he raced for the TechSpeed Racing team in a Shrike-Ford P15 alongside

Divina Galica Divina Mary Galica MBE (last name pronounced "Galitsa") (born 13 August 1944) is a British sportswoman. She competed in four Winter Olympics as a skier, captaining the British Women's Olympic Ski Team in 1968 and 1972. She also pursued a car ...

, recording five second places. In 1986, his father got a team together under the banner of Jack Brabham Racing. Gary raced in 9 of the 18 rounds of the British Formula 3 Championship in a

Ralt Ralt was a manufacturer of single-seater racing cars, founded by ex-Jack Brabham associate Ron Tauranac after he sold out his interest in Brabham to Bernie Ecclestone. Ron and his brother had built some specials in Australia in the 1950s under t ...

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

RT30, managing some decent results such as second at

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...

. This was enough to take him to fifth in the championship. For 1987, the team had secured

Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Osaka P ...

backing for 15 of the 19 F3 races, in a Ralt-Volkswagen RT31. Brabham won two races at Silverstone and

Donington Park Donington Park is a motorsport circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, still owned b ...

, coming I sixth in the championship. He was threatening

Johnny Herbert John Paul "Johnny" Herbert (born 25 June 1964) is a British former racing driver and current television announcer for Sky Sports F1. He raced in Formula One from 1989 to 2000, for seven different teams, winning three races and placing 4th in t ...

for the title until his budget tragically ran out. He returned to Australia briefly to race in the

1987 James Hardie 1000 The 1987 James Hardie 1000 was an endurance race for Group A Touring Cars, staged on 4 October 1987 at the Mount Panorama Circuit, near Bathurst, in New South Wales, Australia. The race was the eighth round of the inaugural World Touring Car ...

at Bathurst, sharing a works

BMW M3 The BMW M3 is a high-performance version of the BMW 3 Series, developed by BMW's in-house motorsport division, BMW M GmbH. M3 models have been produced for every generation of 3 Series since the E30 M3 was introduced in 1986. The initial model ...

with

Juan Manuel Fangio II Juan Manuel Fangio II (born September 19, 1956 in Balcarce, Buenos Aires, Argentina) is an Argentine former auto racing driver. He is the nephew of five-time Formula One champion Juan Manuel Fangio. After some experience in European Formula Thre ...

. The car was up to fifth at one stage before Fangio glanced a stricken car in the rain. Brabham showed his speed late in the race, dicing and passing the Aussie legend

Peter Brock Peter Geoffrey Brock (26 February 1945 – 8 September 2006), known as "Peter Perfect", "The King of the Mountain", or simply "Brocky", was an Australian motor racing driver. Brock was most often associated with Holden for almost 40 years, a ...

. Although Brock would eventually win the race, Brabham and Fangio were classified 16th at the end. For 1988, Brabham returned to England, joining

Bowman Racing Bowman Automotive is a former racecar constructor and current racing kart producer. Bowman produced cars for Formula Ford, Formula 3, USF2000 and other racing series. History Steve Hollman built up experience building PRS Formula Ford cars with ...

for a third season of British Formula 3. Although

JJ Lehto Jyrki Juhani Järvilehto (; born 31 January 1966), better known as "JJ Lehto", is a Finnish racing driver. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice, in 1995 and 2005. He is also a former Formula One driver. He was a protégé of Finnish 1982 Formula ...

won the championship, Brabham stormed home late in the season, winning four races in his Ralt-Volkswagen RT32 to finish second. On his way, he also won the Scottish Superprix and Oulton Park Gold Cup. This earned him his first chance to test a Formula One car. He tested a

Benetton B188 The Benetton B188 is a Formula One racing car designed by Rory Byrne and raced by Benetton team in the 1988 Formula One season and in the first half of the 1989 Formula One season. Dating back to when the team started as Toleman in , the B188 w ...

at the behest of team manager, Peter Collins, at

Jerez Jerez de la Frontera (), or simply Jerez (), is a Spanish city and municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, in southwestern Spain, located midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Cádiz Mountains. , the c ...

. A chance to move up to

International Formula 3000 The Formula 3000 International Championship was a motor racing series created by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) in 1985 to become the final preparatory step for drivers hoping to enter Formula One. Formula Two had become t ...

arose in 1989, but the drive went to

Andrea Chiesa Andrea Chiesa (born 6 May 1964) is a former Formula One driver from Switzerland. He participated in 10 Grands Prix, debuting on 1 March 1992. Career Chiesa began racing in 1980 with karts, and continued to cars in 1985, competing in Italian For ...

, instead. Brabham settled for a drive with Bromley Motorsport, in the

British Formula 3000 Championship The British Formula 3000 championship, alternatively known as the British Formula Two Championship, was a competition for Formula 3000 held in the United Kingdom, active from 1989 to 1994 and in 1996. Several attempts to restart the series since t ...

, in an ex-

Roberto Moreno Roberto Pupo Moreno (born 11 February 1959), usually known as Roberto Moreno and also as Pupo Moreno, is a Brazilian former auto racing, racing driver. He participated in 75 Formula One Grands Prix, achieved 1 podium, and scored a total of 15 c ...

Reynard-Cosworth 88D. He took this car to the inaugural title with four victories and pole positions along the way. During the season, he also managed to secure some outings in the International series for both Bromley and Leyton House teams, his best result being fifth at Brands Hatch. Also, Brabham finished fifth at the 1988 Formula 3

Macau Grand Prix The Macau Grand Prix ( pt, Grande Prémio de Macau; ) is a motorsport road race for automobiles and motorcycles held annually in Macau. It is the only street circuit racing event in which both cars and motorcycles participate, and one of onl ...

and sixth in 1989.

Life in F1

After more F1 testing for Leyton House and Brabham teams, he also assisted Porsche with their Indy car, before the opportunity arose to race in F1. He failed to prequalify for two Formula One Grands Prix with the troubled Life project, a team that failed to prequalify for all 14 of its attempts during the 1990 season. Brabham was the second-slowest prequalifier (leading only the Coloni-Subaru of

Bertrand Gachot Bertrand Jean Gachot (born 23 December 1962) is a French former racing driver. Gachot enjoyed some success in the junior formulae, winning titles in Formula Ford before progressing through Formula 3 and Formula 3000, reaching Formula One in 198 ...

, who recorded a lap time of 5:15.010, but 30 seconds behind the

EuroBrun EuroBrun Racing was an Italian-licensed Formula One constructor based in Senago, Milan, Italy. They participated in 46 Grands Prix between 1988 and 1990, entering a total of 76 cars. Background The team was a combination of two outfits – the ...

Claudio Langes Claudio Langes (born 4 August 1961) is a former racing driver from Italy. In 1978 he won the Italian 125 cc go-kart championship. In subsequent years he competed in Formula 3 and in Formula 3000, where his best result was a second place at Per ...

) at Phoenix, and the engine gave up after only 400 m in Brazil. One small plus of the car was that it was the sixth-fastest car in a straight line in untimed practice in Brazil. After those two races, when clearly no improvement was forthcoming, Brabham promptly quit the team in disgust. He had a small chance to join the Brabham team at the time, but confusion over his Life contract caused him to lose the seat to his brother David.

After Formula One

For the remainder of 1990, Brabham raced in F3000 for Middlebridge Racing in their Lola-Mugen T89/50, collecting two third places at

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

and

Enna Enna ( or ; grc, Ἔννα; la, Henna, less frequently ), known from the Middle Ages until 1926 as Castrogiovanni ( scn, Castrugiuvanni ), is a city and located roughly at the center of Sicily, southern Italy, in the province of Enna, towering ...

. However, his bad luck continued as he failed to qualify for Pau and

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. He returned to Australia for the Eastern Creek 500, teaming up with his brother David in a

Ford Sierra RS500 The Ford Sierra RS Cosworth is a high-performance version of the Ford Sierra that was built by Ford Europe from 1986 to 1992. It was the result of a Ford Motorsport project with the purpose of producing an outright winner for Group A racing in ...

for Frank Gardner’s team. The brothers finished fourth. In 1991, he went Stateside to the IMSA championship and drove for Nissan Performance Technology Inc. PTIat the

Sebring 12 Hours The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport endurance race for sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in Sebring, Florida, US. The event is the second rou ...

along his other brother Geoff and Irishman

Derek Daly Derek Patrick Daly (born 11 March 1953) is an Irish former racing driver. He won the 1977 British Formula 3 Championship, and competed as a professional racing driver for 17 years participating in 64 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix ...

. Starting from pole, they won the race in their

Nissan NPT-90 The Nissan NPT-90 was a racing car developed in 1990 for Nissan Motors by Nissan Performance Technology Incorporated (NPTI), formerly known as Electramotive Engineering. It was a replacement for the highly successful GTP ZX-Turbo that had won the ...

. This victory did not open any more doors. Brabham settled for a series of one-off drives: a drive in an older Nissan at Miami, an outing in a Stürtz-BMW SM in an Interserie race at Brands Hatch and another visit to the Bathurst 1000. Brabham accepted an invitation from NPTI to race in the IMSA Endurance races in 1992 alongside Daly and

Steve Millen Steve Millen (born 17 February 1953) is a retired New Zealand IMSA race car driver. In the 1970s and 1980s, Millen raced in hillclimbing and Formula Ford before doing stadium off-road racing in the United States in the Mickey Thompson Enterta ...

at Daytona, recording a DNF after running in third. At Sebring, the winning crew from 1991 was joined by

Arie Luyendyk Arie Luijendijk (anglicised as Arie Luyendyk; born 21 September 1953), nicknamed "The Flying Dutchman," is a Dutch former auto racing driver, and winner of the 1990 and 1997 Indianapolis 500 races. He was inducted into the Indianapolis Motor Spe ...

. This crew came close to defending the title, finishing second. In 1993 and 1994, he later raced in

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from the flatbed tr ...

, becoming the first Australian driver to race the Gold Coast Indycar street race before retiring from racing in 1995 to teach advanced driver training. His pupils have included

Rowan Atkinson Rowan Sebastian Atkinson (born 6 January 1955) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He played the title roles on the sitcoms '' Blackadder'' (1983–1989) and ''Mr. Bean'' (1990–1995), and the film series ''Johnny English'' (2003–201 ...

and

Captain Mark Phillips Captain Mark Anthony Peter Phillips (born 22 September 1948) is an English Olympic gold medal-winning horseman for Great Britain and the first husband of Anne, Princess Royal, with whom he has two children. He remains a leading figure in Britis ...

, for celebrities competing in the Australian and British GP celebrity races

Criminal convictions

In 2009, he pleaded guilty to charges of indecent dealing of a child under 12 years. Brabham managed to have his name suppressed as he served out his time in high security at

Wacol Wacol is a suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Wacol had a population of 3,761 people. Geography Wacol is bounded to the west by the Brisbane River and to the north loosely by Wolston Creek. It is south-west of t ...

jail. In 2016, a

Brisbane District Court The Queen Elizabeth II Courts of Law, also referred to as the Brisbane Supreme and District Court, is a court building located at 415 George Street in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Location and features Completed in 2012 as a purpose-built ...

12-person jury found him guilty of one charge of

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

and one charge of indecent treatment of a child then aged six. The offences occurred between 2003 and 2007 in Brisbane. After the verdict was handed down, the court was told Brabham had a criminal history. In September, an appeal by Brabham against the conviction was unanimously rejected by the

Queensland Court of Appeal ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. He was sentenced to 18 months in jail, but was released after 6 months.

Racing record

Career highlights

Complete British Formula 3 results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position in class) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap in class - 1 point awarded) ‡ Endurance driver (Ineligible for points)

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) † Not registered for series & points

Complete British Formula 3000 results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One results

(

)

Complete Australian Endurance Championship results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete 24 Hours of Daytona results

Complete 12 Hours of Sebring results

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

American Open Wheel racing results

(

)

CART

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brabham, Gary 1961 births 21st-century Australian criminals Gary Australian Endurance Championship drivers Australian Formula One drivers Australian people convicted of child sexual abuse Australian people convicted of rape British Formula Three Championship drivers British Formula 3000 Championship drivers Life Racing Engines Formula One drivers Champ Car drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Living people International Formula 3000 drivers 12 Hours of Sebring drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers Thundersports drivers Prisoners and detainees of Queensland Sportspeople convicted of crimes Alan Docking Racing drivers British Touring Car Championship drivers Nismo drivers Bettenhausen Racing drivers