Jack Brabham, Brabham BT17 Repco, leads John Coundley’s McLaren-Elva Mk 1 Olds and winner Denny Hulme’s Lola T70 Mk2 Chev during the 1966 Tourist Trophy weekend at Oulton Park on April 29, 1966.
It was the race debut of the big-banger 4.3-litre Repco-Brabham 620 V8-powered BT17, a car that only did two races in period before a later lash as a hillclimber: the TT and the Guards Trophy at Brands Hatch on August 29. At Oulton it retired with oil leaks after only two laps, and at Brands engine problems prevented it from starting the race. There is a little more about BT17 in here:https://primotipo.com/2019/02/22/rbe-by-the-numbers/
Given its sedentary life of two meetings, in only one of which it started, and then in the corner of MRD, finding photographs for an upcoming Brabham book is problematic. I was having a whinge to ‘me mate, fellow enthusiast/historian Stephen Dalton, who mentioned the image on eBay below.
Even after a tickle with WordPress, it won’t make the cut, but his idea got me looking at the eBay archive/website; problem solved! The one above will do nicely.
Then yer go looking of course, this article is the first in what will become a regular series. Some of the images are good to go, others need sharpening to use. The captions make clear when I’ve given them a tickle. Sadly, more often than not, the vendors selling the shots don’t disclose the photographer. I’ve disclosed them when I can; otherwise, I’ve listed eBay as the source.
(eBay)
Hmm, WTF I thought? Clearly a 1971 spec 917K, close look, Derek Bell behind the wheel, not the usual Gulf signage package. Miroir Sprint image, so quite possibly a shot in France.
And so it turns out. Derek drove the #18 Gulf 917K #016 at the Le Mans Test Day on April 18, 1971, together with teammates Jo Siffert and Jackie Oliver. David Fox believes it’s the Ford Chicane.
Bell and Siffert shared #045 in the race, with Bell doing 246mph on the Mulsanne before transission/camshaft issues intervened. More about Wyer and the 917 here:https://primotipo.com/2017/11/21/grady-davis-john-wyer-porsche-917-london-30-september-1969/
I love Jean-Pierre Froidevaux’ shot of the 2-litre Honda V6 nestled in the back of one of the two works Honda RH6/81s that contested the Hockenheim European F2 Championship round on April 5, 1981.
Mike Thackwell was third, and Geoff Lees fifth in the Deutschland Trophy, a race won by Stefan Johannsson’s Lola T850 Hart 420R. Lees won the championship. More about the Ralt RH6 Hondas here:https://primotipo.com/2023/12/09/ralt-rh6-81-honda-v6/
Somehow, this poor-quality image of Jim Clark blasting through the Hockenheimer Hardt forest at Hockenheim on that day in 1968 is all the more poignant for it. Works Lotus 48 Ford FVA during the Deutschland Trophy, Euro F2 round on April 7.
Article on the Lotus 48 here:https://primotipo.com/2015/06/05/lotus-48-ford-fva-agp-warwick-farm-1967-graham-hill-and-jim-clark/
Most Australians of a certain age think of the 1978 Sandown Fangio Meeting when you mention Jack Brabham and the Mercedes-Benz W196 in the same breath. Our Jack ‘diced’ in BT19 Repco with JMF in a W196S 3-litre-engined W196R on a day those who were there will never forget. More about that meeting here:https://primotipo.com/2018/08/21/juan-manuel-fangios-sandown-park/
So, what’s the story here? Does anyone know where and when this drive/demo took place? Perhaps the Mercedes test track at Unterkheim, David Fox suggests.
Graeme Lawrence’s Ferrari Dino 246T leads the mob into Shell Corner – the first corner on the first lap – of the February 22, 1970 Sandown Park Cup, the deciding final round of the seven that comprised the 1970 Tasman Cup.
It was a season of change; F5000 was the future, but the traditional 2.5-litre cars were eligible, and indeed, Graeme won the series with a summer of consistent, reliable pace in the same chassis #246T/69-0008 that carried Chris Amon to victory a year before. The McLaren M10s of Graham McRae, Frank Matich and Niel Allen were faster but were brittle, so Lawrence’s single win triumphed over the GM and FM’s two, and Niel Allen’s one.
The order is Lawrence, I think the front row, poleman Matich and Allen M10A and M10B Chev, respectively, have gone; #3 is John Harvey, Brabham BT23E Repco 830 2.5, #5 is Kevin Bartlett’s Mildren Yellow Sub Waggott TC-4V 2-litre. Tucked up GL’s clacker is Mike Goth’s Surtees TS5 Chev and behind him is his countryman, Ron Grable, in the stars n’ stripes rear-winged M10A Chev.
Niel Allen won a 100-mile race of attrition – six of the eight F5000s that started retired – from Lawrence with third-place man, party-boy, Ulf Norinder, Lola T190 Chev, third but two laps adrift of the front pair. Lawrence won the Tasman in his 2.4; FM was second in his F5000 with the 2-litre Mildren twins – Bartlett and Max Stewart equal third, not a bad distribution of the spoils in a Tasman where the F1 drivers were sorely missed…
I’ve done more articles on Dinos than just about anything else, try this one:https://primotipo.com/2018/05/01/wings-n-dino-things/
Oscar ‘Cacho’ Fangio aboard his Brabham BT15 Ford during the June 26, 1966, Monza Lottery F3 meeting.
Fangio raced his Chas Lucas BT15 Ford to 13th, one place behind Frank Williams’ BT18 Ford. Up front, soon-to-be Ferrari driver Jonathan Williams won in a De Sanctis Ford. See more about Cacho and Tonino Ascari here:https://primotipo.com/2019/08/27/tonino-ascari/
Paul Hawkins/Gerard Koch on the fly through the German countryside during the 1967 Nurburgring 1000 km; second in a works Porsche 910 behind winners Udo Schutz and Joe Buzzetta in another factory 910. Magic shot, more on Hawkins here:https://primotipo.com/2022/01/09/alberto-ascari-and-paul-hawkins-monaco-harbour-submariners/
Another French mystery shot…If I knew that Simca had built a 2-litre F2 engine, I’d certainly forgotten! The vendor dated the fantastic shot to 1975, and I can see the Chevron insignia on the steering wheel, so that was enough hints to start with.
Quick search of Allen Brown’s oldracingcars.com race results suggests a Chevron B29, as to which chassis and race meeting, your guess is as good as mine…The shot of Xavier Lapeyre’s Chevron B29 #29-75-10 Chrysler-Simca-ROC at Hockenheim on the June 8 weekend (DNQ) below is there only to show you a B29 Simca; I’m not suggesting the engine shot is this chassis.
The 270-290bhp, DOHC, four-valve, Kugelfischer fuel-injected 1993c (92x75mm bore/stroke) engine was developed by Racing Organisation Course (ROC) from the production Simca-Chrysler 2-litre cast iron block used in the Chrysler/Simca range.
In 1975, the dominant BMWs: M12/6 and Schnitzer 20-4 were good for a reliable 290-300bhp. I’m not sure what a good BDA or BDG gave then, but they were towards the front with good steerers. Lapeyre’s eighth at Mugello and 11th at Hockenheim were the best results for the engine in 1975; Jean-Pierre Beltoise qualified his B29 ROC in the Top 10 thrice, but one of those was a non-championship round.
Note that the Chrysler-Simcas were effective in endurance racing, for example, winning the 2-litre class at Le Mans in the back of Chevron B36s in 1977, 1978 and 1980, a story for another time.
‘Racing Organization of Races – ROC’ is the way the French Government describes (annuaire-enterprises.data.gouv.fr) the ‘public limited company (SA) with a board of directors.’ That entity, founded on January 1, 1973, appears inactive from 1999.
Fred Stalder’s (not Stadler, according to Official 24 Hours Le Mans Archives and other sources) business was founded on January 1, 1973 and was based at ZI Les Buchillions 74100Annemasse (Haute Savoie). Doubtless, he used other entities for his subsequent varied career as a builder/preparer/entrant of touring and endurance cars; Google away yourselves, my French, other than when inebriated, isn’t too flash.
(DPPI)
Well rugged up John Cooper watches as Roy Salvadori settles himself into the cockpit of Derrick White’s new Cooper T81 Maserati V12 for its first, or thereabouts, test at Silverstone in March 1966. Date folks?
He’d driven a Cooper T51 Maserati or two, but this beast – Cooper’s first for the new 3-litre Formula – was an entirely different beast. The wily, quick, entrepreneurial Salvadori’s role in the Maserati-Cooper deal is well-told by Allen Brown here:https://www.oldracingcars.com/cooper/t81/
More about Roy, and the Cooper T80 at the end of this piece here:https://primotipo.com/2018/02/22/roy-salvadori/ See here for a piece on the 1966 F1 season and just what a strong contender the Cooper T80 Maserati was that season:https://primotipo.com/2014/11/13/winning-the-1966-world-f1-championships-rodways-repco-recollections-episode-3/
The business end of John Surtees’ Cooper T81 Maserati during the July 16, 1966 British Grand Prix weekend. Q6 and DNF: rear axle failure; Brabham won in BT19 Repco 620.
Tipo 9 Maserati 60-degree, DOHC, two-valve V12. 2989cc – 70.4/64mm bore/stroke – two 10mm plugs per cylinder, Lucas port fuel injection, Lucas transistor ignition, c-360bhp @ 9500rpm. ZF five-speed transaxle.
You can get the build-season sense of urgency in this Motor Racing Developments shot taken by Gunther Molter in 1964, 1965 or 1966. The question, for you Brabham historians, is whether the Cosworth SCA-powered 1-litre F2 cars in build are 1964 BT10s, 1965 BT16s…or 1966 BT18s.
The answer is important as I’d rather like to use the image in our upcoming Brabham book, and it would be nice to put it in the correct chapter!
Chris Amon contests the LA Times GP Can-Am round at Riverside on October 30, 1966, DNF dead battery from grid seven after 50 of the 62 laps, winner, John Surtees, Lola T70 Mk2 Chev; and subsequent Can-Am Cup victor.
Amon’s bests were third at St Jovite, second at Bridghampton. The other three DNFs were from the front couple of rows…the youngster was pretty handy in these big cars!
The victorious McLaren/Amon Ford GT Mk2 at Le Mans in 1966 below. More here:https://primotipo.com/2016/06/27/le-mans-1966-ford-mk2-andrettibianchi/ There is plenty of Surtees/Lola Can-Am content here:https://primotipo.com/2015/10/23/jackie-stewarts-1971-canam-lola-t260-chev/
François Cevert is doing his best to steer clear of the Heavy-Metal in his Matra MS650 3-litre V12 during the 1970 Daytona 24 Hour classic, a race he shared with Jack Brabham. More here:https://primotipo.com/2016/09/09/jack-and-francois-matra-ms660/
Francois and Jack were tenth in the race won by JW Engineering Porsche 917K driven by Pedro Rodriguez/Leo Kinnunen/Brian Redman. The best-placed 3-litre machine was the ex-works NART Ferrari 312P raced by Sam Posey/Mike Parkes, fourth. More here:https://primotipo.com/2024/07/31/jo-siffert-daytona-24-hours-1970/
Gordon Cooper and Jim Rathman with their Gerhardt 66 Ford during the Indy Month of May in 1967. Watch this space over the next couple of days…
1978 World Rally Champion, Bjorn Waldegard, was one of the most successful and revered Safari Rally competitors, having won the event five times: 1977 Ford Escort RS1800, 1984 Toyota Celica Twin-Cam Turbo on both occasions navigated by Hans Thorszelius, and in 1986, Toyota Celica Twin-Cam Turbo and in 1990 aboard a Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165, on the latter two occasions, navigated by Fred Gallagher. In the modern era, he won the East African Safari Rally Classis aboard a Porsche 911 together with his son Mathias in 2011.
However…in 1980 he was tenth in the Mercedes 450SLC above. Shekhar Mehta won in a Datsun 160J, Rauno Aaltonen was second in another 160J, and Vid Preston was third in the first home 450 SLC.
Sticking with the Formula 2 thread we seem to have going with this article, shown are shots of the victorious 1-litre Brabham BT18 Honda, which was as dominant in the ‘1966 European F2 Championship’ – there wasn’t one – as the Brabham BT19 Repco was lucky in the 1966 World F1 Championships. I have Ferrari and John Surtees shooting themselves in the feet in mind in saying that.
Between them, Hulme and Brabham won all but one race they contested. The story is told here:https://primotipo.com/tag/brabham-bt18-honda/ and here:https://primotipo.com/2021/12/17/brabham-honda/ David Fox ID’s the shot of Jack above as the Thillois Hairpin, Reims, July 2, 1966.
I love this Pau F3 GP shot taken during the April 17, 1966 weekend. Roby Weber’s Alpine A270 Renault is en route to third place in the 30-lap, 83km race won by Piers Courage, Lotus 41 Ford-Cosworth, from the similarly powered Brabham BT18 raced by Chris Williams.
Weber was second in both the French F3 Championship and the Challenger Craven A-France; Johnny Servoz-Gavin, Matra MS5 Ford-Cosworth, won the former and Courage the latter. There’s more about Alpine here:https://primotipo.com/2022/12/18/jean-pierre-jabouille/
Credits…
eBay, Miroir Sprint, Gunther Molter, Jean Pierre Froidevaux, F Prysen, Publifoto, Allen Brown and oldracingcars.com, David Fox
Tailpiece…
Finito…
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