I’m a big fan of Ron Tauranac’s Brabham BT34 Ford ‘Lobster Claw’. The one and only BT34/1 raced throughout 1971 by Graham Hill isn’t at her Elle MacPherson best sans clothes, wings front and rear specifically. Italian Grand Prix practice, Monza, September 5 weekend in 1971.
I’ve almost finished a feature on BT34, but this shot got me thinking about which car(s) were the last to test or race at Monza without wings. It was the practice in the early-winged-era – 1968-71 at least – for much of the grid to test with and without wings to assess drag/grip/top speed tradeoffs in the quest for the optimum race setup. Does anybody know who was the last to do so, small things amuse small minds I know. More on the BT34/BT37 here: https://primotipo.com/2016/11/15/carlos-bt37-butt/
Graham raced winged, Q14 and DNF gearbox in one of the best ever F1 races won magnificently by Peter Gethin’s BRM P160 by a bees-dick from Ronnie Peterson’s March 711 Ford. Their official times were 1hr 18m 12.600sec and 1:18:12.610 respectively.
Graham early in the race – his BT34 aero-kit now fitted – with John Surtees, Surtees TS9B Ford (DNF engine) and Nanni Galli’s #22 March 711 Ford (DNF electrics).
BT34’s best results were in non-championship F1 races: Hill won the May 1971 BRDC International Trophy at Silverstone and Carlos Reutemann the March 1972 Brazilian GP.
By 1971 Graham was arguably past his F1-best. While Hill got the better of his team-mate, Tim Schenken – 1970 BT33 mounted – in the first half of ’71, the reverse was the case in the ‘back-nine’. It would have been interesting to see what Tim could have done with the car. Reutemann certainly showed its pace, not only did he win in Brazil but sensationally put the BT34 on pole on his championship GP debut in Argentina in late January.
Not that Graham was a spent force. He won the Thruxton Euro F2 round in a Rondel Racing Brabham BT36 Ford FVA from Ronnie Peterson’s March 712 in March 1971, and another, the GP della Lotteria di Monza on June 29, 1972 aboard a Brabham BT38 Ford BDA. Not to forget Le Mans that year of course, where Graham shared the winning Matra MS670 with Henri Pescarolo over the June 10-11 weekend. See here: https://primotipo.com/2023/09/19/matra-random/
Credits…
MotorSport Images, LAT, F2 Register
Tailpiece…
Hill (above) on the way to winning the 1972 Monza Lottery GP F2 race, still in search of the optimum low drag Monza setup on his Brabham BT38 Ford BDA: no front wings and a very shallow angle of incidence at the rear.
May as well finish with another question, this time for the Graham Hill experts. Was that Monza Lottery win – not a Euro F2 Championship round that year – on June 29, 1972 Graham’s final race win?
More BT34 soon. Oh yes, the Fugly Car Cup will be an occasional article.
Finito…
primotipo... 