Three generations of Sir Jack Brabham’s family have welcomed his most successful racing car into membership of the Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame.
The ceremony occurred as an important part of the opening day of the Formula 1 Qatar Airways Australian Grand Prix.
Sir Jack Brabham and his Repco Brabham BT19 won the 1966 Formula 1 World Championship, the only time ever that the title has been claimed by a driver with a car of their own construction.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the unique achievement, and also the centenary of Sir Jack’s birth (2 April 1926).
Sir Jack’s widow Lady Margaret Brabham, Sir Jack’s son David Brabham, and grandson Sam Brabham were on hand to see the BT19 become the first vehicle to join the Hall of Fame.
Fittingly, the BT19 became the 100th inductee.
Also present was Edith Irving, widow of Phil Irving who designed the Repco engine, and Jann Heslop, daughter of Ron Tauranac who built the car for Sir Jack.
The induction completes the Brabham team and family’s circle. Sir Jack is one four Hall of Fame members elevated to Legend status. David Brabham and his brother Geoff Brabham, Phil Irving, and Ron Tauranac are all members.
“It’s very cool to see the BT19 recognised in this way,“ David Brabham said.
“The entire Brabham family is delighted. It truly is the highest honour in Australian motorsport.”
The Hall of Fame welcomes, on average, one hero per year from all branches of motor racing and its 125 year history – karting, speedway, drag racing, motorcycling and motor racing.
Seven-time Supercars Champion Jamie Whincup was also part of the six inductees in this year’s Hall of Fame intake, the first Supercars inductee since Marcos Ambrose in 2019.
“Achievements like this aren’t the result of one person’s efforts,” Whincup said.
“They’re built on the hard work and dedication of so many people over many years.
“On my own I wouldn’t have crossed the finish line first even once, but together as a group we achieved more than anyone before us.
“What truly makes this journey remarkable is sharing it with the countless fans who have supported us along the way.
“Their passion and belief have made this experience genuinely special.”
Also joining Whincup were Australian motorsport official Garry Connelly AM, World Motorcycle Endurance Champion Shane Watts, drag racing legend Santo Rapisarda, and 11-time national motorcycle champion, the late Ken Blake.
Sir Jack Brabham’s Repco Brabham BT19 is to be given the honour of completing a solo lap of Albert Park circuit immediately before the start of this Sunday’s Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.
Brabham BT19
Sir Jack Brabham is a Legend of the Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame.
The co-designers of his championship winning car, Ron Tauranac AO and Phil Irving MBE, are both members.
And in 2026, Australia celebrates the 60th anniversary of Jack becoming the only driver ever to win the world F1 title in a car of his own construction, his Repco Brabham BT19 has been uplifted to the country’s most prestigious recognition of motor racing achievement. Fittingly, 100 years since Jack’s birth, the car becomes the 100th inductee into the Hall of Fame.
In 1966, Jack persuaded Australian engineering company Repco to build him a three litre V8 to comply with new F1 regulations. Phil Irving, a genius, was at the forefront of its design. There was no time to construct a new chassis. Ron Tauranac made do with the simple space-frame BT19 he’d devised for the previous season.
History tells the story.
Jack won four of nine Grands Prix to claim his third world championship and his Repco Brabham trounced Ferrari by a massive 11 points in the constructors’ title.
Next year, it won again – this time 19 points clear of Lotus. Denny Hulme took the Drivers’ Championship. Jack was second.
The achievement will never be surpassed. The Repco Brabham BT19, now owned and curated by Repco, is an important part of the pantheon of Australia’s sporting pride – up there with Allan Bond’s America’s cup winning Australia 11.
Ken Blake
In the small rural community of Strathalbyn, 60 kilometres from Adelaide, a statue made from mechanical parts honours the town’s favourite son.
Ken Blake, born 1949, was 11-times Australian Motorcycle Champion, three times winner of the Castrol Six Hour production race, and importantly the local rider who beat world champion Giacomo Agostini in the infamous Australian 500 TT at Laverton Air Base.
Blake, died, in 1981, in the Isle of Man TT. He was just 32.
Ken Blake was a member of Strathalbyn’s Phoenix Motorcycle Club, formed with a group of friends when he was just 15. They spent their weekends racing over a three hundred kilometre course they’d mapped out on the Fleurieu Peninsula. Local brothers Les and Dean Jesser built him a real race bike to get him off the street.
Kawasaki race boss Neville Doyle promoted him to the big time. On Doyle’s 900 he was the only rider ever to win the Castrol Six Hour solo. Blake, called the Snake – just because it rhymed – took his talent offshore in 1975, racing at the fearsome Daytona speedbowl on his Yamaha TZ750, then in Europe.
His success as a privateer won him a works ride with the endurance team of Honda France. He was winding up to be one of the world’s best when he aquaplaned off the road at the treacherous Isle of Man.
His contribution, and his potential, is recognised by his induction into the Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame.
Garry Connelly AM
In 1988, the World Rally Championship put Australia on the global motorsport map. Occurring just two years after we won the rights to F1, the rally title cemented our country’s claim to international significance.
Its’ director, and innovator, was Garry Connelly.
For almost two decades Garry Connelly AM ASM has been Australia’s most senior representative in international motorsport. Much more than a bureaucrat, Garry ‘s teams have won awards for breakthroughs in presentation and safety, Rally Australia voted world’s best on three occasions. The Langley Park Super Special Stage in the centre of Perth established new standards and the world followed.
Garry entered motorsport as a rally navigator, became NSW manager for the Confederation of Australian Motorsport, developed the Australian Off Road Racing Championship, and in 2006 succeeded Hall of Famer John Large OAM as Australia’s delegate to the FIA governing body in Geneva.
His contribution has been substantial, one of four chairman of stewards presiding over the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, and importantly a leading influencer in the Global Institute for Motorsport Safety.
In 2020, Garry and his wife Monique formed Racing Together, a not-for-profit team dedicated to assisting indigenous youth to enter Australian racing.
Named a Member of the Order of Australia in 2009 for his contribution to motorsport, Garry typically downplays his role, a quiet achiever. But he is, without question, a very worthy inductee into the Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame.
Santo Rapisarda
It’s one of the saddest stories in motorsport. Santo Rapisarda, the godfather of top fuel drag racing in Australia, lost his son to a high speed crash.
It was 1990 when multiple champion Santo retired, so 23-year-old Louie could take his seat. Louie became the youngest ever member of drag racing’s exclusive five-second club, but at Willowbank in July that year the engine blew and Louie did not survive.
Santo could have stopped. Instead, at a family meeting, the decision was made to go on in memory of Louie.
Today, Rapisarda Racing is the country’s most prominent and successful Top Fuel team. Santo has positively influenced the careers of our very best racers. A successful businessman, he has funded and underwritten the sport he loves.
He is the heart and soul of the pits – accessible to the most impecunious club racer as well as the elite.
It’s been a long and inspiring journey for the 16-year-old immigrant from Sicily who began drag racing Holdens, bought a rail from the United States he called Trackburner, and today claims more than a dozen national titles, more than any other competitor of the modern era.
At most events, Santo fields two top fuel dragsters. It’s not cheap. A single sub-four second pass over the thousand foot strip costs around $5000. But it’s the family’s passion.
Santo’s two sons Santo Jnr and Santino, both born after Louie’s death, each crew chief a car. They’re deeply invested but by family decree, they are not allowed to drive.
Welcome Santo Rapisarda to the Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame, in memory of Louie.
Shane Watts
In almost 30 years, four Australians have won the World Enduro Championship for motorcycles. In 1997 Shane Watts was the first – and he did it on a 125cc KTM, riding out of his skin.
Some call Watts ‘The Maffra Nugget’, a reference to his Victorian hometown. Others liken him to American Travis Pastrana, more than a great rider, a showman as well. He’s always been outspoken.
Shane’s dad Norm won the inaugural Australian four day Enduro Championship in 1978. That’s when five year old Shane said he wanted to go racing too. He’s never stopped.
He claimed his Dad’s title for the first time in 1993 and won it for seven years in succession. It’s an unbeaten record.
He went overseas, lived rough, sleeping in a swag at race meetings, turned pro in 1996, won the world enduro title in 1997 and became International Six Days Enduro champion the year after.
If only injuries hadn’t plagued him. He broke his collar bone several times when he was seventeen, progressed to blowing our ACLs, then in 2009 broke his back, requiring six vertebrae to be fused.
These days Shane lives in the USA and runs his Dirt Wise Academy. Its’ focus is to make every student a safer rider.
Jamie Wincup
Record holding seven-times Supercars Champion Jame Whincup is busy developing young talent to take his place at the very top of Australian motorsport. Now the principal of Triple Eight Race Engineering , the country’s most successful championship winning team, Jamie has distinguished himself in this next phase of his career with his dedication to the series, the sport and the next generation of champions.
Jamie epitomises the new breed of racers who grew up in the Supercars environment. His parents David and Sandra devoted their lives to the career of their teenage son. He repaid them by winning the Australian Formula Ford championship, aged just 19.
Progression wasn’t easy. The precious talent moved through three Supercars teams before he landed at Roland Dane’s Triple Eight in 2006 alongside national hero Craig Lowndes. He’s been there ever since.
In 10 years from 2008, he won the Supercars Championship a record seven times – twice for Ford, five times for Holden. He’s won Bathurst four times, three of them alongside Lowndes.He holds the record for the most ever Supercar victories – 125 of them, along with 240 podiums and 92 pole positions.
But the next step is his greatest challenge. He’s purposely retired from active competition to concentrate on team and driver development. His goal – to have his proteges surpass his own stellar record.
