(G Gauld)
‘Its like a rocket Jack’. ‘It should be, you put it together champ’, the boss responded.
Frank Gardner and Brabham BT2 Ford on the BARC 200 Formula Junior pole at Aintree on April 28, 1962. John Bolster is hovering behind contemplating putting the bite on Jack for a track-test.
The lanky, laconic Aussie didn’t do quite so well with (perhaps) ‘FJ-2-62’ in the race. He ran out of road at Tatts Corner after 7 of the 17 laps ending up amongst the hay-bales close enough to the Pits for Jack to wander over just as he was recovering the car.
(B St Clare-Tregilgas)
Jack didn’t have a great day either. He raced Lotus 21 and 24 whilst Ron Tauranac toiled away on the first F1 Brabham, the BT3 Climax FWMV V8. The gears on his Lotus 21 Climax FPF stripped, the race was won by Jim Clark’s Lotus 24 Climax from Bruce McLaren’s Cooer T55 Climax.
The FJ race was won by Peter Arundell’s Lotus 22 Ford in a classy field which included Tony Maggs, John Love, Mike Spence, Richard Attwood, Denny Hulme and Alan Rees.
Etcetera…
(J Hendy)
It’s amazing to think of FG as a budding ‘young driver’ contesting Formula Junior races at Monaco in 1962. He was 31 when he lined up that May, a veritable geriatric by today’s standards when F3 pilots are barely shaving. He was racing a D Type before he left Australia. None of that counted for much when he landed in the UK of course. Sometimes you have to go down to go up, so to speak.
Frank was fourth in the first heat won by Peter Arundell’s works Lotus 22 Ford and failed to finish the final with clutch failure. Up front it was Lotus 22 Fords in first to third – Arundell from Mike Spence and Bob Anderson. All progressed to GP racing, as did Frank of course.
Aintree program in relation to Brabham (and Ausper) FJs (S Dalton)
Another shot of FG below, this time in BT2’s close relation BT6. Not at Aintree, but another horse-racing track, ‘God’s Acre of Motor Racing’, Warwick Farm in Australia.
Gardner had the system beaten. He did his thing in Europe each year and then had summer in the sun back home in Australia where he raced for Alec Mildren.
In 1964 he raced this chassis, ‘FJ-9-63’, Denny’s 1963 works FJ mount, by then fitted with a Lotus-Ford 1.5 twin-cam in the Australian Tasman Cup rounds.
(E Holly Collection)
His best result in the four races was fourth in the Lakeside 99, meritorious amongst the 2.5 FPF Climax powered opposition. Twelve months later he raced Alec’s BT11A FPF in an assault on all of the eight rounds. Frank used BT11As in 1965 and 1966, the shot below is again at Warwick Farm where Gardner was third behind Jim Clark’s Lotus 39 Climax and Graham Hill’s BRM P261.
(unattributed)
Photo Credits…
Graham Gauld, Brian St Clare-Tregilgas, John Hendy, Ed Holly Collection, Stephen Dalton Collection
Tailpiece…
Tattersalls Corner, where FG came to grief, is at bottom right.
Finito…
primotipo... 