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Nobody has yet written a biography of Tony Brooks. There are mini-biographies in Maurice Hamilton’s Grand Prix - British Winners and Nigel Roebuck’s Grand Prix Greats and of course in Steven Small’s Grand Prix Who’s Who. The first two would cost you £20 - £30 on e-bay whilst Who’s who is currently being remaindered. Any of the histories of GP racing in the 50’s or any of the “50 years of Formula 1” genre will also feature him.
Quite simply Tony Brooks was one of the finest drivers of the fifties. Because of his unassuming manner he is frequently overlooked.
I won’t regurgitate a string of statistics as you can find them anywhere. Let’s just look at a few highlights. 1955 Syracuse (non-championship) GP - driving in his first overseas race and his first Formula 1 race in a Connaught he beat a full Maserati works team to score the first all British GP win since 1923. Winning 1957 Spa GP with the Aston Martin DBR1 on its international debut and then going on to win the Nurburgring 1000km with the same car. In 1958 everybody refers to Stirling Moss winning three World Championship GP’s to Mike Hawthorn’s one but overlook the fact that Brooks also had three wins. Then in 1960 he narrowly missed the championship. Had he not made a precautionary pit stop to check his car for damage after a start line shunt he would almost certainly have won the US GP and the championship. (For the full story carry out a search on “Sebring” and “Harry Schell”).
Brooks was a skilled driver in the Varzi style rather than a fighter in the Nuvolari mould. But if he had to he could mix it with the best of them. In my opinion he ranks a close second to Stirling Moss in the “Best driver never to win the championship” stakes.
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