Eric Brandon

Brandon was a boyhood friend of John Cooper, who not unnaturally became involved in racing from the early days of the little Cooper 500 cc cars. By 1951 he was rightly regarded as one of the top drivers in the class, recording wins at home and abroad.

With Alan Brown he formed the Ecurie Richmond team, the pair running front-engined Cooper-Bristol cars to the Formula 2 rules in Grands Prix during 1952 and ’53. Eric’s best placing was a very distant fourth at a retirement-hit Syracuse GP in 1953.

Undaunted, Eric continued in his beloved F3, where he was always a front-runner, before moving into sports cars with the 1100 cc Halseylec-Climax which he raced in 1955 and early 1956.