This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(February 2019) |
Category | Formula One | ||||||||
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Constructor | Cooper Car Company | ||||||||
Designer(s) | Derrick White | ||||||||
Predecessor | Cooper T77 | ||||||||
Successor | Cooper T86 | ||||||||
Technical specifications | |||||||||
Chassis | Aluminium monocoque | ||||||||
Suspension (front) | lower wishbones, upper rocker arms, inboard coil springs over dampers | ||||||||
Suspension (rear) | top links, reversed lower wishbones, twin radius arms, coil springs over dampers | ||||||||
Axle track | F: 1,495 mm (58.9 in) R: 1,455 mm (57.3 in) | ||||||||
Wheelbase | 2,490 mm (98.0 in) | ||||||||
Engine | Maserati 2989cc V12 naturally aspirated Mid-engined, longitudinally mounted | ||||||||
Transmission | T81: ZF 5DS25 T81B: Hewland DG300 5-speed manual gearbox, | ||||||||
Fuel | BP | ||||||||
Tyres | (Works team) Dunlop (1966), Firestone (1966/7) | ||||||||
Competition history | |||||||||
Notable entrants | Cooper Car Company, R.R.C. Walker Racing Team | ||||||||
Notable drivers | Chris Amon, Jo Bonnier, Richie Ginther, Jochen Rindt, Pedro Rodríguez, Jo Siffert, John Surtees, Jacky Ickx | ||||||||
Debut | 1966 Syracuse Grand Prix | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Constructors' Championships | 0 | ||||||||
Drivers' Championships | 0 |
The Cooper T81 was one of the last Formula One racing cars produced by the Cooper Car Company. It was designed ahead of the 1966 World Championship season to operate within the new 3 litre engine regulations that came into effect that year. In place of the 1.5-litre Coventry Climax used under the previous formula, the T81 was powered by Maserati Tipo 9 2.5-litre V12 engines which had been bored out to 3.0-litres. These were supplied by the Chipstead Group, Maserati's UK distributors, who had taken control of Cooper the previous April.
Cooper had prepared a chassis, designated T80, to take the Climax FWMW flat-16 1.5 litre engine for 1965 but the engine had suffered development problems and more importantly was no more powerful than the existing FWMV V8. Cooper then repurposed the chassis as a development mule for the Maserati V12, in which guise it made a single race appearance, at the 1966 BRDC International Trophy.
In many ways the T81 was a typical example of its time, with a rear engine, front radiator, inboard front suspension and a monocoque chassis. In fact the car was Cooper's first monocoque chassis, although by this time such an arrangement had already become standard in Formula 1, having been pioneered by the Lotus 25 four years earlier. The T81 made its race debut in the 1966 Syracuse Grand Prix. [1]
But while the shortage of competitive 3.0 litre F1 machinery at the start of 1966 made the T81 popular, there were suggestions that Cooper were overstretching themselves and that as a result the preparation of the cars was suffering. However John Surtees, who had replaced Ginther after walking out on Ferrari, took the car's first win in the final race of the 1966 season in Mexico, and in turn Surtees's replacement, Pedro Rodríguez, won the very next race, the 1967 season opener in South Africa. A T81B variant was first raced by Rindt at the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix. Cooper finished third in the Constructors' Championship in 1966 and 1967, their highest placing since 1962, but it would be their last flourish.
The T81's last race came at the start of the 1968 season in South Africa in the hands of privateers Jo Siffert and Jo Bonnier, as by this time the works team had moved on to the T86 chassis. As it happened, Cooper folded at the end of the 1968 season, making the T81 the last Cooper to win a World Championship Grand Prix.
In all the T81 (and T81B) was entered a total of 85 times in its 21 race lifespan, achieving 2 wins, 1 pole position, 6 podiums, and 23 points finishes, earning 74 points in total.
Year | Entrant | Engine | Tyres | Driver | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Points | WCC |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1966 | Cooper Car Company | Maserati V12 | D | MON | BEL | FRA | GBR | NED | GER | ITA | USA | MEX | 30 (35) | 3rd | ||||
Jochen Rindt | Ret | 2 | 4 | 5 | Ret | 3 | 4 | 2 | Ret | |||||||||
Richie Ginther | Ret | 5 | ||||||||||||||||
Chris Amon | 8 | |||||||||||||||||
John Surtees | Ret | Ret | Ret | 2 | Ret | 3 | 1 | |||||||||||
Moisés Solana | Ret | |||||||||||||||||
R.R.C. Walker Racing Team | Jo Siffert | Ret | Ret | NC | Ret | Ret | 4 | Ret | ||||||||||
Guy Ligier | Guy Ligier | NC | NC | NC | 10 | 9 | DNS | |||||||||||
Anglo-Suisse Racing Team | F | Jo Bonnier | NC | Ret | 7 | Ret | Ret | NC | 6 | |||||||||
1967 | Cooper Car Company | Maserati V12 | F | RSA | MON | NED | BEL | FRA | GBR | GER | CAN | ITA | USA | MEX | 28 | 3rd | ||
Pedro Rodríguez | 1 | 5 | Ret | 9 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 6 | ||||||||||
Jochen Rindt | Ret | Ret | Ret | 4 | Ret | Ret | Ret | |||||||||||
Alan Rees | 9 | |||||||||||||||||
Richard Attwood | 10 | |||||||||||||||||
Jacky Ickx | 6 | |||||||||||||||||
Rob Walker Racing Team | Jo Siffert | Ret | Ret | 10 | 7 | 4 | Ret | Ret | DNS | Ret | 4 | 12 | ||||||
Joakim Bonnier Racing Team | Jo Bonnier | Ret | Ret | Ret | 6 | 8 | Ret | 6 | 10 | |||||||||
Guy Ligier | Guy Ligier | 10 | NC | |||||||||||||||
1968 | Cooper Car Company | Maserati V12 | F | RSA | ESP | MON | BEL | NED | FRA | GBR | GER | ITA | CAN | USA | MEX | 0 | NC | |
Brian Redman | Ret | |||||||||||||||||
Rob Walker Racing Team | Jo Siffert | 7 | ||||||||||||||||
Joakim Bonnier Racing Team | Jo Bonnier | Ret |
The Cooper Car Company is a British car manufacturer founded in December 1947 by Charles Cooper and his son John Cooper. Together with John's boyhood friend, Eric Brandon, they began by building racing cars in Charles's small garage in Surbiton, Surrey, England, in 1946. Through the 1950s and early 1960s they reached motor racing's highest levels as their rear-engined, single-seat cars competed in both Formula One and the Indianapolis 500, and their Mini Cooper dominated rally racing. The Cooper name lives on in the Cooper versions of the Mini production cars that are built in England, but is now owned and marketed by BMW.
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