1964 Brabham BT8

This example is a revival of the original SC1-64 which was constructed new for 1964 and put on display at the BRSCC Racing Car Show in London. It was campaigned by former Cooper exponents Bill Knight and Arthur Owen during the 1964 season. Power was from a 2-liter four-cylinder Coventry Climax FPF engine driven through a five-speed Hewland HD5 transaxle gearbox.

The next owner was racer/dealer Robs Lamplough who brought it to North America and drove it to finish 15th in the Canadian Grand Prix race at Mosport Park. He finished 16th overall at the LA Times Grand Prix at Riverside on October 11. He then raced it at the Monterey Pacific Grand Prix at Laguna Seca on October 18th of that year.

The car without the engine was then sold to American girl racer Judy Kondratieff. The Kondratieff had the car modified to accept a 289 cubic-inch Ford V8 powerplant. In this form, it was raced by driver Bart Martin at Scokton, CA in June of 1965. Sadly, the car crashed at Candlestick Park and claimed the life of Martin. The car was destroyed - later, Kondratieff authorized American-domiciled French ex-racing motorcyclist Phillipe de l'Espinay to recreate this sports-racing car in its original Climax 4-cylinder engined form.

By Daniel Vaughan | Jul 2013