1971 Brabham BT35

After spending two years in the Air Force, Jack Brabham of Australia set up a small repair shop where he soon began building cars that bore his own name. He would later meet Ron Tauranac and would form a partnership that would take them to Europe and into Formula 1 competition. Jack would become the first individual to win the World Drivers Championship (1966) in a car bearing his own name. The Brabham would win the Championship again the following year, this time in the hands of Denny Hulme.

The Company continued to build customer cars while they competed in Formula 1. The Brabham BT35 was a customer car built to compete in SCCA, Formula B/Atlantic, and Formula 3. The BT35A was the SCCA American car entry with a total of three examples produced. The BT35A had inboard rear brakes, Ford Twin Cam engines, and a Hewland FT 200 gearbox. The BT35B Formula B/Atlantic version had outboard rear brakes, Hewland FT200 gearbox, and a Lotus Twin Cam engine. There were seven examples produced. The final iteration of the BT35 was the BT35C which competed in Formula 3. Twenty-seven examples were made and they had Hewland Mark 8 gearboxes.

All three versions of the BT35 were basically the same with only minor differences between each. They all had a welded tubular steel space frame with a fiberglass body. This would be the last Brabham to be built with a tubular chassis.

By Daniel Vaughan | Jul 2009