And Colossally That's History: Jack Brabham's unique achievement - and why it'll never be matched
The Race F1 Podcast
The Race Media Ltd
4.5 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 7 November 2025
⏱️ 61 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this week’s Colossally, Matt and Richard reappraise the career of a driver whose unique achievement in winning the F1 world championship in a self-built machine bearing his own name will likely stand in eternity: Sir Jack Brabham.
In debates around F1’s greatest driver, Black Jack’s name doesn’t always come up, despite his three world titles - but should it? That’s one of the topics of conversation in a podcast that charts Brabham’s rise from the dirt tracks of his native Australia to the pinnacle of racing.
Matt and Richard discuss how Brabham’s engineering background, fierce competitiveness and ‘brutally effective’ driving style helped him forge a path to the top as not only a driver, but a team owner and constructor too.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Athletic |
| 0:02.0 | Hello and welcome along to |
| 0:11.5 | And Colossally That's History with me Richard Williams |
| 0:15.0 | And me Matt Bishop |
| 0:16.4 | We're back in the cockpit, as it were, for another trip down motorsport memory lane. |
| 0:22.0 | And after our trip into the 21st century last week, we're firmly back in the 20th century this week, |
| 0:28.1 | as we reappraise what I think is one of motor racing's most impressive achievements, |
| 0:33.5 | and arguably one that's a little underrated today. |
| 0:36.8 | Yes, I agree with you there. |
| 0:38.6 | And to be clear, dear listener, |
| 0:41.2 | Richard's reference to the 21st century was in respect of last week's episode, |
| 0:46.7 | which was all about the dramatic and emotional, for some of us particularly, |
| 0:52.5 | 208 Brazilian Grand Prix. |
| 0:55.5 | And in this week's episode, we're going to be talking about Jack Brabham. |
| 1:00.2 | And more specifically about what many people see as his crowning glory, |
| 1:05.8 | winning the Formula One World Championships, plural, both drivers and constructors, in a car bearing his own name. |
| 1:14.7 | As we'll discuss, there have, of course, been other drivers who've won Grand Prix in cars they've |
| 1:20.6 | built. Actually, we talked about one of them in the first episode of season four, this being |
| 1:26.7 | season four, Bruce McLaren. But Blackjack, |
| 1:30.4 | as Brabham was known back then, and he was known as Blackjack because of his slick of black hair, |
| 1:37.9 | his heavy dark stubble, his uncompromising elbows out approach to racing, or particularly defending his position, |
| 1:47.7 | and I suppose also his unwillingness to engage in small talk. |
... |
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