Garrie Cooper
| Garrie Cooper | |
|---|---|
Garrie Cooper in his Elfin MR5 at the Surfers Paradise round of the 1972 Australian Drivers' Championship
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| Nationality |
 Australian
|
| Born |
22 December 1935 Glenelg, South Australia |
| Died | 25 April 1982 (aged 46) Adelaide, South Australia |
| Retired | 1980 |
| Australian Drivers' Championship | |
| Years active | 1962-80 |
| Teams | Elfin Sports Cars/Ansett Team Elfin |
| Best finish | 3rd in 1973 Australian Drivers' Championship |
| Previous series | |
| 1966-68 1969-75 1971 1974-75 |
Australian 1½ Litre Championship Tasman Series Australian Formula 2 Ch. Australian Sports Car Championship |
| Championship titles | |
| 1968 1968 1975 |
Singapore Grand Prix Australian 1½ Litre Championship Australian Sports Car Championship |
Garrie Clifford Cooper (22 December 1935 - 25 April 1982) was the founder of the highly successful Elfin Sports Cars and a competitive racing driver in his own right, winning the 1968 Singapore Grand Prix, the 1968 Australian 1½ Litre Championship, and the 1975 Australian Sports Car Championship - all in Elfin cars of his own design.
With the help of his father Cliff Cooper, Garrie established Elfin Sports Cars in 1957 at the age of 22, with his first car being the Elfin Streamliner, a front engined sports car which first appeared in 1959, and began racing under the Elfin banner in 1962.
During the 1978 Australian Grand Prix at the fast Sandown Raceway in Melbourne, he suffered a broken leg in a high-speed crash while driving his own Elfin MR8 Formula 5000. The car was destroyed after leaving the track and crashing into the horse track rails on the back straight at over 250 km/h (155 mph). Cooper's explanation for the high speed crash was that something broke on the car which sent him spearing into the fence.
In 1980, Cooper designed and built the first open wheel car in Australia to use Ground effect aerodynamics, the Elfin MR9 (the MR9 it remains the only F5000 ever constructed using Ground effect). This car made its race début in Coopers hands at the 1980 Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne's Calder Park Raceway. Originally to be driven by French Formula One driver Didier Pironi who had experience driving ground effects F1 cars, Cooper himself decided to drive the car as it had only been completed before practice and did not set a qualifying time. Pironi and Cooper's Ansett Team Elfin team mate John Bowe each drove an Elfin MR8 in the race, with Pironi finishing in third place, four laps down on the Williams FW07B Formula One car of 1980 World Champion Alan Jones.
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