This Cooper T-56 Formula Junior is one of only two Cooper Works cars campaigned by Team Tyrell for Cooper in 1961. At the hands of South African driver, Tony Maggs, it won eight races that season: Goodwood, Magny-Cours, Monza, Kalskoga, Rouen, Zandvoort, Oulton Park, and Montlhery. Those victories and other podium finishes gave Maggs, Cooper and Tyrrell the European Formula Junior Championship.
At the end of the 1961 season Tyrrell returned Magg's car to Cooper, who then refurbished the car and sold it to up-and-coming Hollywood actor, Steve McQueen in January of 1962. McQueen had attended Cooper's race school in England, and had become close friends with John Cooper. (Pictures of the two of them and the T-56 above.) McQueen would even stay in Cooper son's room when he visited. After becoming enamored with the championship car, McQueen purchased it, along with a Mini-Cooper, and had them both shipped back to California.
McQueen immediately began racing FJ-2-62 in California, scoring a number of victories, including the Santa Barbara street races. McQueen's performance in the car was so impressive that John Cooper personally invited him to come and test for a Formula drive in Europe.
When McQueen's Hollywood bosses learned about his ''other job'' they decided to intervene. In the pits right before his race at Laguna Seca studio lawyers showed up and asked him a question, ''Are you a movie star or a race car driver? Choose.''
McQueen had just finished his TV series ''Wanted: Dead or Alive'', and had made a huge splash starring in ''The Magnificent Seven.'' With ''The Great Escape'' on the horizon, the studio wasn't about to take a risk with their new star. The ultimatum worked, and the King of Cool would go onto become a Hollywood icon, not an F1 driver. He wouldn't return to the track until he created his own studio, Solar Productions, where he was the boss, and the boss liked racing.
When McQueen made the decision to suspend his racing activities he left the car with his mechanic, Stanley Peterson, to put it up for sale. In 1963 Stanley sold the car to Al 'Buster' Brizzard, and extremely competitive driver in SCCA. He ran the car with the BMC engine in 1963, a Cosworth engine in 1964, and finally an Alfa-Romeo 1600 cc engine in 1965, winning the Pacific Coast Formula B Championship. He captured five straight wins with the Cooper, and its third championship title in five years.
Brizzard sold the Cooper to Robert Badilla in 1966, but reportedly bought it back again in 1977, still racing, but now with wings and wide tires. Skip McLaughlin, McQueen's original mechanic, was in possession of the car from 1980 into the 1990's and gathered a great deal of information on the car while in the process of restoration. Donald Sandy is noted as an owner in 2000, and the last owner acquired the car in October 2003, after its discovery was reported in Classic and Sports Car Magazine's Lost and Found section.
The owner commenced a profound restoration and engaged Hardy Hall Restorations, of Herefordshire, England to return FJ-2-62 to its Tyrrell / McQueen configuration of dark green with white roundels and stripes. It was restored from the ground up to race-ready condition. Any parts which were not up to that standard were replaced, rebuilt, or simply re-fabricated. An original and correct five-speed ERSA gearbox was found, and the car is fitted with the appropriate 1098 cc BMC engine.
This T-56 is eligible for the Goodwood Revival, the Monterey Motorsports Reunion, and celebrated classic series in Europe, America, Australia, and New Zealand. With its successful, storied past that makes it unique among a mere 30-odd survivors and a race-ready restoration, the new owner can be assured that FJ-2-62 is as right now as it was over 50 years ago.
Engine:
BMC-XSP
64.4mm bore x 76.2mm stroke, capacity 1098 cc.
Wet sump. Single twin-choke Weber 45 DCEO carburetor.
#222429
Gearbox:
Citroen-ERSA 5-speed, with Jack Knight internals and selector, and Cooper lid.
Magnesium bell housing
#27
1961 Formula Junior European Championship
Tyrrell Racing - Cooper T56 - BMC
FJ-2-62
April 3 Goodwood 1st Tony Maggs #57
March 26 Snetterton 2nd Tony Maggs #80
April 15 Oulton Park 14th Tony Maggs #58
April 22 Aintree DNF Tony Maggs #57
May 6 Silverstone 3rd Tony Maggs #5
May 13 GP Monaco 3rd Tony Maggs #126
May 21 GP des Frontieres 2nd Tony Maggs #58
May 28 GP de Magny-Cours 1st Tony Maggs
June 3 Brands Hatch 9th Tony Maggs #70
June 4 GP de Rouen 1st Tony Maggs #12
June 11 Circuito di Castello 8th Ian Raby
June 17 Charterhall 2nd Tony Maggs
June 25 Circuit de la Chatre 6th Tony Maggs
June 29 GP Monza 1st Tony Maggs #3
July 2 GP de Reims 2nd Tony Maggs #10
July 23 GP Stuttgart 3rd Tony Maggs #42
August 7 Brands Hatch 3rd Tony Maggs #70
August 13 GP de Nogaro 4th Tony Maggs
August 20 Kanonloppet 1st Tony Maggs #3
August 27 GP Det Danske 2nd Tony Maggs #2
Sept 3 Zandvoort 1st Tony Maggs
Sept 23 Oulton Park 1st Tony Maggs #43
Sept 30 Snetterton 3rd Tony Maggs #135
October 3 Montlhery 1st Tony Maggs #2
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