Gary Thomas Brabham (born 29 March 1961) is an Australian former professional racing driver and a convicted child sex offender. He is the middle son of three-time Formula One World Champion Sir Jack Brabham and the brother of Le Mans winners Geoff and David Brabham.
Driver Bio
| Nationality | Australian |
| Birthplace | Wimbledon, England, UK |
| Born | 29 March 1961 |
| First Grand Prix | 1990 United States Grand Prix |
| Last Grand Prix | 1990 Brazilian Grand Prix |
| Current/Last Team | Life |
Brabham won the inaugural British Formula 3000 Championship and the 1991 12 Hours of Sebring, but his Formula One opportunity came with Life, one of the least competitive teams in World Championship history. He later became the first Australian to start the Gold Coast IndyCar race. After his driving career, he was convicted of sexual offences against children, including rape.
Early life
Brabham was born in Wimbledon, England, the second of Sir Jack Brabham’s three sons. Although his mother hoped he would choose a life beyond motor racing, the family business proved difficult to resist. He grew up around the sport and gained experience in Formula Ford machinery in Australia and Britain.
His competitive debut came at Calder Park in 1982. Driving a nine-year-old car, Brabham finished third in his first race and subsequently broke the Formula Ford lap record at Sandown with the same ageing machine.
Racing career
The junior categories
Brabham was selected to continue his career in Europe for 1983. With little financial backing from Australia, he joined Neil Trundle Racing in the British Formula Ford 2000 Championship, driving a Reynard SF83 and finishing 11th overall. He also sampled sports-car racing, sharing a March-Ford 83S with Alo Lawler at Brands Hatch.
He remained in Formula Ford 2000 for 1984, moving to Penistone Racing alongside Julian Bailey in a Reynard SF84. Brabham regularly showed greater pace than his teammate and finished sixth in the championship despite being instructed not to outperform Bailey.
That season also brought his first victory in sports cars. Sharing a Tiga-Ford TS84 with Tim Lee-Davey, Brabham won a Thundersports race at Snetterton. With no leading single-seater opportunity available for 1985, he concentrated on Thundersports and recorded five runner-up finishes in TechSpeed Racing’s Shrike-Ford P15 alongside Divina Galica.
Sir Jack assembled Jack Brabham Racing for his son’s move into British Formula Three in 1986. Gary contested nine of the 18 rounds in a Ralt-Volkswagen RT30, finishing second at Silverstone and fifth in the championship despite his partial campaign.
Panasonic support enabled the team to enter 15 of the 19 races in 1987. Brabham won at Silverstone and Donington Park in the newer Ralt RT31 and finished sixth overall. He had been in contention with Johnny Herbert for the championship before his funding ran dry.
Brabham also made guest appearances in the British Touring Car Championship at Oulton Park and the MG Maestro Challenge at Silverstone. In the latter, he fought future Formula One World Champion Damon Hill for victory and won, although neither guest driver was eligible to score points. He also finished fourth in a Ford Escort celebrity race at Brands Hatch.
A return to Australia brought an appearance in the 1987 Bathurst 1000, sharing a factory BMW M3 with Juan Manuel Fangio II. The car climbed as high as fifth before Fangio clipped a stranded competitor in wet conditions. Brabham later displayed his pace in a battle with Peter Brock, but he and Fangio were ultimately classified 16th.
Joining Bowman Racing for 1988, Brabham mounted his strongest British Formula Three campaign. JJ Lehto took the title, but Brabham finished the season with a flourish, winning four races in his Ralt-Volkswagen RT32 and placing second overall. Victories in the Scottish Superprix and Oulton Park Gold Cup enhanced his reputation and led to a Formula One test in a Benetton B188 at Jerez.
He also finished fifth in the 1988 Macau Grand Prix and returned to place sixth the following year.
When a planned move into International Formula 3000 for 1989 went instead to Andrea Chiesa, Brabham joined Bromley Motorsport in the new British Formula 3000 Championship. Driving a Reynard-Cosworth 88D previously raced by Roberto Moreno, he won four rounds, claimed multiple pole positions and became the series’ inaugural champion.
Selected International Formula 3000 outings with Bromley and Leyton House supplemented that campaign, with fifth at Brands Hatch his best result.
Formula One with Life
Further Formula One tests for Leyton House and Brabham, plus development work on Porsche’s Indy car, appeared to have positioned Brabham for a serious opportunity. Instead, his Grand Prix break came with the deeply troubled Life project in 1990.
Life’s unconventional car was chronically slow and unreliable. At the season opener in Phoenix, Brabham recorded the second-slowest time in pre-qualifying, beating only Bertrand Gachot in the Coloni but finishing some 30 seconds behind Claudio Langes for EuroBrun.
Brazil was even briefer. The Life’s engine failed after roughly 400 metres, although the car had unexpectedly registered the sixth-highest straight-line speed during an untimed practice session.
With no realistic improvement in sight, Brabham left after two events. Life failed to escape pre-qualifying in any of its 14 attempts that season. Confusion surrounding Brabham’s contract also cost him a possible seat with the family-named Brabham team, which ultimately went to his brother David.
After Formula One
Brabham spent the remainder of 1990 in International Formula 3000 with Middlebridge Racing, driving a Lola-Mugen T89/50. He finished third at both Monza and Enna but failed to qualify at Pau and Birmingham.
Back in Australia, he shared a Frank Gardner-prepared Ford Sierra RS500 with David Brabham in the Eastern Creek 500. The brothers finished fourth.
For 1991, Brabham moved into American IMSA competition with Nissan Performance Technology. Sharing the pole-sitting Nissan NPT-90 with Geoff Brabham and Derek Daly, he won the 12 Hours of Sebring. Despite the scale of that victory, it did not produce a permanent leading drive, leaving him to piece together appearances in an older Nissan at Miami, a Stürtz-BMW SM in an Interserie event at Brands Hatch and another Bathurst 1000.
He returned to Nissan for the major IMSA endurance races in 1992. At Daytona, Brabham, Daly and Steve Millen ran third before retiring. At Sebring, Arie Luyendyk joined the previous year’s winning crew, which narrowly missed a successful defence by finishing second.
Brabham competed in CART during 1993 and 1994, becoming the first Australian to start the Gold Coast IndyCar street race. He retired from competition in 1995 and subsequently taught advanced driving. His pupils included Rowan Atkinson and Captain Mark Phillips, as well as celebrities preparing for Australian and British Grand Prix support races.
Criminal convictions
In 2009, Brabham pleaded guilty to indecent dealing with a child under the age of 12. His identity was initially suppressed while he served his sentence at Wacol prison.
In 2016, a 12-member jury in Brisbane District Court convicted him of rape and indecent treatment of a six-year-old child. The offences took place in Brisbane between 2003 and 2007. The court was informed after the verdict that Brabham had a prior criminal history.
He received an 18-month prison sentence and was released after serving six months. In September 2016, the Queensland Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed his appeal against the convictions.
Grand Prix Stats
| Race Entries | 2 |
| Race Starts | 0 |
| Did Not Start | 0 |
| Best Race Start | DNPQ |
| Best Race Finish | DNPQ |
| Retirements | – |
| First-Lap Retirements | 0 |
| Not Classified | – |
| Disqualified | 0 |
| Did Not Qualify | 0 (Note: 2x Did not pre-qualify) |
Qualifying
| Qualifying Sessions | – |
| Reached Q3 | – |
| Q2 Eliminations | – |
| Q1 Eliminations | – |
| Did Not Qualify | 0 (Note: 2x Did not pre-qualify) |
Stats by Season
| Year | Constructor | Entries | Starts | Wins | Podiums | Poles | Fastest Laps | Front Rows | DNF | Best Start | Best Result | Pts Finishes | Points | Championship |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Life | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | DNPQ | N/A | 0 | 0 | NC |
