Full name | Cooper Car Company |
---|---|
Base | Surbiton, Surrey, United Kingdom |
Founder(s) | Charles Cooper John Cooper |
Noted drivers | Stirling Moss Maurice Trintignant Jack Brabham Bruce McLaren John Surtees Jochen Rindt Pedro Rodríguez |
Formula One World Championship career | |
First entry | 1950 Monaco Grand Prix |
Races entered | 129 |
Constructors' Championships | 2 (1959, 1960) |
Drivers' Championships | 2 (1959, 1960) |
Race victories | 16 |
Pole positions | 11 |
Fastest laps | 14 |
Final entry | 1969 Monaco Grand Prix |
The Cooper Car Company was 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 mid-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.