Brabham BT19

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Brabham BT19
differential
Weight518 kg (1,142 lb)
FuelEsso
TyresGoodyear
Competition history
Notable entrantsBrabham Racing Organisation
Notable driversAustralia Jack Brabham
New Zealand Denny Hulme
Debut1966 South African Grand Prix (non-championship)
1966 Monaco Grand Prix (World Drivers' Championship)
RacesWinsPolesF/Laps
19
10 F1 WC
6 F1 other
2 Tasman
1 Libre
6
4 F1 WC
2 F1 other
6
3 F1 WC
3 F1 other
4
1 F1 WC
3 F1 other
Constructors' Championships2 (1966, 1967)[a]
Drivers' Championships1 (1966)

The Brabham BT19 /ˈbræbəm/ is a Formula One racing car designed by Ron Tauranac for the British Brabham team. The BT19 competed in the 1966 and 1967 Formula One World Championships and was used by Australian driver Jack Brabham to win his third World Championship in 1966. The BT19, which Brabham referred to as his "Old Nail", was the first car bearing its driver's name to win a World Championship race.

The car was initially conceived in 1965 for a 1.5-litre (92-cubic inch) Coventry Climax engine, but never raced in this form. For the 1966 Formula One season the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) doubled the limit on engine capacity to 3 litres (183 cu in). Australian company Repco developed a new V8 engine for Brabham's use in 1966, but a disagreement between Brabham and Tauranac over the latter's role in the racing team left no time to develop a new car to handle it. Instead, the existing BT19 chassis was modified for the job.

Only one BT19 was built. It was bought by Repco in 2004 and put on display in the

National Sports Museum
in Melbourne, Australia, in 2008. It is often demonstrated at motorsport events.

Concept

The BT19 was created by Australian designer Ron Tauranac for the Brabham Racing Organisation (BRO) to use in the 1965 season of the Formula One motor racing World Championship. The BT19, and its contemporary the Lotus 39, were built to use the new FWMW flat-16 engine from Coventry Climax. Only one example of the BT19 design was built, and it never raced in its original form. Climax abandoned the FWMW's development before the end of 1965, their existing FWMV V8 engines proving powerful enough to propel Jim Clark's Lotus 33 to seven wins and the drivers' championship.[1]

For 1966, the engine capacity limit in Formula One was doubled from 1.5 litres (92 cu in) to 3 litres (183 cu in).[2] It was not feasible to enlarge existing 1.5-litre engines to take full advantage of the higher limit and Climax chose not to develop a new 3-litre motor, leaving many teams without a viable engine for 1966.[1]

The new 3-litre engines under development by competing team Ferrari had 12 cylinders.[3] Jack Brabham, owner and lead driver of BRO, took a different approach to the problem of obtaining a suitable engine. He persuaded Australian company Repco to develop a new 3-litre eight-cylinder engine for him, largely based on available components;[4] the engine would produce less power than Ferrari's, but would be lighter, easier to fix and more fuel efficient.[3]

Brabham cars were designed and built by Motor Racing Developments Ltd. (MRD), which was jointly owned by Tauranac and Jack Brabham and built cars for customers in several racing series. The Formula One racing team, BRO, was a separate company wholly owned by Jack Brabham. It bought its cars from MRD but Tauranac had little connection with the race team between 1962 and 1965.[5]

At the end of the 1965 season Tauranac was losing interest in this arrangement, reasoning that "it was just a matter of a lot of effort for no real interest because I didn't get to go racing very much" and "I might as well get on with my main line business, which was selling production cars."[6] Although Brabham investigated using chassis from other manufacturers, the two men eventually agreed that Tauranac would have a greater interest in the Formula One team, which MRD eventually took over completely from BRO.[6] This agreement was not reached until November 1965. Repco delivered the first example of the new engine to the team's headquarters in the United Kingdom in late 1965,[7] just weeks before the first Formula One race to the new regulations, the non-championship South African Grand Prix on 1 January 1966. Rather than build a new car in the limited time available, BRO pressed chassis number F1-1-1965, the sole and unused BT19, into service.[8]

Chassis and suspension

A green cigar-shaped racing car with exposed wheels and an open cockpit. The number one is painted on the nose and sides.
The Brabham BT19 being demonstrated at the 2007 'Speed on Tweed' event at Murwillumbah

Tauranac built the BT19 around a

kg), around 150 lb (68.0 kg) over the minimum weight limit for the formula, although it was still one of the lightest cars in the 1966 field. The race starting weight of a 1966 Brabham-Repco with driver and fuel was estimated to be around 1,415 lb (642 kg), about 280 lb (127 kg) less than the more powerful rival Cooper T81-Maseratis.[11][b]

Close-up of the rear of a parked racing car; various components are labelled
Rear view of the BT19, showing:
A) Rear outboard coil spring
B) 4-into-1 exhaust from right-hand cylinder bank
C) Right-hand driveshaft
D) Gearbox
E) Reverse lower wishbone, forming part of left rear suspension
F) Upswept rear lip of engine cowl

The bodywork of the BT19 is

lift
acting at the front of the car.

Against the trend set by the

disc brakes are used on all four wheels and were of 10.5 in (270 mm) diameter for the smaller wheels and 11 in (280 mm) for the larger ones. The car ran on treaded Goodyear tyres throughout its racing career.[8]

The BT19 continued Tauranac's reputation for producing cars that handled well. Brabham has since commented that it "was beautifully balanced and I loved its readiness to drift through fast curves."[15] Brabham referred to the car as his Old Nail; Ron Tauranac has explained this as being "because it was two years old, great to drive and had no vices."[9]

Engine and transmission

Close-up of rear of a green racing car, showing the engine, exhausts, rear suspension and rear wheels
Close-up of rear suspension of BT19. The engine exhaust can be seen passing between the upper and lower radius rods. This pattern is that used on BT20, BT19's exhausts originally passed upwards between the upper radius rod and the chassis frame.

Repco racing engines were designed by the leading motorcycle engine designer,

water-cooled
, with oil and water radiators mounted in the nose.

The 620 engine was light for its time, weighing around 340 lb (154 kg), compared to 500 lb (227 kg) for the Maserati

£11 each and the connecting rods cost £7 each.[16]

The 740 series unit used in the three races for which the car was entered in 1967 has a different, lighter, Repco-designed engine block. It also has redesigned cylinder heads which, among other improvements, mean that its exhausts are mounted centrally and do not pass through the spaceframe or rear suspension, unlike those of the 620 series. It produced a maximum of 330 bhp (250 kW).[20]

The BT19 was initially fitted with a

Anglo American Racers team. It later became a popular choice for other constructors.[21]

Racing history

Face shot of a dark-haired, tanned man in his 40s
Jack Brabham was 40 when he won the 1966 F1 drivers' title driving the BT19.

Although regarded by its designer as a "lash-up", BT19 had a very successful Formula One racing career, almost entirely in the hands of Jack Brabham.

Silverstone circuit, Brabham set pole position, a new lap record, and led the whole race to win ahead of 1964 champion John Surtees in a 3-litre works Ferrari.[22]

The 1966 world championship season opened with the Monaco Grand Prix. Brabham was affected by a cold, and qualified poorly before retiring when the BT19's gearbox failed.[23] Surtees led the race in his Ferrari before his differential failed on lap 15; the race was won by Jackie Stewart in a 2-litre BRM P261. At the following Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa circuit, Brabham survived an enormous 135 miles per hour (217 kilometres per hour) slide in the rain on the first lap. The shower eliminated half the field, including Stewart, who would miss the next race with his injuries.[24] The BT19, using Goodyear tyres that were not suited to the conditions,[25] came home fourth of five classified finishers. Surtees won the race for Ferrari, the last before he quit the Italian team.

At the

slipstream of Bandini's more powerful Ferrari to tow him to up to 8 mph (13 km/h) faster down the straights than the BT19 could manage on its own. This allowed Brabham to consolidate his lead over Ferrari's second driver, Formula One novice Mike Parkes. After 12 laps Bandini pulled away from Brabham, eventually by over 30 seconds, but when the Italian car was delayed by a broken throttle cable on lap 32, Brabham cruised to the finish to win from Parkes and become the first man to win a Formula One World Championship race in one of his own cars.[26]

Although the first Brabham BT20, the definitive 1966 car, had been available at Reims, Brabham continued with the BT19 and used it to win the next three championship races. Ferrari, competitive in all three championship races to that point, were not present for the British Grand Prix. The race was held on the tight and twisting Brands Hatch circuit, the track made slippery by oil leaking from other cars and by drizzle. Brabham set pole and led the entire race.[27] At the next championship round, the Dutch Grand Prix, Brabham reported the low speed Zandvoort circuit to be "even more oily and treacherous than Brands."[28] Brabham won the race after Jim Clark's less powerful 2 litre Lotus 33-Climax, which had passed Brabham for the lead mid-race, was delayed by overheating problems.[29] The German Grand Prix was held at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, which Brabham described as "Brands Hatch on steroids". On the opening lap Brabham took the lead from Surtees, now driving a Cooper-Maserati. Brabham won after a race-long fight with the Englishman in the rain.[30] With four wins and more finishes than any of his championship rivals, Brabham had a 22-point lead in the drivers championship and could only be caught in the championship by Surtees or Stewart if one of them won all three of the remaining races.[c]

Jack Brabham used BT19 again at the

Monza, another high speed circuit. A second BT20 was completed at the Italian track and Brabham tried it in practice for the race, but decided to race his Old Nail, which he felt was fitted with a stronger engine. As at Reims, Brabham successfully slipstreamed the race leaders early on, but an oil leakage stopped the car after 8 laps. Neither Surtees nor Stewart finished the race and Brabham clinched his third world championship.[31]

Brabham used the BT19 once more that season to take pole position and victory at the non-championship

Oulton Park Gold Cup, before using a new BT20 for the final two races of the championship season. The BT19 was used again at three of the first four championship races in the 1967 Formula One season, debuting the new Repco 740 engine at the Monaco Grand Prix, where it took pole position, and finishing second at the Dutch Grand Prix.[32]

Commenting on the reasons for the unexpected competitiveness of the 1966 Brabham-Repcos in Formula One, motorsport historian Doug Nye has suggested that they "could score on weight over the more powerful Ferrari, BRM, Cooper-Maserati, Eagle-Weslake and Honda in their undeveloped forms, and on sheer 'grunt' over such interim stop-gap cars as the nimble 2-litre Climax and BRM V8-engined Lotus 33s and BRMs."[33]

BT19 also competed in the final two races of the 1965/66 Tasman Series in Australia, which was run to the pre-1961 Formula One regulations, including an engine capacity limit of 2.5 litres. Tasman racing was the original purpose of the Repco engine and Brabham's involvement was supposed to promote the 2.5-litre version. Frank Hallam, head of the Repco-Brabham organisation responsible for building the Repco engines, has said that the smaller version "never put out the power per litre that the 3 litre engine produced",[34] which itself was not a powerful unit. Fitted with the 2.5-litre engine BT19 recorded one retirement and a third place in the series.

Demonstrations

Two elderly men shake hands on a race starting grid. One is sitting in a green racing car, the other in a wheelchair.
Former rivals Jack Brabham and Stirling Moss at the 2004 Goodwood Revival meeting. Brabham is seated in the BT19.

The BT19 was not raced in serious competition after 1967. Brabham retired and moved back to Australia at the end of 1970. He retained ownership of the car until 1976, when it passed into the hands of Repco and was

Melbourne (1996) street circuits. It also appeared at the 2004 Goodwood Revival meeting in the United Kingdom. ACL sold the car back to Repco in 2004.[35] In 2008 the car was installed in the Australian National Sports Museum at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, on loan from Repco.[36]

In 2002, at the inaugural Speed on Tweed historic meeting at Murwillumbah, Brabham, then 76, commented: "It's been a wonderful car over the years and it's been very well looked after and it's a pleasure to come and drive it. Coming to Murwillumbah was a really good excuse to get back in the car and drive it again and I'm afraid that's something I'll never ever get tired of."[37]

Complete results

Formula One World Championship

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)

Year Team Engine Tyres Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Points WCC
1966 Brabham Racing Organisation Repco V8 G MON BEL FRA GBR NED GER ITA USA MEX 39 1st
Jack Brabham Ret 4 1 1 1 1 Ret
1967 Brabham Racing Organisation Repco V8 G RSA MON NED BEL FRA GBR GER CAN ITA USA MEX 6 1st
Jack Brabham Ret 2
Denny Hulme Ret
Source:[38]

Non-championship results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Event Venue Driver Result Category Report
1966 South African Grand Prix East London Jack Brabham Ret Formula One Report
1966 Exide International Cup Sandown Jack Brabham Ret Tasman Series
1966 South Pacific Trophy Longford Jack Brabham 3 Tasman Series
1966 Syracuse Grand Prix Syracuse Circuit Jack Brabham Ret Formula One Report
1966 BRDC International Trophy Silverstone Jack Brabham 1 Formula One
Report
1966 10 Lap Racing Car Event
Surfers Paradise
Jack Brabham DNF Formula Libre
1966
Oulton Park Gold Cup
Oulton Park Jack Brabham 1 Formula One Report
1967
Oulton Park Gold Cup
Oulton Park
Frank Gardner
Ret Formula One Report
1967 Spanish Grand Prix
Jarama
Jack Brabham 3 Formula One Report
Source:[38]

† This race was a support to the 1966 Surfers Paradise Trophy, 14 August 1966

Notes

  1. ^ a b Lawrence (1998) p.103
  2. ^ Nye (1986) p. 20
  3. ^ a b "Brabham-Repco". Grand Prix History. Motorsport Publishing Group. 31 August 2011. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  4. ^ Henry (1985) p. 53
  5. ^ Lawrence (1999) p. 31
  6. ^ a b Henry (1985) p. 55
  7. ^ Pinder (1995) p. 43
  8. ^ a b c d Nye (1986) p. 45
  9. ^ a b c Pinder (1995) p. 104
  10. ^ a b Lawrence (1999) pp. 44–45
  11. ^ a b Unique p.45 Jack Brabham – World Champion Units of weight and volume are British Imperial measures, as used in the original references. Engine capacity appears to be an exception, but there is no British Imperial unit in use as an equivalent to litres for engine capacity. Contemporary publications used litres for engine capacity alongside gallons and pints for other fluid measurements. The article reflects this contemporary usage.
  12. ^ Lawrence (1999) p. 43
  13. ^ a b Brabham, Nye (2004) p. 191
  14. ^ Lawrence (1998) p.190
  15. ^ Brabham, Nye (2004) p. 199
  16. ^ a b Nye (1986) pp. 37–41
  17. ^ Henry (1985) p. 66
  18. ^ Nye (1986) pp. 151 & 155, Frankel (December 2006) p. 52. Power ratings were frequently overstated by teams and must be treated with caution. Nye reports that Ferrari claimed 380 bhp (280 kW) for their V12, but believes 360 bhp (270 kW) to be more likely. Maserati claimed 370 bhp (280 kW) for their V12. Nye gives 360 bhp for the Maserati, but Roy Salvadori, then manager of the Cooper team, is quoted in Frankel's article as saying "330 bhp [250 kW] was about the most they ever gave"
  19. pounds per square inch Brake Mean effective pressure
    ; this has been converted to the more familiar lb ft using a conversion where Torque (lb ft) = (bmep (psi) x displacement (cu in))/150.8.
  20. ^ Henry (1986) pp.67–68 and Nye (1986) p. 41.
  21. ^ Lawrence (1999) p. 77
  22. ^ Henry (1986) pp. 55–56 & 58
  23. ^ Henry (1986) p. 58
  24. ^ "Grand Prix Results: Belgian GP, 1966". GrandPrix.com. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  25. ^ Henry (1986) p. 58 & Unique p. 118. Sources differ on exactly what the problem was. Henry states that it was "the reluctance of his Goodyear wet weather tyres to work up to temperature on the drying track surface", while the contemporary report quoted in Unique says that Brabham was racing experimentally on "tires using an uncompromising dry-weather compound".
  26. ^ Unique pp. 104–105
  27. ^ Brabham, Nye (2005) pp. 197–199
  28. ^ Brabham, Nye (2005) p. 200
  29. ^ Henry (1986) p. 62
  30. ^ Brabham, Nye (2005) pp. 201–202
  31. ^ Brabham, Nye (2005) pp. 203–204
  32. ^ Henry (1986) p. 67
  33. ^ Nye (1986) p. 43
  34. ^ Pinder (1995) p. 38
  35. ^ "Australia's most famous car changes hands". APA Journal. Archived from the original on 19 August 2006. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  36. ^ "Brabham Repco BT19". National Sports Museum. Archived from the original on 21 July 2008. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
  37. ^ "Sir Jack Brabham". George Negus Tonight (transcript). Australian Broadcasting Corporation. March 2003. Archived from the original on 7 March 2007. Retrieved 31 August 2007.
  38. ^ a b "All championship race entries, in a Brabham BT19". ChicaneF1. Retrieved 24 November 2020.

Footnotes

  1. ^ BT19 scored 6 points towards MRD's constructors' championship winning total in 1967.
  2. ^ From the early to late 1960s Brabham cars were marketed as 'Repco Brabhams', because of Repco's supply of components and premises to Brabham. The Brabham logo used in this period includes both company names. This arrangement preceded the 1966 engine deal, and applied to cars in all formulae and using engines from various suppliers. However, the make of a racing car is more normally given in the form 'Chassis manufacturer'-'Engine manufacturer'. The BT19 was therefore variously referred to as a 'Repco Brabham' and as a Brabham-Repco in contemporary publications. The latter form has been used in the article for consistency.
  3. ^ There were 27 points available for winning the three final races. Graham Hill and Jochen Rindt were also within 27 points of Brabham's score, but in 1966 only the driver's best five results counted and both Hill and Rindt would have had to drop points from their earlier races.

References

Books

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External links