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Bathurst 12 Hour Bentley

David Brabham to join Bentley at Bathurst

Flying B Bentley Continental GT3

David Brabham will join Flying B Racing at next year’s Bathurst 12 Hour. The three times Le Mans winner will drive a Bentley Continental GT3 alongside John Bowe and Peter Edwards.

“When the team rang to ask if I wanted to join them to race at the Bathurst 12 hour next year, I thought a Christmas present had come early,” Brabham said.

“I have wanted to do this race for the last few years, but just couldn’t manage it, now I can and I am so excited to be racing in a Bentley with Flying B Racing. I was second for Bentley at Le Mans in 2003 so I have a great relationship with them and to race for last year’s winning team gives me an excellent chance to win what has now become a truly international event.

“It has been pleasing to see this race grow in stature over the years and the competition there will be a fantastic challenge to overcome. I can’t wait.

Flying B Racing is an offshoot of Maranello Motorsport, the team who prepped this year’s winning Ferrari 458 Italia GT3. The Flying B Bentley Continental GT3 made its race debut last weekend at the Highlands 101 race in New Zealand, completing 55 laps of the 101 lap event before retiring with mechanical issues.

[Source: Brabham | Pic: Facebook]

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Formula 1 News

Three generations

Sir Jack Brabham tribute by SkySports

A couple of weeks on from the passing of Sir Jack Brabham here’s a couple of off-site pieces we think you should check out. The first is a short video from SkySports which features interviews from Jack’s son David and grandson Sam.

Once you’ve watched that settle into this longer audio interview with Ron Tauranac produced by local F1 chaps Box of Neutrals.

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Formula 1 Video

The Last Teammate

Ayrton Senna and Damon Hill

Ayrton Senna 1960–1994

To mark the 20th anniversary of Ayrton Senna’s death Sky Sports F1 invited Damon Hill to Imola so he could share his thoughts on a weekend he and the motoring world will never forget.

In an appropriate sign of respect David Brabham was also there to tell of his experience with the Simtek team after it lost Roland Ratzenberger the day before Senna was killed.

Both men were the last teammates of Senna and Ratzenberger respectively. The documentary is low key, there’s no overbearing voiceovers filled with hyperbole. It’s just two men talking us through that fateful weekend.

In some ways it’s quite morbid seeing Hill and Brabham alone on the sections of track where two men lost their lives. And yet it delivers a poignancy that makes this film very much worth watching.

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Formula 1

David Brabham reflects on Roland Ratzenberger

David Brabham and Roland Ratzenberger

Today is the 20th anniversary of the death of Roland Ratzenberger. He was killed during qualifying for the ill-fated 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, which claimed the life of Ayrton Senna the following day.

David Brabham was Ratzenberger’s teammate that day and he has shared his thoughts via the family website. Here’s a few selected quotes, make sure you follow the link below for the full story.

After seeing Ratzenberger’s wrecked car on track
I remember immediately changing my focus to get back to the pits and keep the tyres warm. This was a ridiculous thing to think, but my mind just didn’t want to think about what I had seen and focus on something else, like some kind of defence mechanism.

On the team’s reaction
We were completely devastated, shocked and felt numb. We pulled the shutter down in the pit garage and went to the back of the pits, unable to say much. We couldn’t really see the reaction from the rest of the paddock, being in a state of shock we couldn’t absorb what was going on.

On his decision to race
I remember jumping in the car for the start of the race and feeling uneasy, but thinking this is what I had to do. I can’t imagine what my wife was going through, seeing me go out there after what happened the day before. It must have been very painful for her.

On the immediate aftermath of Senna’s crash
We all had to stop on the pit straight and get out of our cars. You could see all the drivers were in a state of shock, word got round it was Senna and it didn’t sound good, although no one knew how bad. It took a while to start the race again, I’m not sure how many drivers really wanted to continue, but a driver finds it hard to say ‘no more racing’.

[Source: brabham.co.uk | Pic: Sutton Images]