Australian Grand Prix around the streets surrounding the Albert Park Lake in inner Melbourne. That circuit, which for four brief years gave Australia the strongest taste of the grandeur surrounding European Grand Prix racing, was 40 years later very much modified, used to host the 1996 Australian Grand Prix as the modern Formula One world championship venue. Jack Brabham took his first of three AGP wins in 1955 at the short Port Wakefield Circuit in South Australia. The race is significant in that Brabham was driving a Bristol powered Cooper T40, the first ever rear-engine car to win the Grand Prix. The Grand
Brabham BT19 in a 3-litre works Ferrari. The 1966 world championship season opened with the Monaco Grand Prix. Brabham was affected by a cold, and qualified poorly before retiring when the BT19's gearbox failed. Surtees led the race in his Ferrari before his differential failed on lap 15; the race was won by Jackie Stewart in a 2-litre BRM P261. At the following Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa circuit, Brabham survived an enormous 135 miles per hour (215 km/h) slide in the rain on the first lap. The shower eliminated half the field, including Stewart, who would miss the next race