609 replies to this topic

[Ray Bell]

Back in the Greg Mackie thread about Dave Mawer's shed, Daniel Tracey suggested we have a thread about other racing workshops...

So I have tried to assemble photos and details about Bob Britton, the creator of Rennmax cars and a man who's as individual as a racing car builder could possibly be.

Britto works alone. I don't have photos of his original Croydon Park workshop, a rough old shed in the backyard of his parents' home, some detail is shown in the background of these photos he took of the Brabham-Alfa chassis when it was in for some work:





Lots of bits and pieces leaning up against the fence, a typical comment people will make about a car they've resurrected will be, "The chassis was up on the roof of Britto's shed for years after he built the replacement." But inside there he had all he needed to create all manner of cars, up to and including the Gold Star-winning car of 1971.

For the past 35 years or so his workshop has been much nicer. He moved to Annangrove, just around the corner from Amaroo Park, building a new house and workshop on a 5-acre block of land. This workshop is the centre of all things on those acres, the domain of Bob Britton and Rennmax today:



I'm sure others have visited him there...




.

Edited by Ray Bell, 27 April 2018 - 03:58.

[DanTra2858]

Thank you for putting up Bob,s site, I was lucky enough to have visited the original Factory 🤔 many times during the late 1960,s when I was Boarding with Stan Smith.

From working in the very structured AIS Machine Shop (BHP) to seeing & touching sheer magic emerging from an old lean to garage was beond belief.

There were metal plates welded upon other metal plates which looked to me like SCRAP, BUT THEY WERE JIGS which assisted in the building of some of Australias most famous Compition cars.

One car that was being built during this time was an enclosed Sports Car to be for Road use powered by a STEAM ENGINE, I know the chassie, suspension was finished but do not know if the car ever had a body or powerplant.

During these days Bod if my memory is correct had Stan and an Apprentice working for him, my last days in the Rennmax workshop was when Bob was building the first set of Alloy spun wheels.

So much MAGIC from a very humble workshop, THANK YOU Bob.

[Ray Bell]

Yes, that was a very busy time for Bob, Daniel...

Stan Smith and Dave Strudwick were working for him. I can't really conceive how they all fitted into that little shed, especially when the jig was set up and had a chassis going together.

We've had discussions before about those 'monocoque' wheels Bob built. At that time he would have been working on Doug Heasman's 1.5 car and Doug Macarthur's sports car.

The steam car was the Gvang, with Bob Caddy and John McMillan involved. In later years Bob had to build a new chassis for it, but it's never done anything beyond one drive around the block and rust out.

This photo is from Bob's very early association with Ossie and Noel Hall:



Taken at Bathurst, probably October 1960, it shows the Cooper 2.2 with Ossie on the left, Noel in the helmet and Neil Robson alongside. Neil was working on Ossie's car prior to this, the Ralt Vincent, and would later get to know UDT-Laystall team mechanics Joe Potton and Jerry Holmes (sp?) who convinced him he should go to the UK and seek work.

He did, then he went to the US and worked with the Mecom team on their Lotus 19 (or the Hussein?), returned to Australia and spannered for Peter Williamson on his supercharged Ford-powered Rennmax. Ultimately he moved to Western Australia.

Bob built his first car for Ossie when this Cooper was wrecked, the irony being that the first racing car he built was essentially a Formula One car.

That was after years of doodling with ideas for 500cc F3 cars which he had no money to build...



.

Edited by Ray Bell, 27 April 2018 - 03:58.

[Ray Bell]

Like any diligent car builder, Bob will draw it up first. He has trays full of drawings and his drawing board is very well used...



With a car-building career which stretches over 56 years, and component repair, redesign and replacement going back even further, Britto prefers to say he's in his 80th year rather than say he's 79. "It sounds better," he says.

But he hasn't built any state-of-the art cars for a long time. He's simply not involved in the construction of competition cars any more, nor has he been for some time.

Not long after moving into his new home he gave up on that and kept his fabrication skills and design work to nights and weekends as he took a job in a factory making hydraulic rams and helped Barbara raise their three daughters.

During that time he did build some cars, but no new designs. Repairs and replacement chassis came and went, his Lotus 7 jig got a lot of work, Ray Hanger convinced him he should build another of his monocoque sports cars for him and there was a Vee or two...



As their girls grew up and made their own lives, and retirement age came, Barbara succumbed to dementia to a degree where it's become necessary for her to be placed in full time care. This has meant that Bob's use of the workshop has become his major pursuit in life. Just as it was in the sixties and seventies.

But now he's simply building cars he wants to build, not for sale but for himself. They are his daily challenge, his reason for being, they are what keeps him going.

For the most part the Lotus 7 jig gets the most work...



...but during 2015 he finally built the car he wanted to build in the fifties. That's right, he built a 500cc F3-type car.

The concept was to build a car with more modern parts and technology, but with many of the features of the old 500s. Here it is in the jig:





The components are a Suzuki 500 engine, '70s Holden Gemini (Opel Kadett) front uprights, Koni dampers, VW Golf differential and driveshafts, also the rear hubs IIRC.

One of the things Bob particularly likes doing is designing the body. I think most will agree he's come up with something good with this car:



He doesn't do the fibreglass himself, Les Puklowski makes up the body parts from Bob's moulds. But I'm sure you'll agree that he does what he does very well...



Looks like fun, doesn't it? Months of fun for Britto in design, parts sourcing, fabrication and assembly. I think I'd like to jump behind the wheel...



It would certainly have to be fun to take out on a circuit.

Edited by Ray Bell, 27 April 2018 - 04:00.

[Dick Willis]

Thanks for putting Bob's story on here for us Ray, every man should have a shed !

[DanTra2858]

Is the next shed the "Dick Willis Shed" 😇

[Dick Willis]

The Dick Willis shed is rolling along quite well at the moment thanks Dan. Probably one of the most amazing things about it, apart from being a home away from home, is the people call in some regularly and others from time to time,

[seldo]

Thanks for putting Bob's story on here for us Ray, every man should have a shed !

Agreed Dick. Thanks Ray....and a Dick Willis story would also be fascinating...

[Dale Harvey]

I had reason to visit the Croydon Park workshop once. The Macarthur sports car was nearing completion at the time. The spun aluminium wheels were going on it also.

Dale.

[Ray Bell]

Oh, Britto has sheds too!

Scattered about he has three... or is it four? ...other sheds. We'll get to one of them soon, but they're full of lots of useful stuff. But this one is the workshop, no mere shed.





There's no telling how many suspension pieces have been machined up in that lathe... or pieces shaped in that bandsaw... or welds made... etc...

Edited by Ray Bell, 27 April 2018 - 04:02.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by DanTra2858
Is the next shed the "Dick Willis Shed"?

It would be good to see that, Daniel...

If Dick updated us with projects he's carrying out, pics of things he has to fix or make. Good idea!

And yes, Dale, the Macarthur car was one of the first with the 'monocoque' wheels. I'm not sure whether or not Bob Muir had them on his Climax-powered car, but I do remember them on the Macarthur and Heasman cars, also on Kenny Goodwin's car I think.

What pics do you have?

[eldougo]

Bob lived in Hampton Street Croydon Park and we moved in Windsor Ave in 1964 only a few streets away.Riding my pushbike around one day i found a man loading up a F/Vee chassis

It was Bob ,We got to talk and let me look around the work shop and i love it.I began to call in and see him from time to time and see how racing cars were made .

Asked lots of questions Bob problem though bloody kid her again.

Amazing man and great cars he made ,i eventually bought a Rennmax Mk1 F/vee  a few years later great car to drive and so forgiving when you pushed it to the edge.

[Ray Bell]

It's interesting when you look at Bob's cars...

Those Vees were the cars where he showed the most innovation prior to his monocoque models. While Lotus and Brabham models provided inspiration, even direct modelling, for cars he built, in the Vees he did it all from his own thought processes.

They were winners, too. The Mk 1s won everything that was going for years. Well, almost everything. The Mk 2s weren't quite so successful, often because the Mk 1s were too hard to beat. But they did have their afternoons in the sun.

Nevertheless they were cars built in a very workmanlike manner. The Mk 2s had an answer to bump steer ahead of anyone else, they had the neatest way of clamping the torsion bar frame in place and other solutions to Vee problems ignored by others. Both models were proper space frames.

Bob wouldn't have done it any other way...

[DanTra2858]

Ray do you know if Bob,s F3 car has had track time & if so any results?

[Bloggsworth]

Dean, Smith & Grace have been making lathes since 1865, and are now under the ownership of Newsmith Stainless Limited of Roberttown, West Yorkshire.

[Ray Bell]

Transferring a couple of pics from other threads to illustrate this a little...



With thanks to Lindsay, this is Doug Macarthur's car, which started life with a BMW but soon went to 2.5-litre Repco. The monocoque wheels are plainly visible, later lower tyre profiles dictated that the front mudguards be restyled, maybe someone has a pic of that?



Doug Heasman's BN3 st Oran Park, 1972 I'd think, again with the monocoque wheels. Photos of this car are scarce, but Lynton did get a couple apart from this one.

What we do need is photos of the BN7 cars, Quartly's with Muir driving, perhaps, and Andrew Miedecke's. They were different, embodying more of Bob's unique thinking.




.

Edited by Ray Bell, 03 May 2022 - 00:45.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by DanTra2858
Ray do you know if Bob,s F3 car has had track time & if so any results?

No, not at all, Daniel...

These cars, apart from his roadable open-wheeler and one Seven replica, have never left the vicinity of Bob's home.

One person who does tend to get a drive of the odd car he builds, and it's all very minimal and not at any track, is Spencer Martin.

Edited by Ray Bell, 14 January 2017 - 20:48.

[Ray Bell]

I don't have a photo of Bob's first car, I was rather hoping someone would put one in...

That was the replacement car for Noel Hall after he crashed his Cooper. It used a lot of Cooper parts but Bob built a more advanced car for Noel.

It can't have been long after that when Barrie Garner got Bob to build this car...



It was usually entered as a 'Renmax Special' (yes, mostly misspelled) and was largely Bob's interpretation of what a Lotus 20 could be. The bodywork is very much like the Lotus 20 at the front, but there were some which looked like this one:



This is Kingsley Hibbard at Lakeside, he was way better known as a Touring Car driver, but did a stint in Formula Junior in this Rennmax.

Edited by Ray Bell, 27 April 2018 - 04:03.

[TerryS]

General
Rennmax Engineering was a name applied by Bob Britton to his racing car related business set up in 1961 in a shed in the back yard of his parents’ home in the Sydney suburb of Croydon.
The word Rennmax is derived from the German word “Renn” meaning speed, and the abbreviation “max” from maximum.
The plural of Rennmax is Rennmaxes.
Bob was a very modest man, and was not concerned with what purchasers called their new cars he delivered. So we have Mildren, Jane, MRC, Cee-Bee, and Rorstan in addition to Rennmaxes.
Although Rennmax cars are often referred to by model descriptions such as BN2, BN3 etc, Bob claims these are given by other people and not him. In practice he did not even stamp chassis numbers on his cars.
With Brabhams, the BT? model numbers referred to Brabham and Tauranac. With Rennmaxes it is assumed the “B” related to Britton, but I do not know what the “N” related to.

Rennmax BN3
The BN3 was perhaps the most significant of Rennmaxes. Numbers built are not known, but I have seen figures of 7 to 11.
The genesis of the model started with the 1968 Tasman Series.
The initiator of the model was the New Zealand team Rorstan Motor Racing. This was a partnership of Ian Rorison and Feo Stanton. They team entered cars in the late 60’s Tasman Series, usually old Brabhams powered by
Climax 2.5L engines. These engines were scarce but the Rorstan team had 5, although none were new, and were in various stages of life.
For the 1968 Tasman Series they entered Aussie Paul Bolton in a Brabham BT11 Climax 2.5L.
The records show Rorstan did not achieve very much, mainly because of running old and ill prepared cars with abysmal reliability.
For the International Formula 2 class, the FIA introduced new rules for 1967. Cosworth developed the 1.6 litre 4 cylinder FVA engine (four valve assembly) for this formula and Brabham released a new model the BT 23.
Brabham and Hulme drove chassis 1 and 2 for the Brabham works team, and Roy Winkelmann Racing (a semi works team) entered chassis 4 and 5 for Alan Rees and Jochen Rindt respectively.
Rindt had a phenomenal record in his car in 1967. Out of 15 races he won 9 and finished second four times. In the FIA European F2 Championship he won 6 out of 10 races, but was not awarded the championship as he was
a seeded driver. That honour went to Jackie Ickx. This Rindt association is very relevant to the recent value of the car (see below).
For 1968 Hulme had signed with the McLaren Team and so was forced to find his own car for the 1968 Tasman Series. He thought that Rindt’s BT23-5 was much better than his BT23-2, so he made arrangements to bring that.
Never mind greater ability.
Hulme crashed BT23-5 in the first race of 1968 series, the NZ GP, on lap 56 of the 58 lap race. He collided with local Laurence Brownlie, with both cars turning over and “disintegrating”.
Hulme was forced to arrange to bring out BT23-2 from Europe for five of the remaining races. He didn’t manage any wins, his best being third at Wigram.
After the Tasman series BT23-2 went back to Europe and is believed to be still racing.
After Hulme’s crash in the 1968 NZ GP, Rorstan acquired BT23-5 (less engine) and sent the chassis to Bob Brittan in Sydney to fix. Rorstan retained the suspension. Bob repaired the chassis and saw the ideal base
for producing future cars, so made a jig after straightening the Brabham, then sent back to NZ a brand new BT23 style car containing all the usable BT23-5 bits, and with space for fitting a Climax 2.5L.
This jig was to be used for the creation of up to 11 cars, plus numerous repairs. This was the start of the Rennmax BN3 cars. It is interesting that the cars were invoiced as “1 only Brabham style racing car
rolling chassis”.
The old but valuable chassis (BT23-5) simply went to the roof of Bob’s back yard shed.
Rorstan called this new car the Rorstan 1 Climax, chassis # RMR1. It had distinctive very upswept and long exhaust pipes for a Climax engine car. Stanton never pretended the car was a Brabham.
For the 1969 and 1970 Tasman Series, Rorstan used this car with a couple of drivers, but as usual were not very successful.
For 1971 Rorstan finally realised the Climax 2.5 was outdated so a very rare Porsche 2 litre flat 8 four cam engine was installed. Chassis number was changed to M1A from Mk 1. The engine has been described as
variously a 907, 908 and a 771. I will leave that to Porsche experts.
The change to the Porsche engine had even worse results in 1971 Tasman. Faloon was entered for Leven but did not arrive. For Pukekohe and Wigram he did not start.
For 1972, following the breakup of the Rorstan partnership, the car was called the Stanton 1 Porsche.
The Rorstan Porsche was unfortunately destroyed on lap 52 of the 58 lap 1972 NZ GP in a major accident involving their driver Brian Faloon, Graeme Lawrence and John McCormack. The Stanton was launched headlong
into an earth safety barrier, taking to the air before crashing down onto its wheels again. Lawrence’s Lola was cart wheeled down the track, totally disintegrating on the way. The Stanton looked relatively intact
but the head injuries Bryan Faloon (aged29) sustained in the impact proved fatal.
The whole Stanton car with its rare Porsche engine and gearbox still attached, found its way to Melbourne for then Australian Porsche Distributor Alan Hamilton, who had acquired the car for the engine and gearbox
for a restoration. He sold the rest to Melbourne’s Denis Lupton to salvage the genuine Brabham parts (which he on sold to Goodare see below). Where the Rorstan chassis went next is unknown, bur presumed to tip.
Meanwhile back at the top of Bob Britton’s shed:

Some years later Bob was commissioned by a client to rebuild the original BT23-5 frame as a Formula Ford, using Rennmax uprights etc, but the client never fronted up with the cash and so never took delivery.
The car was then sold to Graham Hepburn of Talbingo N.S.W. and then ended up with Denis Lupton of Melbourne circa 1981.So now Lupton had the original Brabham chassis, and the original Brabham bits from the
Rorstan car. The complete collection of BT23-5 remains, including the rolling chassis, was then sold to George Goodare of Sydney in December 1983. After a major rebuild the car was campaigned by Goodare for many
years complete with correct FVA/FT200 etc, and having recast new uprights etc. The car was last raced by Goodare in about 1990.
It was sold in 2008 to Jean-Marie Muller of France, and damaged in an accident and fire at Reims, France, in 2010. Fully restored and next seen September 2013 on display at Heeresgeschichtlicen Museum in
Zeltweg Austria, see following, looks to be in very good condition.http://www.salzburg.....elpiste-74531/
BT 23 -5 was put up for auction on 26 June 2015. See following for details.
http://www.classican....f2-car-offered
They seem to be capitalising very much on it being used by Jochen Rindt originally.
There were very steep sale estimates of 360K - 500K Euros.
I like the description that “it’s not in great condition”. It looks pretty good to me.

In the end it ONLY made 235K Euro, about 350K AUD. I reckon that is still pretty good.

Edited by TerryS, 22 January 2017 - 21:56.

[plannerpower]

His taste in lathes might be indicative of the man; DSG made some of the best heavy lathes in the world.

 

Often referred-to as the "Rolls Royce" of engine lathes; the resemblance to RR (and Bugatti) extended to the rather "feudal" manner in which the company was run.

 

In all three companies the quest for perfection was continual.

 

He would have paid a good deal of money for that beautiful machine.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by TerryS
General
Rennmax Engineering was a name applied by Bob Britton to his racing car related business set up in 1961 in a shed in the back yard of his parents’ home in the Sydney suburb of Croydon.

The word Rennmax is derived from the German word “Renn” meaning speed, and the abbreviation “max” from maximum. The plural of Rennmax is Rennmaxes.

Bob was a very modest man, and was not concerned with what purchasers called their new cars he delivered. So we have Mildren, Jane, MRC, Cee-Bee, and Rorstan in addition to Rennmaxes. Although Rennmax cars are often referred to by model descriptions such as BN2, BN3 etc, Bob claims these are given by other people and not him. In practice he did not even stamp chassis numbers on his cars.

With Brabhams, the BT? model numbers referred to Brabham and Tauranac. With Rennmaxes it is assumed the “B” related to Britton, but I do not know what the “N” related to.

Rennmax BN3

The BN3 was perhaps the most significant of Rennmaxes. Numbers built are not known, but I have seen figures of 7 to 11. The genesis of the model started with the 1968 Tasman Series. The initiator of the model was the New Zealand team Rorstan Motor Racing. This was a partnership of Ian Rorison and Feo Stanton.

They team entered cars in the late 60’s Tasman Series, usually old Brabhams powered by Climax 2.5L engines. These engines were scarce but the Rorstan team had 5, although none were new, and were in various stages of life. For the 1968 Tasman Series they entered Aussie Paul Bolton in a Brabham BT11 Climax 2.5L.

The records show Rorstan did not achieve very much, mainly because of running old and ill prepared cars with abysmal reliability.

For the International Formula 2 class, the FIA introduced new rules for 1967. Cosworth developed the 1.6 litre 4 cylinder FVA engine (four valve assembly) for this formula and Brabham released a new model the BT 23, Brabham and Hulme drove chassis 1 and 2 for the Brabham works team, and Roy Winkelmann Racing (a semi works team) entered chassis 4 and 5 for Alan Rees and Jochen Rindt respectively.

Rindt had a phenomenal record in his car in 1967. Out of 15 races he won 9 and finished second four times. In the FIA European F2 Championship he won 6 out of 10 races, but was not awarded the championship as he was a seeded driver. That honour went to Jackie Ickx. This Rindt association is very relevant to the recent value of the car (see below).

For 1968 Hulme had signed with the McLaren Team and so was forced to find his own car for the 1968 Tasman Series. He thought that Rindt’s BT23-5 was much better than his BT23-2, so he made arrangements to bring that. Never mind greater ability.

Hulme crashed BT23-5 in the first race of 1968 series, the NZ GP, on lap 56 of the 58 lap race. He collided with local Laurence Brownlie, with both cars turning over and “disintegrating”. Hulme was forced to arrange to bring out BT23-2 from Europe for five of the remaining races. He didn’t manage any wins, his best being third at Wigram. After the Tasman series BT23-2 went back to Europe and is believed to be still racing.

After Hulme’s crash in the 1968 NZ GP, Rorstan acquired BT23-5 (less engine) and sent the chassis to Bob Britton in Sydney to fix. Rorstan retained the suspension. Bob repaired the chassis and saw the ideal base for producing future cars, so made a jig after straightening the Brabham, then sent back to NZ a brand new BT23 style car containing all the usable BT23-5 bits, and with space for fitting a Climax 2.5L.

This jig was to be used for the creation of up to 11 cars, plus numerous repairs. This was the start of the Rennmax BN3 cars. It is interesting that the cars were invoiced as “1 only Brabham style racing car rolling chassis”.

The old but valuable chassis (BT23-5) simply went to the roof of Bob’s back yard shed.

Rorstan called this new car the Rorstan 1 Climax, chassis # RMR1. It had distinctive very upswept and long exhaust pipes for a Climax engine car. Stanton never pretended the car was a Brabham. For the 1969 and 1970 Tasman Series, Rorstan used this car with a couple of drivers, but as usual were not very successful.

For 1971 Rorstan finally realised the Climax 2.5 was outdated so a very rare Porsche 2 litre flat 8 four cam engine was installed. Chassis number was changed to M1A from Mk 1. The engine has been variously described as a 907, 908 and a 771. I will leave that to Porsche experts.

The change to the Porsche engine had even worse results in 1971 Tasman. Faloon was entered for Levin but did not arrive. For Pukekohe and Wigram he did not start. For 1972, following the breakup of the Rorstan partnership, the car was called the Stanton 1 Porsche.

The Stanton Porsche was unfortunately destroyed on lap 52 of the 58 lap 1972 NZ GP in a major accident involving their driver Brian Faloon, Graeme Lawrence and John McCormack. The Stanton was launched headlong into an earth safety barrier, taking to the air before crashing down onto its wheels again. Lawrence’s Lola was cart wheeled down the track, totally disintegrating on the way. The Stanton looked relatively intact but the head injuries Bryan Faloon (aged29) sustained in the impact proved fatal.

The whole Stanton car with its rare Porsche engine and gearbox still attached, found its way to Melbourne for then Australian Porsche Distributor Alan Hamilton, who had acquired the car for the engine and gearbox for a restoration. He sold the rest to Melbourne’s Denis Lupton to salvage the genuine Brabham parts (which he on sold to Goodare see below). Where the Rorstan chassis went next is unknown, bur presumed to tip.

Meanwhile back at the top of Bob Britton’s shed:

Some years later Bob was commissioned by a client to rebuild the original BT23-5 frame as a Formula Ford, using Rennmax uprights etc, but the client never fronted up with the cash and so never took delivery. The car was then sold to Graham Hepburn of Talbingo N.S.W. and then ended up with Denis Lupton of Melbourne circa 1981.So now Lupton had the original Brabham chassis, and the original Brabham bits from the Rorstan car. The complete collection of BT23-5 remains, including the rolling chassis, was then sold to George Goodare of Sydney in December 1983. After a major rebuild the car was campaigned by Goodare for many years complete with correct FVA/FT200 etc, and having recast new uprights etc. The car was last raced by Goodare in about 1990.

It was sold in 2008 to Jean-Marie Muller of France, and damaged in an accident and fire at Reims, France, in 2010. Fully restored and next seen September 2013 on display at Heeresgeschichtlicen Museum in Zeltweg Austria, see following, looks to be in very good condition.http://www.salzburg.....elpiste-74531/

BT 23 -5 was put up for auction on 26 June 2015. See following for details.

http://www.classican....f2-car-offered

They seem to be capitalising very much on it being used by Jochen Rindt originally. There were very steep sale estimates of 360K - 500K Euros. I like the description that “it’s not in great condition”. It looks pretty good to me.

In the end it ONLY made 235K Euro, about 350K AUD. I reckon that is still pretty good.

Thanks, Terry, and this brings up an important point about Britto's work...

Remember that he was familiar with Ron Taurenac back before Ron went to England to work with Jack, they have remained friends through all these years.

Ron wasn't concerned about others copying his cars or making parts for damaged Brabhams. In fact, Ronnie Peterson raced a replica Brabham made in Sweden and Ron merely expressed the view that it was well-built.

Bob usually sought to make improvements to cars he 'copied', however. I recall him telling me back in the seventies about a point in the Lotus 23 chassis where four or five tubes converged and the gear linkage went through the middle of that junction. "Everyone just copies it," he lamented, "but they should do something better."

There was never any "Arch Motors" in the Rennmax equation either. Many British manufacturers would build their prototypes and then send the plans (or even the prototype?) to Arch Motors for them to be put into production. No, Rennmaxes were all completed in house.

When that's considered, and one looks at the laborious efforts which had to go into fabricating uprights and often making the wheels, it's probably a wonder Bob got as much done as he did. True, he didn't work alone for some years, but he often did so.

His unique cars were always worth a study, like the sports car pictured above and the BN7 as raced by Heasman, Muir and Miedecke.

[Allen Brown]

General
Although Rennmax cars are often referred to by model descriptions such as BN2, BN3 etc, Bob claims these are given by other people and not him. In practice he did not even stamp chassis numbers on his cars.

 

That is very interesting.  Those terms were used frequently in period, but not with any great consistency.  It is sometimes necessary for those of us trying to research these cars to agree on a name between us, so we can at least discuss the subject.  So to me a BN2 is the car built to a Brabham BT14 pattern.  Only one was built, for Max Stewart.  The BN3 was then the following design, based on the BT23 frame, of which I've identified eight so far but know of at least one more frame that was built up under a different name.  Some of these cars were called BN2 in period, but I'm calling them BN3 to try to force some consistency on the subject.  

[Ray Bell]

I'll have a look at the 'list' next week...

I'm pretty sure that the Mildren 1.5/1.6 car would have been built on the BT14 design.

[TerryS]

That is very interesting.  Those terms were used frequently in period, but not with any great consistency.  It is sometimes necessary for those of us trying to research these cars to agree on a name between us, so we can at least discuss the subject.  So to me a BN2 is the car built to a Brabham BT14 pattern.  Only one was built, for Max Stewart.  The BN3 was then the following design, based on the BT23 frame, of which I've identified eight so far but know of at least one more frame that was built up under a different name.  Some of these cars were called BN2 in period, but I'm calling them BN3 to try to force some consistency on the subject.

Allen a couple of points if I may on your Old Racing Cars sit, under Rennmax BN 3 sheet:

Rorstan 1
You could finish this with the notes I made in post #19 above

The Mildren Baker car at bottom of page.

This is called that because the first owner after Mildren was Don Baker. He was a Qantas flight steward and brought back from England some Palliser uprights and steering box. Probably as hand luggage....

It was not the whole suspension as implied on your site

It is generally known now as the Rennmax Palliser.
Chad Wheeler in Qld. still has this car and it has just come up for sale.

http://www.my105.com...ennmax/id/17301

The price of AUD 48,500 which seems very reasonable for such a car.

An interesting thing is it is described as a BN2, yet as you note only one BN2 was ever made.

Interesting it has a CAMS Certificate of Description, which must somehow designate it as a BN2

The car was track tested by Vintage Racecar in July 2003, which I have, and a very good article as usual by Patrick Quinn.

It is funny that the car was described on the cover of VR as a BN3, but if you look at the photo in the ad the bottom right hand corner has conveniently left out the "3".
God moves in mysterious ways....

Edited by TerryS, 17 February 2017 - 00:55.

[Allen Brown]

Allen a couple of points if I may on your Old Racing Cars sit, under Rennmax BN 3 sheet:

All input is always very welcome.

Rorstan 1
You could finish this with the notes I made in post #19 above

That is very interesting. I have been corresponding with Denis about Brabhams for probably 30 years, but this car has never come up in discussion. I will find out more.

The Mildren Baker car at bottom of page.

This is called that because the first owner after Mildren was Don Baker. He was a Qantas flight steward and brought back from England some Palliser uprights and steering box. Probably as hand luggage....

It was not the whole suspension as implied on your site

It is generally known now as the Rennmax Palliser.
Chad Wheeler in Qld. still has this car and it has just come up for sale.

Thanks - I will make that correction about the suspension and update Chad Wheeler's ownership. I'll also change the name I use for it to 'the Rennmax Palliser' if that's how it is generally known.

When cars don't have chassis numbers, as Rennmaxes didn't, I have to make up a name so we know what we're talking about. Usually I simply use the name of the first owner, but as Mildren had another car as well, I went for 'the Mildren-Baker car'.

[10kDA]

Great post! Thanks to all for sharing about Bob Britton and Rennmax.

[Allen Brown]

I'll have a look at the 'list' next week...

I'm pretty sure that the Mildren 1.5/1.6 car would have been built on the BT14 design.

You may well be right Ray.  I've gone back over the timing of this and that would suggest it was from the later pattern. Britton converted Harvey's BT14 to Repco power in April/May time of 1967, and that's when he built the jig that allowed him to build a Rennmax for Max Stewart.  That car was racing by February 1968, but probably appeared earlier than that.  I am missing a few RCN about that time.

 

In January 1968, Hulme crashed the BT23 which started the chain of events leading to Britton building a jig for the BT23 frame, and using that to build the Rorstan.  Again, I cannot be certain when the Rorstan first raced, but it looks like it was at Bay Park in December 1968.  Its first appearance may have been delayed by the Porsche engine, as it had a FPF at Bay Park.  The Mildren-Alfa appeared earlier than that, I believe for the first time at the Warwick Farm meeting 8 Sep 1968.  For Mildren to buy a car from Rennmax in 1968, I'm sure he'd have wanted 1967 technology rather than 1965 technology.

[opplock]

The Rorstan remained FPF powered until after the Levin Gold Star race on 28th November 1970, where it finished 3rd. It's first appearance with the Porsche engine was 1971 NZ GP but it failed to start. It raced at Sandown Park on 21 Feb 1971 but was unclassified.

 

The car did appear at Bay Park in December 1968 but was a non starter. It first raced at Levin on 11th January 1969 driven by Dennis Marwood (per Vercoe) but the entry list shows Marwood driving a Brabham. That may have been the original intention as Rorstan entered 2 cars at Bay Park, the Rorstan for Jim Palmer and a Brabham BT19 for Marwood. Both were powered by FPFs "held together with faith, hope and araldite". I was at Levin that day but with Ferraris, Lotus 49s, Brabham biplane and the first McRae to drool over the identity of Marwood's car escaped my attention.    

[Ray Bell]

Allen, I have a photo of Kevin Bartlett in a 'Mildren' 1.5 at Lakeside taken in November, 1965...

Was this not the car which later got the 1.6 Alfa engine, graduating to become the Mildren Waggott of Max Stewart's time?

I'll check all this out, tomorrow I'm at Bob's.

[TerryS]

Allen, I have a photo of Kevin Bartlett in a 'Mildren' 1.5 at Lakeside taken in November, 1965...

Was this not the car which later got the 1.6 Alfa engine, graduating to become the Mildren Waggott of Max Stewart's time?

I'll check all this out, tomorrow I'm at Bob's.

Ray, according to RCN, at the November 65 meeting Bartlett was running a BRABHAM with an 1100cc head on a 1500cc block giving a compression ratio in the vicinity of 15 to 1.

One month later in the Warwick Farm Gold Star race, Frank Gardner was in a Brabham 1.5, which was probably the car Bartlett used at Lakeside.

Max Stewart was in a Rennmax Ford 1100.

Edited by TerryS, 19 February 2017 - 03:59.

[TerryS]

You may well be right Ray.  I've gone back over the timing of this and that would suggest it was from the later pattern. Britton converted Harvey's BT14 to Repco power in April/May time of 1967, and that's when he built the jig that allowed him to build a Rennmax for Max Stewart.  That car was racing by February 1968, but probably appeared earlier than that.  I am missing a few RCN about that time.

This is a photo of Harvey's BT14 being converted to V8 in April 1967.

http://autopics.com....t14-april-1967/

It is actually a very rare photo inside Bob's marvellous shed. At left is Peter Molloy and at front is Bob.

[Allen Brown]

Allen, I have a photo of Kevin Bartlett in a 'Mildren' 1.5 at Lakeside taken in November, 1965...

Was this not the car which later got the 1.6 Alfa engine, graduating to become the Mildren Waggott of Max Stewart's time?

I'll check all this out, tomorrow I'm at Bob's.

 

1965 is way too early.  The car Bartlett would have been racing in November 1965 would be Mildren's Brabham BT2 FJ-12-62.

[doc knutsen]

General
Rennmax Engineering was a name applied by Bob Britton to his racing car related business set up in 1961 in a shed in the back yard of his parents’ home in the Sydney suburb of Croydon.
The word Rennmax is derived from the German word “Renn” meaning speed, and the abbreviation “max” from maximum.

 

Rhe German word Renn(en) means race or competition. A Rennfahrer is a racing driver. The word for speed is "geschwindigkeit" if I remember my school German correctly. Or "schnell" which means fast or quick.

[Ray Bell]

Here are some points picked up today...

As we all know, the 'BN' numbering sequence is not of Britto's doing. He feels sure it was Bob Muir who started all of that, but he now goes along with it. He only numbers the models he designs and builds under the Rennmax name.

The first of these was the Noel Hall car, but that was not entered into the sequence. This probably underlines the fact that Bob didn't do the numbering.

Then came the Lotus 22-style cars, both with and without Rennmax bodies (as seen above with the Garner and Hibbard photos), the first of these being built for Geoff McClelland but not finished until owned by Des Gay.

There are seven cars in this list as BN1 models.

The BN2 was the sole BT14 copy for Max Stewart, a red car raced by Max and sold to Clive Millis.

Bob often asserts that he should have gone on making more of these BT14s, but as the BT23 came into his life so soon afterwards and he was more awed by its F1 heritage he felt he should go with them. So the BN3 saw seven cars built.

The BN4, which was built before the BN2 and BN3 was the Mk 1 Formula Vee. Ten were built.

BN5 was a Lotus 23-style car built for Peter Wilson.

BN6 was the monocoque Sports Car, five came out of the jig.

BN7 was a designation which actually covered two chassis. There were not that many differences, but I'd have said they were different enough for a different designation.

Doug Heasman's was the first, the mono section carried through to halfway alongside the engine on this car, then Terry Quartly's (raced more effectively by Bob Muir), Andrew Miedecke's, then Ross Switzer's, with John Sicardi building much of the fifth car himself.

Revising the approach to the Formula Vee question brought forth the BN8 Mk 2 Vee. Fifteen of these were built.

Note that Britto had been asked to repair and replace a lot of chassis over the years, these included Lotus 7s. Some Lotus 7 replicas were built and sold as Lotus 7 replicas, but some were to be named as Rennmaxes and may or may not have had significant changes from the Lotus 7 designs. These were the BN9 cars, of which there were seven.

They do include an electric car and a car with a rear transaxle as well as the most recent two, the wider and higher chassis for the Commodore V6-engined car and the rear-engined Corolla-powered car.

The BN10 is the GT Coupe line. Lovely cars, pretty much all of the five of them being different in power train and other features, the roof being removed from some as well. One remains in the Britto shed.

The Hayabusa-powered single-seater is the BN11 and the designation of BN12 has been given to the 500cc open-wheeler completed last year.

NOT INCLUDED IN THIS NUMBERING ARE:

The Gvang steam-powered coupe, which gave some ideas for the later coupes.

Matich SR3s, built for Frank Matich largely to Frank's designs. Bob also started on the SR4 project but left and that was finished by Henry Nehrybecki.

Lionel Ayers' various cars. He had a Lotus 22-style car of which he built much himself, but had Bob finish off some of it. Then he had Bob build a Lotus 23 replica, then a Matich SR3 replica. 'MRC' stands for 'Motor Racing Components' and was Lionel's own business name, though its only business was Lionel's personal racing cars. The later 5-litre Rennmax monocoque Sports Car was not an MRC but ran as a Rennmax and is therefore included in the numbering above.

The Mildren Maserati, which was based on a Lotus 23 owned by Mildren at the time. They gave Bob the chassis to take dimensions from and he built a new car with a larger engine bay to take the Maserati 2.9 engine as well as other changes.




.

Edited by Ray Bell, 14 February 2019 - 01:17.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by TerryS
Ray, according to RCN, at the November 65 meeting Bartlett was running a BRABHAM with an 1100cc head on a 1500cc block giving a compression ratio in the vicinity of 15 to 1.

One month later in the Warwick Farm Gold Star race, Frank Gardner was in a Brabham 1.5, which was probably the car Bartlett used at Lakeside.....

I'm away from home so I can't check, Terry...

But I'd think it really strange that Gardner wasn't in his usual Brabham 2.5. I can well understand Alec giving Kevin some seat time in a cobbled-up 1.5, but seeing as Frank had driven the 2.5 for the whole of the previous Tasman Cup series, and had had a twin-cam 1.5 before that, it would make no sense to me.

[Ray Bell]

The BN2 was the sole BT14 copy for Max Stewart, a red car raced by Max and sold to Clive Millis.

Bob often asserts that he should have gone on making more of these BT14s.....

One I forgot...

A few years ago Bob put together another BT14-type car. It's in his personal collection, it has a Japanese engine and was never intended to fit into any set formula. It's the red car in the pictures of his 'collection' which I'll get around to posting soon.

[Allen Brown]

I'm away from home so I can't check, Terry...

But I'd think it really strange that Gardner wasn't in his usual Brabham 2.5. I can well understand Alec giving Kevin some seat time in a cobbled-up 1.5, but seeing as Frank had driven the 2.5 for the whole of the previous Tasman Cup series, and had had a twin-cam 1.5 before that, it would make no sense to me.

 

From memory, I think this was due to the Maserati fiasco.  Mildren's usual BT11A (IC-3-64) had been fitted with a Maserati engine, but it didn't really work.  That was probably the car Gardner was due to drive at Warwick Farm, but decide to use the 1500 instead.  Mildren ended up buying a different BT11A (Stillwell's IC-2-64) with Climax mill for Gardner to use in the 1966 Tasman, while they continued to try to get the BT11A-Maser to work.  Gardner stuck with IC-2-64 for the whole Tasman series, after which it was sold to Kerry Grant.  In the end, IC-3-64 had a FPF put back in it for Bartlett to drive in the 1966 Gold Star.

[Allen Brown]

Here are some points picked up today...

As we all know, the 'BN' numbering sequence is not of Britto's doing. He feels sure it was Bob Muir who started all of that, but he now goes along with it. He only numbers the models he designs and builds under the Rennmax name.

The first of these was the Noel Hall car, but that was not entered into the sequence. This probably underlines the fact that Bob didn't do the numbering.

Then came the Lotus 22-style cars, both with and without Rennmax bodies (as seen above with the Garner and Hibbard photos), the first of these being built for Geoff McClelland but not finished until owned by Des Gay.

There are seven cars in this list as BN1 models.

The BN2 was the sole BT14 copy for Max Stewart, a red car raced by Max and sold to Clive Millis.

Bob often asserts that he should have gone on making more of these BT14s, but as the BT23 came into his life so soon afterwards and he was more awed by its F1 heritage he felt he should go with them. So the BN3 saw seven cars built.

The BN4, which was built before the BN2 and BN3 was the Mk 1 Formula Vee. Ten were built.

BN5 was a Lotus 23-style car built for Peter Wilson.

BN6 was the monocoque Sports Car, five came out of the jig.

BN7 was a designation which actually covered two chassis. There were not that many differences, but I'd have said they were different enough for a different designation.

Doug Heasman's was the first, the mono section carried through to halfway alongside the engine on this car, then Terry Quartly's (raced more effectively by Bob Muir), Andrew Miedecke's, then Ross Switzer's, with John Sicardi building much of the fifth car himself.

Revising the approach to the Formula Vee question brought forth the BN8 Mk 2 Vee. Fifteen of these were built.

Note that Britto had been asked to repair and replace a lot of chassis over the years, these included Lotus 7s. Some Lotus 7 replicas were built and sold as Lotus 7 replicas, but some were to be named as Rennmaxes and may or may not have had significant changes from the Lotus 7 designs. These were the BN9 cars, of which there were seven.

They do include an electric car and a car with a rear transaxle as well as the most recent two, the wider and higher chassis for the Commodore V6-engined car and the rear-engined Corolla-powered car.

The BN10 is the GT Coupe line. Lovely cars, pretty much all of the five of them being different in power train and other features, the roof being removed from some as well. One remains in the Britto shed.

The Hayabusa-powered single-seater is the BN11 and the designation of BN12 has been given to the 500cc open-wheeler completed last year.

NOT INCLUDED IN THIS NUMBERING ARE:

The Gvang steam-powered coupe, which gave some ideas for the later coupes.

Matich SR3s, built for Frank Matich largely to Frank's designs. Bob also started on the SR4 project but left and that was finished by Henry Nehrybecki.

Lionel Ayers' various cars. He had a Lotus 22-style car of which he built much himself, but had Bob finish of some of it. Then he had Bob build a Lotus 23 replica, then a Matich SR3 replica. 'MRC' stands for 'Motor Racing Components' and was Lionel's own business name, though its only business was Lionel's personal racing cars. The later 5-litre Rennmax monocoque Sports Car was not an MRC but ran as a Rennmax and is therefore included in the numbering above.

The Mildren Maserati, which was based on a Lotus 23 owned by Mildren at the time. They gave Bob the chassis to take dimensions from and he built a new car with a larger engine bay to take the Maserati 2.9 engine as well as other changes.
.

 

This is great stuff.  I have a feeling the BN6 designation was used for Heasman's car, with the later cars being called BN7s, but I will check that.

[Ray Bell]

These details were copied from the 'official' chassis book, Allen...

I type this at Bob's dining table, you can't get any more 'official' than that.

Even though Heasman's chassis was different, it's still a BN7 but I guess you'd have to say that the subsequent cars were BN7As?

As mentioned, it had a longer monocoque section. Bob was trying to use the engine as a triangulating member and it worked fine in the car, but the oil pump was hard to access and this led to the truncating of the chassis on the other cars and a major change to the bellhousing, which was a stressed member as well.

The upshot of this was that Bob altered the pattern for the bellhousing, then when Doug dismantled his car and sold the FT200 to someone in Tasmania he unwittingly sent the bellhousing with it. The buyer of the rest of the car then needed a bellhousing and there was no pattern!

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Allen Brown
From memory, I think this was due to the Maserati fiasco.  Mildren's usual BT11A (IC-3-64) had been fitted with a Maserati engine, but it didn't really work.  That was probably the car Gardner was due to drive at Warwick Farm, but decide to use the 1500 instead.  Mildren ended up buying a different BT11A (Stillwell's IC-2-64) with Climax mill for Gardner to use in the 1966 Tasman, while they continued to try to get the BT11A-Maser to work.  Gardner stuck with IC-2-64 for the whole Tasman series, after which it was sold to Kerry Grant.  In the end, IC-3-64 had a FPF put back in it for Bartlett to drive in the 1966 Gold Star.

You would probably be right there... I did have an idea, however, that the 'Maserati fiasco' didn't start until after the Hordern Trophy...

Mildren and the boys were very busy through that period. They had Frank out to try and win the ATT, but he cut the Maserati 4-cyl engine in half as he started the second lap of his heat. Kevin, meanwhile, was bedding himself into the open-wheeler part of the team.

At Pymble work was carrying on to cut the rear end off the BT11a and make room for the Maserati V12, all of which was supposed to be in readiness (including testing) for the NZ races in January. They also had a GTA rushing around, and wasn't the GTZ about at this time?

Then, to complicate things, Frank was involved in a start-line crash in the ex-Stillwell car in one of the first of the Tasman Cup events and the nose was hastily repaired. Thereafter the car had problems with the brakes.

At Lakeside, the first Australian round that year, he had the brake problem just before the pits and rushed in. They pulled off the nose and found a loose strand of fibreglass in the breather hole in the lid of the master cylinder, this had been their brake problem.

[DanTra2858]

Ray thank you for starting this Thread on Bob Britton, in my opion he gave so much to Motor Racing in Australia that he should be a Canditate for an Australian Award, people such as Bob Britton who produced such exciting cars from such a humble workplace are the true backbone of Australian Motorsport.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted byAllen Brown
That is very interesting.  Those terms were used frequently in period, but not with any great consistency.....

Of course, this was because they were not of Britto's own making. The car owners adopted the designations, Bob really didn't want to know about them.

The turning point for him was the tribute day for him at the Eastern Creek Historic meeting in September, 2002. When it was mooted Bob didn't want them to hold it, but hold it they did.

"At that time I realised I had an obligation to these cars," he says. "I always stood by my cars, but I felt that I build the cars, the owner takes them away, they are their cars."
 
 

.....It is sometimes necessary for those of us trying to research these cars to agree on a name between us, so we can at least discuss the subject.  So to mea BN2 is the car built to a Brabham BT14 pattern.  Only one was built, for Max Stewart.  The BN3 was then the following design, based on the BT23 frame, of which I've identified eight so far but know of at least one more frame that was built up under a different name.  Some of these cars were called BN2 in period, but I'm calling them BN3 to try to force some consistency on the subject.

You might be counting the Jane, the Rorstan and perhaps others which never had a Rennmax badge. Now that Bob is keeping the numbers he is consistent in this.





.

Edited by Ray Bell, 14 February 2019 - 01:19.

[Ray Bell]

The un-numbered Noel Hall car, Bob's first build...



These photos were taken at Bathurst, supplied to Bob by John Ward, who helped prepare the car for Ossie. Here he is beside the car, a nice period photo:





The next car built was the first BN1, this car was originally jigged for Geoff McClelland but sold to Laurie Ellis after McClelland decided on a Tauranac car instead. But it was Des Gay who finished the car in time...



Bob had not had a Lotus chassis in his workshop prior to building this car, which is essentially what we frequently saw those days as a Lotus 20/22. He had been able to get some dimensions and details looking over the cars in other workshops but was happier with subsequent cars when he had been able to get a genuine chassis into his workshop when Phil Boot wanted a spare chassis.

These pics are from the Roger Ealand ownership, prior to the car going to Phil Hall in 2015, it always used a Lotus 20 body.








.

Edited by Ray Bell, 22 September 2018 - 11:28.

[Michael Ferner]

Rhe German word Renn(en) means race or competition. A Rennfahrer is a racing driver. The word for speed is "geschwindigkeit" if I remember my school German correctly. Or "schnell" which means fast or quick.

Correctamundo. The German word for Rennmax is... Rennmax!

[ed holly]

"He had been able to get some dimensions and details looking over the cars in other workshops but was happier with subsequent cars when he had been able to get a genuine chassis into his workshop when Phil Boot wanted a spare chassis."

 

https://postimg.cc/image/hzc6ds2u3/

 

Phil crash tested the Bobby Britton chassis first race meeting with it, destroyed it and then put everything back in the original chassis and sold it. That was 20-J-908 Photo showing the extent of the damage courtesy of Marc Schagen.

[Ray Bell]

For those who have never seen a BN10, here we are:





Although it's a bit unfinished and it's covered in dust, the innate beauty of this little treasure shines through. This particular one has Toyota twin-cam 16-valve power and its transverse rear engine drives through a 5-speed Toyota gearbox.

I don't have much detail on the chassis, I'm afraid, I should ask Bob about it.

Speaking of Bob, here he is at work:



No, I guess you can't see much of him there, and that welding mask is a lot more modern than most things you expect to find around him. Here he's welding the pull-rod brackets onto the lower wishbones for the latest car.

And here is the rear end of the Lotus 7-style car with independent rear suspension and a rear-mounted gearbox. A BN9...



It needs some more work, the vibrations are terrible, Bob tells me, and his next plan with this one is to move the flywheel to the engine and have a lightweight disc down the back to mount the clutch. He doesn't want to put the clutch on the engine as it would make the synchros work too hard.




.

Edited by Ray Bell, 27 April 2018 - 04:48.

[brucemoxon]

That BN10 is lovely.

I've thought for a while that a clubman-type car using a FWD driveline, mounted laterally at the back (like Ian Pope's Lolita or the Nota Fang) would be a fun car. Never thought to put a roof on one.

 

And such a formula might make the beginning of a 'cheap' sports car racing series, as long as engines and their electronics are kept under control. There's hardly a shortage of suitable donor cars in wrecking yards.

 

 

 

 

 

Bruce Moxon

[Ray Bell]

Bulanti?

As open cars, with Clubman-style fronts on them, there was the Nota Fang of course, and the first of the Lolitas. Bob is loathe to allow his cars to look like a Fang!

[Ray Bell]

I have spoken to Richard Bendell and discussed the present state of the original Rennmax with him...

The chassis is with Michael Borland and is progressing.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by brucemoxon
That BN10 is lovely.....

A friend who looked in on this thread similarly was taken with that car...

Getting the body shape nice is one thing Bob really enjoys, he told me early last year. He also mentioned last week that the BN6 front guards, which he had to reshape as tyre profiles dropped dramatically, had a considerable impact on the aerodynamic downforce of the Macarthur car. It was never as good after the changes were made.