Paul Grant à la conduite de son Blue, 1953, Cooper Bristol Mk2 3/52, en descendant le détroit de Wellington, pendant le Trophée Maserati pour HGPCA avant le Grand Prix de voitures 66
The Cooper Car Company is a British car manufacturer founded in December 1947 by Charles Cooper and his son John Cooper. Together with John's boyhood friend, Eric Brandon, they began by building racing cars in Charles's small garage in Surbiton, Surrey, England, in 1946. Through the 1950s and early 1960s they reached motor racing's highest levels as their rear-engined, single-seat cars competed in both Formula One and the Indianapolis 500, and their Mini Cooper dominated rally racing. The Cooper name lives on in the Cooper versions of the Mini production cars that are built in England, but is now owned and marketed by BMW.The front-engined Formula Two Cooper Bristol model was introduced in 1952. Various iterations of this design were driven by a number of legendary drivers – among them Juan Manuel Fangio and Mike Hawthorn – and furthered the company's growing reputation by appearing in Grand Prix races, which at the time were run to F2 regulations. Until the company began building rear-engined sports cars in 1955, they really had not become aware of the benefits of having the engine behind the driver. Based on the 500-cc cars and powered by a modified Coventry Climax fire-pump engine, these cars were called "Bobtails". With the center of gravity closer to the middle of the car, they found it was less liable to spins and much more effective at putting the power down to the road, so they decided to build a single-seater version and began entering it in Formula 2 races. Many of Coopers customers were eager to move up the racing ladder and that meant Formula 2. For this Cooper needed an engine of sufficient power and the company turned to an engine made by the Bristol Aeroplane Company based the six-cylinder engine's design of the pre-war BMW 328. The engine displaced 1971cc produced nearly 130 horsepower though about 40 horsepower less than the competition. To compensate for its lack of power, Cooper devised an uncomplicated and lightweight front-engined chassis.
