Tony Brooks (racing driver)


Charles Anthony "Tony" Standish Brooks is a British former racing driver from England also known as the "racing dentist". He participated in 39 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 14 July 1956, achieving six wins, 10 podium finishes and 75 career points. He was third in the World Drivers' Championship in 1958 and second in 1959. He also scored the first win by a British driver in a British car in a Grand Prix since 1923, in 1955 driving a Connaught at Syracuse in a non-World Championship race.
After the death of Sir Stirling Moss in 2020, Brooks is the last surviving Grand Prix winner from the 1950s.

Career

Brooks was born on 25 February 1932, in Dukinfield, Cheshire, and educated at Mount St Mary's College. He is the son of a dental surgeon, Charles Standish Brooks, and studied the practice himself. He is also a cousin of Norman Standish Brooks, a former British Olympic swimmer. He took up racing in 1952 and drove a Healey and a Frazer Nash at club events until 1955. In that same year, Brooks drove a Formula Two Connaught at Crystal Palace and finished fourth. Later in 1955, Brooks made his first Formula One start at the non-championship 1955 Syracuse Grand Prix, winning the race. This was the first international Grand Prix win for a British car since the 1924 San Sebastián Grand Prix.
VW5 with Stirling Moss to win the 1957 British Grand Prix.
Brooks claimed the first victory for a British-constructed car in a World Championship race in the 1957 British Grand Prix at Aintree, which he shared with Stirling Moss. Along with Moss, Brooks is considered one of the best drivers never to have been World Champion and both Moss and three-time World Champion Jack Brabham were known to have thought highly of his ability.
In 1959, Brooks, together with Brabham and Moss, had a chance to win the title due to the retirement of Mike Hawthorn and the death, the previous season, of Peter Collins. Brooks started well, with a second place at Monaco, behind Brabham. He failed to finish at the Dutch Grand Prix, but dominantly won the French Grand Prix at Reims. Having failed to finish in a Vanwall at the British Grand Prix which he drove due to Ferrari workers in Italy being on strike, he won the only German Grand Prix of Formula One to be held at AVUS. The race was split unusually into two heats, and he won both. He had a slow car in Portugal, qualifying 10th and finishing five laps down. He retired shortly after the start at Monza but was still in contention to win the championship. At the first ever United States Grand Prix for Formula One at Sebring, he was hit by German teammate Wolfgang von Trips and pitted to check for any damage, losing two minutes. It proved to be a waste of time, but still finished in third place. He finished second in the championship with 27 points, seven behind Brabham, and one-and-a-half ahead of Moss.
Brooks won six races for Vanwall and Ferrari, secured four pole positions, achieved ten podiums, and scored a total of 75 championship points. He drove for BRM but retired from the team at the end of 1961, just before their most successful season. He ended his career with a third place at the first ever United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen.
base, the Hotel de France, at the wheel of his DBR1 race car.
He was also an accomplished sports car driver, winning both the 1957 1000 km Nürburgring and the 1958 RAC Tourist Trophy, with co-driver, Moss, racing an Aston Martin DBR1. He was less successful at Le Mans in 1957, due again to an accident which occurred while racing an Aston Martin DBR1 at that year's 24-hour race, which brought about a change in his racing philosophy. A crash in the 1956 British Grand Prix and the subsequent Le Mans crash both occurred in cars with mechanical problems, of which he was aware, and Brooks, being a devout Catholic, vowed he would never again risk his life in a car that was in less than sound condition.
He had fewer qualms when it came to his own condition, however: "I was lucky in the Le Mans shunt in that I didn't break anything, but I did have very severe abrasions – there was a hole in the side of my thigh I could literally have put my fist into." It was with these injuries that he went on to race in the 1957 British GP with Moss, and win.
In 2008, Brooks was honoured by his home town. The Dukinfield District Assembly, part of Tameside Council, held a dinner in his honour and unveiled a plaque outside his former home on Park Lane.

Racing record

Complete Formula One World Championship results

* Tony Brooks won the 1957 British Grand Prix sharing his car with Stirling Moss. Both were awarded half points for their victory.
** Brooks was also awarded one point in the 1957 Italian Grand Prix and 1959 German Grand Prix for recording the fastest lap.

Non-Championship results

YearEntrantChassisEngine123456789101112131415161718192021
1955Equipe EndeavourConnaught Type ALea-Francis Straight-4BUEVLNPAUGLVBORINTNAPALBCURCRNLON
4		RECRDXTLG
4		OUL
5		AVO
1955Connaught EngineeringConnaught Type BAlta Straight-4SYR
1
1956Owen Racing OrganisationBRM P25BRM Straight-4NZLBUEGLO
Ret		SYRBAR
2		INTNAPAIN
Ret		VANCAESUSBRSAUS
1957Vandervell Products Ltd.VanwallVanwall Straight-4BUESYR
Ret		PAUGLV
6		NAPRMSMOR
Ret
1957Tony BrooksCooper T43Climax Straight-4CAE
Ret		INT
Ret		MOD
1958Tony BrooksCooper T45Climax Straight-4BUEGLVSYRAIN
3		INT
Ret		CAE
1959Scuderia FerrariFerrari 246Ferrari V6GLVAIN
2		INT
Ret		OULSIL
1960G.A. VandervellVanwallVanwall Straight-4GLV
7		INT
DNA
1960Yeoman Credit Racing TeamCooper T51Climax
Straight-4		SIL
Ret
1960Vandervell Products Ltd.Lotus 18Vanwall Straight-4LOM
DNS		OUL
1961Owen Racing OrganisationBRM P48/57BRM Straight-4LOMGLV
Ret		PAUBRXVIEAIN
7		SYR
Ret		NAPLONSIL
3		SOLKANDANMOD
6		FLGOUL
4		LEWVALRANNATRSA