UNKNOWN LOCATION, FRANCE (JANUARY, 1964) (REUTERS LIBRARY )


TIMO MAKINEN FOLLOWED BY PADDY HOPKIRK TESTING MINIS DOWN SNOWY ROAD


MINI SWERVING AROUND CORNER


HOPKIRK (LEFT) TALKING WITH MAKINEN (CENTRE)
Background: John Cooper, the man who created the Mini Cooper car
and ran the Cooper Car Company which twice won the
Formula One World Championship, has died aged 77.


Cooper's racing team, the Cooper Car Company, was
formed with his father Charles in 1950 and worked from a small
garage in Surbiton, South London.

Cooper, a former racing driver, developed the upgraded
version of the Mini in 1961. The car went on to have great
success in the European Rally Championships, including three
wins in Monte Carlo - Irishman Paddy Hopkirk in 1964,
Finland's Timo Makinen in 1965 and another Finn, Rauno
Aaltonen, two years later.

The cars were also famously featured in the 1969 film "The
Italian Job", starring Michael Caine.

Cooper were the first team to successfully put the engine
behind the cockpit in Formula One cars, a style which all
teams were to follow. The team's main successes came in 1959
and 1960 when they became the first British team to win the
Formula One constructors' world championship with the
Cooper-Climax. Australian Jack Brabham also took the drivers'
title for the team in both those years.

The Cooper team won 16 Grands Prix in all before leaving
Formula One in 1969.