Jack Braham's son David drove this Cooper T51 during the 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed, 50 years after the historic 1959 season. David marked the occasion by pushing the car across the finish line.(Photo: Wouter Melissen)

Brabham won Cooper's home race at Silverstone and Moss added two more wins to the T51's tally in Portugal and Italy. This left Brabham leading the championship from Moss and Brooks going into the final round at Sebring. Young Bruce McLaren won the race, Moss retired again with transmission problems and Brooks finished third.

Cooper's fabulous season nearly ended in bitter disappointment as Brabham's car ran out of fuel on the final lap. A momentous effort saw Brabham push his stricken T51 over 400 meters up the hill across the finish, where he collapsed. He was placed fourth in the race and scored enough points to claim both titles.

Before the introduction of the more sophisticated, spaceframe T53, the Cooper team traveled to the season-opening Argentine Grand Prix with the old T51s. McLaren showed there was still life in the 1959 World Championship-winning machine by taking victory ahead of Cliff Allison in a Ferrari.

Brabham confirmed his and Cooper's dominance in the new T53 by winning five of the next nine Grands Prix on his way to back-to-back Championships. All other manufacturers followed Cooper's lead, and in September of 1960, Phil Hill scored the last-ever Grand Prix victory with a front-engine car.

Within in two years of the Cooper T51 Climax's introduction, the mid-engine revolution was complete. Few other Formula 1 cars have revolutionized the sport as the little Coopers did.

For an 18-photo gallery, see Cooper T51.

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