1969 Brabham BT29

The Brabham racing cars built for customer sale between 1962 and 1972 are renowned for their magnificent record of competition success and, in period, were extremely robust and competitively light in weight, offering superior driveability and outstanding handling qualities. They were the work of Sir Jack Brabham and designer (and long-time business partner) Ron Tauranac, who continued their Motor Racing Developments Ltd company's production of customer racing cars into 1971 when the BT35 model was introduced.

Jack Brabham's Formula 1 career began in 1955 and among his accolades were winning the World Championship in 1959 and 1960 driving a Cooper-Climax. In 1961, he and Ron Tauranac established Motor Racing Developments with the purpose of building race cars. When Brabham's contract with Cooper expired in 1962, he was free to use the Brabham name. From early that year Brabham Racing Developments built the cars and the Brabham Racing Organization ran the works team.

The team's finest hour arrived in 1966 when they won four times in a row at Reims, Brands Hatch, Zandvoort, and the Nürburgring, earning Brabham the distinction of being the only man in history to win the World Championship driving a car of his own make. Jack Brabham himself retired from driving at the end of the 1970 season, his last race victory in one of his own cars coming in South Africa that year. He was later knighted for his achievements.

The prefix of BT given to all the Brabham racing cars stood for Brabham-Tauranac and Ron ran the team until the end of 1971 when it was sold to Bernie Ecclestone.

Jack Brabham passed away at his home in Australia at the age of 88, on May 19th of 2014. He was one of the most significant motor racing personalities of the 20th century, winning the Formula 1 Driver's World Championship title no fewer than three times. He also won the Formula 1 Constructor's Championship twice. He remains the only individual ever to win the World Championship in a car bearing his own name, built by his own company. Additionally, in 1961, he was the first for decades to drive a Grand Prix-racing derived rear-engined car at Indy (finishing ninth in the Kimberly-Cooper-Climax), triggering Indy's 'rear-engined revolution'.

Motor Racing Developments Ltd. ('MRD') produced their prototype single-seater racing car to contemporary Formula Junior regulations during 1961. After displaying immediate promise, it attracted significant customer interest for 1962. After Jack left Cooper at the end of the 1961 season, he concentrated upon his new venture, and 1962 saw his bustling company produce its pilot batch of Tauranac-designed Formula Junior cars. The progression from Formula Junior to Formula One was unnatural, going from 'entry level' to arguably the highest form of motorsport competition at the time. This, however, is exactly what the young company did, incorporating Brabham's wealth of experience in the sport, resulting in the Brabham BT3 F1 racer. The car initially wore the 'MRD' name, but after French race circuit commentators pronounced the initials, it sounded very rude to Continental crowds. The name was quickly re-titled and Sir Jack and Ron Tauranac began building and racing under the 'Brabham' name.

The Brabham team achieved became one of the most consistently competitive challengers in Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3 and even Indianapolis-style USAC speedway racing during the 1960s. American driver Dan Gurney captured the Brabham F1 team's maiden Grand Prix victory in the French race of 1964. Two years later, Jack Brabham clinched the World title victory in a car bearing his own name and powered by the new 3-liter Repco V8 engines (based upon the alloy Oldsmobile F85 light-alloy block). The following year, Denny Hulme of New Zealand drove his Repco-powered Brabham to win a second consecutive championship for the team.

The team preferred the multi-tubular spaceframe form of chassis construction into 1969. This setup was tuneable, easily repairable, and lightweight.

Brabham BT29 Racer
Brabham built twenty-nine examples of the BT29 for the American Formula B and Formula C racing series. They had a tubular space-frame chassis with an 88-inch wheelbase and were built to various configurations. The front suspension employed unequal length wishbones, adjustable anti-sway bar, coil-over shock absorbers, and Brabham proprietary magnesium uprights. In the back were inverted lower wishbones, single top links, Brabham magnesium uprights, coil shock absorbers, anti-sway bar, and twin radius arms. Girling aluminum dual-piston calipers, solid rotors, and disc brakes provided the stopping power.

The Brabham BT29 race cars were formidable and competitive against the established players of the time including Chevron, Cooper, Lotus, Tecno, Titan, and others. The Brabham BT29 was not ready until later in the season, so privateers raced with the previous year's model including the BT21C and BT23F. Mike Eyerly won five races in the first half of the 1969 season with his 1966 Brabham BT18 (Ford twin cam) in U.S. Formula B competition. This was followed by Fred Stevenson earning two victories in his Lotus 59B and two victories for Skip Barber in his Tecno. Bill Gubelmann scored a victory in the Brabham BT29 (Ford twin cam) at Lime Rock and Reine Wisell won at Sebring in the Chevron B15B.

Formula B was created in 1965 for single-seat formula cars with engine capacity less than 1600cc. Formula B was raced in the United States from 1965 to 1972, initially with the SCCA's poorly supported Formula A, and then in 1967 and 1968 as part of the SCCA Grand Prix Championship. They operated as their own independent series from 1969 to 1972.

Formula C evolved from the failed Formula Junior class and had engine capacity limited to 1100cc engines. The overall weight was limited to 750 pounds, pump fuel only was required, and supercharging devices were not permitted. Both Formula B and C were similar, and both were single-seat, four open-wheeled racing cars with firewall, floor and safety equipment built to SCCA General Competition Rules.

by Daniel Vaughan | Oct 2021