Cooper T45

Cooper T45

Category	Formula One, Formula Two
Constructor	Cooper Car Company
Designer(s)	Owen Maddock
Predecessor	Cooper T43
Successor	Cooper T51
Technical specifications
Chassis	Steel spaceframe
Suspension (front)	Double wishbone, coil spring and damper
Suspension (rear)	Lower wishbone, transverse leaf spring with transverse link and damper
Engine	Climax FPF, Maserati 2.5 or 1.5-litre straight-4, naturally aspirated, rear mid, longitudinally mounted.
Transmission	manual gearbox.
Tyres	Dunlop
Competition history
Notable entrants	Cooper R.R.C. Walker Racing Team
Notable drivers	Jack Brabham Maurice Trintignant Roy Salvadori
Debut	1958 Monaco Grand Prix
Races Wins Poles F/Laps 17 1 0 0

The Cooper T45 was an open-wheel formula racing car, developed and built by the Cooper Car Company in 1958, and designed by Owen Maddock. It competed in Formula 2 racing as well as in Formula One racing, where it won one World Championship Grand Prix, the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix, being driven by Maurice Trintignant.

Development history and technology

The Cooper T45 was the successor to the Cooper T43. The chassis remained almost unchanged, but the wheel suspension was revised. The engine was lowered. Until 1959 the cars had drum brakes, which were then replaced by disc brakes.

Racing history

For the Formula 1 version, Climax developed a 2.2-litre engine. Since this engine was exclusively available to the works team, Rob Walker had to resort to the 2-litre engine, which had less power. In 1958, Frenchman Maurice Trintignant surprisingly won the Monaco Grand Prix with the Walker 2-litre T45. However, the car lacked power on the fast stretches. Especially against the competition from Ferrari and Vanwall, the Coopers had no chance. Works driver Roy Salvadori was third at Silverstone and second at the Nurburgring and fourth overall in the Drivers' Championship. Cooper finished third in the Constructor's Championship, which was held for the first time.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position, results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Points	WCC
1958	Cooper Car Company	Climax FPF L4	D		ARG	MON	NED	500	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	POR	ITA	MOR	311	3rd1
				Jack Brabham		4	8		Ret	6	6	Ret†	6	Ret	11†
				Roy Salvadori		Ret	4		8	11	3	2	9	5	7
				Ian Burgess							Ret
				Jack Fairman											8
	R.R.C. Walker Racing Team			Maurice Trintignant		1	9					3		Ret	Ret
1959	High Efficiency Motors	Maserati L4	D		MON	500	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	POR	ITA	USA			0	-
				Roy Salvadori	6			Ret					Ret
				Jack Fairman								Ret
		Climax FPF L4							Ret							402	1st2
	Jean Lucienbonnet			Jean Lucienbonnet	DNQ
	Equipe Alan Brown			Mike Taylor					Ret
				Peter Ashdown					12
	Gilby Engineering			Keith Greene					DNQ
	R.H.H. Parnell			Tim Parnell					DNQ
1960	Equipe Nationale Belge	Climax FPF L4	D		ARG	MON	500	NED	BEL	FRA	GBR	POR	ITA	USA		48 (58)3	1st3
				Lucien Bianchi					6
	Arthur Owen			Arthur Owen									Ret
	Wolfgang Seidel			Wolfgang Seidel									9
	Gilby Engineering	Maserati L4		Keith Greene							Ret					0	-
1961	Fred Tuck Cars	Climax FPF 1.5 L4	D		MON	NED	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	ITA	USA				14 (18)2	4th2
				Jack Fairman							Ret

† Formula Two entry.
^1 Points also scored by the Cooper T43.
^2 All points scored by other Cooper models.
^3 Points also scored by other Cooper models.