Brendon John Cook (born 27 December 1970) is a former race driver who raced mainly in Australia, but also in Europe.

Career

Open wheelers

Cook began racing at the age of 16 in

Karts Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on kart circuit, scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are als ...

, where he won club titles, and then moved into

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula Fo ...

in Britain. He raced four times in the British Junior series, which ran the same races as the outright series, but for different points. The highlight for him would have been out qualifying eventual

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship ...

driver

David Coulthard David Marshall Coulthard (; born 27 March 1971) is a British former racing driver from Scotland, later turned presenter, commentator and journalist. Nicknamed 'DC', he competed in 15 seasons of Formula One between and , taking 13 Grand Prix vi ...

. After an unsuccessful season of

Formula 3 Formula Three, also called Formula 3, abbreviated as F3, is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One dr ...

in Switzerland in 1990, he returned to Australia and competed in various club racing including

, AUSCAR, HQ Holdens and

. He made a brief return to Europe in 1996 for British Formula Ford and 1998 to compete in one round of the Benelux Formula Opel series and the

EFDA Nations Cup The EFDA Nations Cup was a Formula Opel competition which was held between 1990 and 1998. The competition pitted international drivers against each other in similar cars, with drivers representing their nations. It was founded by Dan Partel withi ...

in the Netherlands. In 2002 he ran in the Australian Formula Two Championship where he finished eighth and took out the

Rookie of the Year award A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

. He returned for one race in 2011 in the Formula R class at Eastern Creek in a Reynard 913 and the 2011 Asian Formula Renault Challenge but didn't start after an accident in qualifying. In October 2011 he raced in the final two rounds of the Thoroughbred Grand Prix series driving a

Tyrrell 012 The Tyrrell 012 is a Formula One racing car that was designed by Maurice Philippe for the Tyrrell Racing, Tyrrell team. It was introduced for the season, and was subsequently used in and the first few races of . Overview 1983 It was the f ...

Sedan racing

Season 1995 saw an introduction to production cars in the Eastern Creek 12 Hour, but a blown head gasket saw them not start. He ventured to the Nurburgring 24 Hour in a Peugeot in 1996, but did not finish. From there he moved to the Australian Mitsubishi Mirage series and competed in the Bathurst 2-hour race finishing 3rd in Class B. 2004–05 he raced a

Citroën Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired ...

Xsara in the NSW Combined Touring Car Championship, winning the state championship in his class. He raced a BMW in the 2006, and a

Holden Vectra Vectra may refer to the following: *Opel Vectra car (Chevrolet Vectra, Holden Vectra, Vauxhall Vectra) *Opel Vectra GTS V8 DTM car *HP Vectra computer series by Hewlett-Packard *Vectra AI, a private company specializing in artificial intelligence *V ...

in the 2007

Australian Production Car Championship The Australian Production Car Championship is an Australian motor racing title for production cars, sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS). The championship was first contested in 1987 and from 2008 to 2015 the title was ...

. 2009 saw him join the Bargwanna Motorsport team in the

Australian Mini Challenge The Australian Mini Challenge was a touring car racing category in Australia. First held in 2008, the Mini Challenge supported both the V8 Supercar Championship Series and the V8 Supercar Development Series.2008 V8 Supercars Eastern Creek round o ...

. 2011 he raced in the final round of the

Australian Suzuki Swift Series The Australian Suzuki Swift Series is a touring car racing category in Australia. First held in 1995, the series only went for the one season when Suzuki importers ATECO pulled its support. The 2011 and 2012 series is part of the Shannons Nationa ...

after practicing at the Eastern Creek and Sandown rounds without racing. He also participated in the Eastern Creek 6-hour, crashing out with two hours to go whilst leading Class E with co-driver Brooke Leech. He rejoined the series in 2012 for the fourth round at

Sydney Motorsport Park Sydney Motorsport Park (known until May 2012 as Eastern Creek International Raceway) is a motorsport circuit located on Brabham Drive, Eastern Creek (40-kilometres west of the Sydney CBD), New South Wales, Australia, adjacent to the Wester ...

finishing sixth for the weekend. In 2013 he raced in the GT Challenge class of the

Australian GT Championship The Australian GT Championship is a CAMS-sanctioned national title for drivers of GT cars, held annually from 1960 to 1963, from 1982 to 1985 and from 2005. Each championship up to and including the 1963 title was contested over a single race a ...

driving a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup. He finished 2nd in the championship.

Stock car racing

He joined the AUSCAR ranks in season 1991/92 after being a finalist in the Fastrack Driver Program. In the summer of 2006, he returned the ranks of Street Stockers, running at Parramatta City Speedway over the 2006–2007 season. The summer of 2010 he ventured in a part season i
Wingless Sprints
mainly in New South Wales. In 2011-2013 he tried to break into American speedway by running in selected factory stock events with limited success.

Career results

Karting career summary

Circuit results

† Team Result

Speedway results

Australian GT results

Rugby

Cook played both

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

in his early years as a utility back. Starting in league he represented Group 3 and Central Coast Juniors before going to

Barker College , motto_translation = Seek Honour above Rewards , location = Hornsby, Sydney , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Australia Sydney , pushpin_image ...

and playing seven years of union there where he also became a certified referee. After leaving Barker, he played for Singleton Pirates, representing NSW Country Under 21s in 2 games off the bench in 1989 thanks to his family ties with

Phil Hawthorne Phillip Francis Hawthorne (24 October 1943 – 18 September 1994) was an Australian rugby league and rugby union footballer – a dual-code international. He represented the Wallabies in twenty-one Tests and the Kangaroos in three Tests. He ca ...

, before leaving for Europe. In 1990 after returning from Europe, he played for Sydney University Colts and at the end of 1990 Oak Bay Castaways-Wanderers in Canada. At the end of the 1992 season he switched to rugby league playing in the 1992 Pacific Cup for Norfolk Island. In 2005 he played a season in Manawatu, New Zealand.http://www.itsrugby.co.uk/player-4406.html Its Rugby player stats. Retrieved 20 December 2013 He retired from rugby after a knee injury.

Personal life

Cook's parents were hotel owners, and he and his four sisters had a nomadic lifestyle. Thus he went to boarding school at

Barker College , motto_translation = Seek Honour above Rewards , location = Hornsby, Sydney , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Australia Sydney , pushpin_image ...

and then

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

. He is married (2001), has one son (2004) and a daughter (2007) and now lives in the

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

suburb of The Gap. His father is John Cook. He is also a member of the

Wiradjuri The Wiradjuri people (; ) are a group of Aboriginal Australian people from central New South Wales, united by common descent through kinship and shared traditions. They survived as skilled hunter-fisher-gatherers, in family groups or clans, a ...

people.

References

External links

Driver Data Base profile

YouTube interview

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Brendon 1970 births Living people Racing drivers from New South Wales Sportspeople from Newcastle, New South Wales People from the Hunter Region Australian people of Scottish descent Australian people of German descent University of Sydney alumni People educated at Barker College Formula Ford drivers Swiss Formula Three Championship drivers EFDA Nations Cup drivers Australian Formula 2 drivers Asian Formula Renault Challenge drivers Indigenous Australian sportspeople Australian expatriate rugby union players Australian rugby league players