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 ’69 model BT28 Ford F3 car in January 1969. Note that Tim’s BT21X was the prototype BT28 and was ultimately tagged BT28/1. Is this BT28/1? I dunno!
And yes, the cars raced with or without wings depending upon driver preference.
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.
Credits…
Tim Schenken Archive, David Luff, Allen Brown’s oldracingcars.com, F2 Register Fastlane
Finito…
