15 replies to this topic

[Huw Jenjin]

Brabhams dont get much of a mention when it comes to great cars, but when you think about it Black Jack's last BT33 would damn near have won the 1970 World Championship, but for a few errors by the old feller.
What a smashing looking car too. Then there was the brabham Repco double World Champs, and the BT34 that sat on pole in Ruettemann's first race. Then some of Gordon Murrays cars were works of art.

[PDA]

There are some who say that running out of fuel at Brands was not JB's fault, but that of his mechanic, a certain Ron Dennis. But what you say is true, he very nearly (should have) won the championship that year.

[BRG]

Well, it can hardly have been Jack's fault - the car didn't have a fuel gauge after all! It had to be a team mistake, but Black Jack must have been gutted. I watched it with disbelief having only a month or so earleir seen him make a slight error at the Gasworks hairpin at Monaco and lose that race as well.

I liked the BT33 - it seemed to be (with the Maclaren M19) the final flowering of the 1960s style of F1 car and it worked well. After that, Brabham went a bit odd with the "lobster-claw" car, but the BT44 was a fine looking car. But I suppose the BT49 , when it ran without nose fins, was my real favourite Brabham - such a beautifully elegant design (despite being run by the evil poison dwarf Bernie!)

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BRG

"all the time, maximum attack"

[Dennis David]

From what I understood he was not originally even going to race that year but unable to secure the services of a frontline driver and wanting to try the BT33 he decided to compete one last year. He new he needed to score points early before the new Lotus was fully sorted so the mistake at Monaco and then running out of gas doomed his chances. It still was nice seeing him tweak the younger guys. Who can forget his "old man" get-up?

In reading his comments since his retirement he seems to regret ever selling his portion of the team and leaving the sport so completely. Did he not divorce his wife sometime after his retirement?


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Regards,

Dennis David
Grand Prix History

Life is racing, the rest is waiting

[Ray Bell]

I think there was some shabby business that ended up with Betty taking off, the boys not talking to dad and the secretary expanding her role in the organisation.
I like your description, BRG, of the 'final flowering' of that style in the BT33. It actually looks better than the Lotus 49, but the wings it always had preclude a more direct comparison. Let's put it this way, if it had been out in 1968, it would not be the 49 that peoples list second only to the Eagle in appearances. The M19 was nice, too, and the M7 as well.
As for the BT34, it must have been a very good design, too, but typical of the Jack and Ron Taurenac partnership, they rarely built a dud.
Jack's "old man" getup was '66 or '67 at the Dutch GP, where he carried a cane and wore a long beard to the grid.
Jack's appearances today show that he really was a racer to be reckoned with all along, but he was discounted because he appeared to do well only when he had an advantage in the machinery. There are races that show that not to be true, perhaps that's what this thread should be about...

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Life and love are mixed with pain...

[This message has been edited by Ray Bell (edited 04-15-2000).]

[Eric McLoughlin]

Jack is still a hard charger. Anyone who has witnessed him in action at the two Goodwood Revival meetings can testify to that. Unfortunately, his aggressivenes was nearly his undoing at last September's meeting as he had a high speed "off" at St Mary's following a touch with Jackie Oliver. I can tell you that the place went very quiet when everybody realised it was "Black Jack" who had crashed. There was genuine concern for him, especially when he was whisked off to Chichester Hospital by helicopter. Luckily, his injuries were not too serious and he has vowed to be back this year. I'm looking forward to seeing him there (my tickets arrived in the post last Thursday).

On a slight tangent to the thread, a (very rare)two seat Supermarine Spitfire crashed on landing at Goodwood last Saturday resulting in the death of the two occupants. All track and flying activities were halted while the aircraft was recovered and investigators surveyed the scene. I had already arranged to take my Caterham down to Goodwood for a noise level check (in advance of a future track day)and arrived just as the circuit was being closed. A sad day.

[This message has been edited by Eric McLoughlin (edited 04-15-2000).]

[John Cross]

The BT33 was a very good car and Jacky Ickx could well have taken the championship had he stayed with Brabham in 1970 - remember he won two races in 1969 with the space-frame BT26. Rolf Stommelen had his best ever year in the BT33 and the team was on a very tight budget that year. After the British GP Jack had 25 points but he didn't score any more for the rest of the season.

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I'll be back...

[Alfisti]

Anyone have a pic of that model Brabham they can post?? Is it the one that looks a little like a Lotus or have i completely missed the plot.

[desmo]

[Ray Bell]

Now picture it without the wings - smooth!
I think there's another pic of it in the 'how high did they jump..' thread, you'll have to go back a couple of months, but I'm fairly sure there's a better one there. Or was that the BT26?

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Life and love are mixed with pain...

[Alfisti]

Yep, that's the one I was thinking of (surprised myself there). It does have the lotus colours that's why I think of them when i see this car.

[SteveB2]

Ray,

FORIX says it was a BT24. Hard to tell a difference (other than the wings) from the two pictures, though. Denny H., Germany 1967 (Fluplatz)




BTW, my cable system got Speedvision a couple of weeks ago . Saw my first live GP in about 6 years and first televised qualifying ever. Anyway, celebrating aside, I say the Goodwood event last night and saw Jack's shunt. I'm embarrassed to say I didn't know that JB had had this accident and I didn't know how old the broadcast was. Thanks to Eric for the info. I was thinking of starting a thread to find out.
The other thing that struck me about the Goodwood incident is that, given the lethality of the racing in that period, do they make any safety modifications to the cars/tracks or do thay assume that the tracks are better, the safety crews/facilities are better, or the drivers won't drive million dollar works of art in such a way to put them at risk. There was a chicane inserted, I assume to lower a top speed.
I wonder if there's a market for a Lotus 49 built around a carbon fiber crash cell?


[This message has been edited by SteveB2 (edited 04-18-2000).]

[This message has been edited by SteveB2 (edited 04-18-2000).]

[BRG]

Alfisti

I am amazed that the Australian tendency on this Forum haven't reprimanded you for saying that a Brabham was in "Lotus colours" - even a Pom like me knows that these were the Australian green and gold sporting colours!

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BRG

"all the time, maximum attack"

[Falcadore]

This part of the 'Australian tendency' has been a bit busy. But to quote Billy Birmingham, who in turn was deliberately misquoting former Australian test cricket Captin, Bill Lawry "Canary Yellow? That's Australian Gold my friend and don't you f***ing forget it!"

Despite there not beeing any green or gold anywhere near our flag, thei the colours of our wee nation, the colours representing the colour of the land. If you've ever seen our modern day fighting flag 'the boxing kangaroo' picked out in green and gold a flag first championed by 'Australia II' the first non-US team to win the Americas Cup yacht racing regatta, breaking the world's longest running winning streak at 132 years, and now worn by any Australian team in any event, sporting and otherwise (seen most recently in Dili in Timor as the leading nation in the Interfet peacekeeping force)

[Eric McLoughlin]

Just a few comments on the modifications Lord March has made to the Gooodwood circuit:

Track - no changes, except for re-surfacing. The chicane dates back to the 1950's so is totally authentic. As I've mentioned elsewhere, the only concession is that the "brickwork" is now made from expanded polystyrene!

Barrier - not an inch/cm of Armco anywhere. The grass banks have been cut back and tyre wall have been installed faced by old convey-belt material. Weeds and other growth is being encouraged to grow within the tyres and so eventually they will merge into the scenery.

Run off - gravel traps have been laid at Woodcote, Madgwick and (I think) St Mary's.

Spectator protection - all spectator standing areas are raised above track height, which is good for safety and spectating. A low wooden fence surrounds the track too - handy for dangling ones umbrella off, I find.

[This message has been edited by Eric McLoughlin (edited 04-19-2000).]

[Ray Bell]

And I was en-route to elsewhere (also detailed elsewhere). The BT33 actually had all new colours, more a blue and yellow...
The BT24 was conventional Taurenac mid-sixties, tubular chassis, fibreglass body, all looking very much as though it comes apart. Which it did, of course. The 33, however, has a homogenous look about it, it is one thing, like I said, very smooth.
As for our flag, not that it means anything, it is the flag chosen for us by the poms. The Eureka flag would be more appropriate, for it signified the first move to independence, but it has been hijacked by unsavoury elements. It is a good looking flag, however.
The boxing kangaroo embarrasses me, and there's not much that does that...
Foget flags, they are unimportant. But racing colours are.

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Life and love are mixed with pain...