Tony Brooks is unique amongst living grand prix stars in that throughout his racing years he shunned publicity and press interviews, believing that his performances on the track should speak for themselves. As a result he is, perhaps, the least well known of the top drivers, a situation which should be remedied by the publication of this long overdue book. Just how good was he? Sir Stirling Moss, who was Tony's team-mate on many occasions with the Vanwall Formula 1 and Aston Martin sports car teams, had this to say of him: "If I was going to have a team I would put Tony Brooks at No.1, with Jim Clark alongside him. Tony was that good. He was careful with the car and very, very fast." Although Tony Brooks was trained as a dental surgeon, his passion for driving took him in a different direction. His racing career lasted for 10 years, from 1952 until 1961, when he went into the motor trade, building a tired old garage into a major retail conglomerate before retiring during the 1990s. His early races in his mother's Healey Silverstone soon led to invitations to drive cars for others, then his studies in dentistry were interrupted when he was offered the chance to drive a Connaught Formula 1 car for the first time in the 1955 Syracuse Grand Prix. He had never seen the circuit, or driven any F1 car, but he won the race, beating the all-powerful four-car Maserati works team. Next he raced for BRM, then Vanwall, then Ferrari, his artistry in the cockpit earning him victories on the sport's most demanding circuits -- the Nürburgring, Spa and Monza. In the most dangerous era of racing he survived two major accidents and today, having just celebrated his 80th birthday, he is a popular guest at major motor sport functions. |
