Cooper T45
Racing automobile
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Cooper T45 was an open-wheel formula racing car, developed and built by the Cooper Car Company in 1958, and designed by Owen Maddock. It competed in Formula 2 racing as well as in Formula One racing, where it won one World Championship Grand Prix, the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix, being driven by Maurice Trintignant.[1]
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| Category | Formula One, Formula Two | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constructor | Cooper Car Company | ||||||||
| Designer | Owen Maddock | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Cooper T43 | ||||||||
| Successor | Cooper T51 | ||||||||
| Technical specifications | |||||||||
| Chassis | Steel spaceframe | ||||||||
| Suspension (front) | Double wishbone, coil spring and damper | ||||||||
| Suspension (rear) | Lower wishbone, transverse leaf spring with transverse link and damper | ||||||||
| Engine | Climax FPF, Maserati 2.5 or 1.5-litre straight-4, naturally aspirated, rear mid, longitudinally mounted. | ||||||||
| Transmission | manual gearbox. | ||||||||
| Tyres | Dunlop | ||||||||
| Competition history | |||||||||
| Notable entrants | Cooper R.R.C. Walker Racing Team | ||||||||
| Notable drivers |  Jack Brabham Maurice Trintignant Roy Salvadori | ||||||||
| Debut | 1958 Monaco Grand Prix | ||||||||
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Development history and technology
The Cooper T45 was the successor to the Cooper T43. The chassis remained almost unchanged, but the wheel suspension was revised. The engine was lowered. Until 1959 the cars had drum brakes, which were then replaced by disc brakes.[2][3]
Racing history
For the Formula 1 version, Climax developed a 2.2-litre engine. Since this engine was exclusively available to the works team, Rob Walker had to resort to the 2-litre engine, which had less power. In 1958, Frenchman Maurice Trintignant surprisingly won the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix with the Walker 2-litre T45. However, the car lacked power on the fast stretches. Especially against the competition from Ferrari and Vanwall, the Coopers had no chance. Works driver Roy Salvadori was third at Silverstone and second at the Nürburgring and fourth overall in the Drivers' Championship. Cooper finished third in the Constructor's Championship, which was held for the first time.[4]
Complete Formula One World Championship results
(key) (results in bold indicate pole position, results in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Points | WCC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | Cooper Car Company | Climax FPF L4 | D | ARG | MON | NED | 500 | BEL | FRA | GBR | GER | POR | ITA | MOR | 311 | 3rd1 | |
| Jack Brabham | 4 | 8 | Ret | 6 | 6 | Ret† | 6 | Ret | 11† | ||||||||
| Roy Salvadori | Ret | 4 | 8 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 5 | 7 | ||||||||
| Ian Burgess | Ret | ||||||||||||||||
| Jack Fairman | 8 | ||||||||||||||||
| R.R.C. Walker Racing Team | Maurice Trintignant | 1 | 9 | 3 | Ret | Ret | |||||||||||
| 1959 | High Efficiency Motors | Maserati L4 | D | MON | 500 | NED | FRA | GBR | GER | POR | ITA | USA | 0 | - | |||
| Roy Salvadori | 6 | Ret | Ret | ||||||||||||||
| Jack Fairman | Ret | ||||||||||||||||
| Climax FPF L4 | Ret | 402 | 1st2 | ||||||||||||||
| Jean Lucienbonnet | Jean Lucienbonnet | DNQ | |||||||||||||||
| Equipe Alan Brown | Mike Taylor | Ret | |||||||||||||||
| Peter Ashdown | 12 | ||||||||||||||||
| Gilby Engineering | Keith Greene | DNQ | |||||||||||||||
| R.H.H. Parnell | Tim Parnell | DNQ | |||||||||||||||
| 1960 | Equipe Nationale Belge | Climax FPF L4 | D | ARG | MON | 500 | NED | BEL | FRA | GBR | POR | ITA | USA | 48 (58)3 | 1st3 | ||
| Lucien Bianchi | 6 | ||||||||||||||||
| Arthur Owen | Arthur Owen | Ret | |||||||||||||||
| Wolfgang Seidel | Wolfgang Seidel | 9 | |||||||||||||||
| Gilby Engineering | Maserati L4 | Keith Greene | Ret | 0 | - | ||||||||||||
| 1961 | Fred Tuck Cars | Climax FPF 1.5 L4 | D | MON | NED | BEL | FRA | GBR | GER | ITA | USA | 14 (18)2 | 4th2 | ||||
| Jack Fairman | Ret | ||||||||||||||||
† Formula Two entry.
^1 Points also scored by the Cooper T43.
^2 All points scored by other Cooper models.
^3 Points also scored by other Cooper models.