Tim Schenken on the way to winning the Australian Hillclimb Championship at Lakeland, Lilydale in Melbourne’s outer-east on March 28, 1965…
Memory tells me the White was a JAP powered home-built device constructed by a neighbour of Tim’s in Melbourne’s North Balwyn.
Three years later he was driving works-Brabhams before his ascent to F1 with Frank Williams/De Tomaso Ford in 1970.
This post is all about the photo above. It’s the names of the MRD mechanics I’m after for my Brabham book project. Who are they guys? I need it for the photo caption.
Schenken blitzed the UK junior formulae in 1968, winning both the British Formula Ford and MCD/Lombank British F3 Championships aboard Merlyn Mk11 and Chevron B9 Ford/Brabham BT21X Ford respectively. He didn’t even join the F3 title chase until round 9 in June!
Given Tim didn’t race his new Brabham BT21X Ford until the final ’68 MCD/Lombank round on December 27 at Brands Hatch (Tony Lanfranchi, Merlyn MK14A won from Tim) I’m thinking this Goodwood testing shot above was, perhaps, just before Brands.
Don’t let the wings fool you, Ron was playing with them in various forms to determine if they had an advantage in 100bhp-screamer-F3, or not. Interesting for some, perhaps, is that the wing set up on BT21X looks a lot like that shipped to Australia attached to BT31 Repco 830 2.5 V8, Jack’s ’69 Tasman weapon of war.
While we are on the topic, this is MRD mechanic, David Luff’s shot of the 1970 model BT28 Ford F3 car.
Phil Demeyer wrote that ‘the first appearance of a BT28 in this configuration with front and rear wings together was on Tim Schenken’s BT28-23 at Brands Hatch on October 19, 1969 at Brands Hatch (below).’
My research/reading suggested Tim’s BT21X was the prototype BT28 and was ultimately tagged BT28/1. Since writing that, Phil Demeyer has challenged me that statement.’
By then (October 19, 1969) the rear wing is mounted on the chassis on two vertical mounts that were incorporated into the chassis. They can clearly be seen at the base of the wing. The cars produced for 1970 had them. These mounts were not present on the earlier cars and definitely not on BT28-1 and in the early experiments with wings, the rear wing was mounted on the rear uprights, not on the chassis. The shape of the nosecone for 1970 was also modified with small extensions to accommodate the winglets.’
‘On the first cars produced in 1969, the chassis at the front incorporated two round holes for installing a high front wing. This feature was dropped at some point in time in the production run, but I am not sure of the actual number of cars produced with these holes.’
‘Now, there is still a question mark about BT 21X becoming BT 28-1 and being the same car. There are some differences, the most noticeable being the roll hoop. BT21X also has a BT23 type dashboard.
‘Here’s what Tim Schenken was writing to me in November 2009 on the subject: “I don’t think any components used in the BT21X were incorporated in the BT28. I think they were different cars with the “21” being used to check some development ideas proposed for the “28”. If you like, I can put you in touch with Ron Tauranac who, as you will know, was Jack Brabham’s partner in Motor Racing Developments. He may remember.”
‘BT21X appeared in 1968, but BT28-1’s frame has got a correct AM69 number. I would find it strange to have BT21X in 1968 using a 1969 chassis.’
‘To add to the confusion, there was a BT21X-1 hillclimb special offered for sale a long time ago on race-cars.com. The car was also in France at some point. The chassis of this car was however very different and looked like a BT21 chassis with narrow top front wishbones and a lot of other differences. The Chassis plate looked correctly stamped though.’
Etcetera…
Another shot of the 1970 model BT28 ‘launch car’, chassis number folks?
As Phil Demeyer wrote, ‘something a little bit special, BT28-1 being driven in Monaco traffic by John Schofield behind the team’s (Sports Motors Manchester) Ford Zephyr during the 1969 Grand Prix weekend.’
Credits…
Tim Schenken Archive, David Luff, Allen Brown’s oldracingcars.com, F2 Register Fastlane, Philippe Demeyer
Tailpiece…
Tim’s all togged up nicely with a collar and tie to meet his new employer during the February 16, 1969 Sandown Tasman Cup round. See here:https://primotipo.com/2026/08/23/brabham-bt31-repco-take-3-by-mark-bisset/ Sandown’s old pits were heaven on a stick for teenage enthusiasts with a capacity to jump fences! My pocket money didn’t extend to such luxuries as pit passes.
Finito…
