Bernie began his business trading motorcycle spare parts before partnering with Fred Compton to form the Compton & Eccleston motorcycle dealership shortly after WWII ended. He raced in the 500cc Formula 3 Series in 1949 at this time. He also raced in a limited number of races, including at his home track, Brand Hatch, where he had a number of excellent finishes and a few wins.
Following many incidents at Brands Hatch, he first resigned from racing and focused on his company. He then went on to make successful real estate and credit financing investments, as well as operate the Weekend Car Auctions company.
In 1957, he returned to racing as the manager of driver Stuart Lewis Evans, purchasing two chassis from the defunct Connaught Formula One team, which had drivers such as Stuart Lewis-Evans, Roy Salvadori, Archie Scott Brown, and Ivor Bueb over the years.
The next year, he joined the Vanwell squad and took over as Lewis-Evans’ manager. Lewis died six days later from the effects of the wounds he received when his engine burst at the 1958 Moroccan Grand Prix. He had to retire from racing again again.
His association with Salvadori in the 1970s led to him becoming Jochen Rindt’s manager and a partial owner of Rindt’s Lotus Formula 2 squad in 1970. Rindt died in a car accident on the Monza circuit during the 1970 World Championship, but was given the title posthumously.
He bought the Brabham team from Ron Taueanac in 1971, after Ecclestone offered him a £100,000 offer, which he eventually accepted. He built the squad to meet his idea of a Formula One team during the 1972 season, and he promoted Gordon Murry to chief designer during the 1973 season.
When Alfa Romeo began testing their own Formula One car throughout the season, the Brabham-Alfa era came to an end with the up-and-coming young Brazilian Nelson Piquet. Nelson and Bernie had a long and close friendship, and the team also won the season in 1981 and 1983.
The squad competed until 1985, when Nelson was forced to leave after seven years. After the 1987 season, he sold Brabham to Joachim Luhti, a Swiss businessman, for $5 million.
Along with Frank Williams, Colin Chapman, Teddy Mayer, Ken Tyrrell, and Max Mosley, he founded the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA) in 1974. With Mosley, he became the chief executive of FOCA in 1978.
After working for the Formula One Group for numerous years, he was fired as CEO on January 23, 2017, following a takeover by Liberty Media in 2016.
In addition, on September 3, 2007, he and Flavio Briatore purchased Queen Park Rangers (QPR) Football Club. In December 2010, he bought the bulk of the shares from Flavio Briatore, becoming the company’s largest shareholder with 62 percent of the stock. He and Briatore sold their full interest in the club to Tony Fernandes, the owner of the Caterham Formula One team, the following year.
