Brabham BT 6 (Formula Junior 1963)

[Denis Lupton]

Thought it would be time to start this list-
Brabham BT6,
FJ-1-63 Works, then to Cunningham early '63
FJ-2-63 Works to J. Olsen,to Phillipe Martel
FJ-3-63 Ian Walker Racing Paul Hawkins
FJ-4-63 Rodney Banting,Alan Bates, Bruce Harre, Graeme Lawrence *
FJ-5-63 David Prophet
FJ-6-63 Ian Walker Racing Frank Gardner
FJ-7-63 Green Man Garage John Dunn
FJ-8-63 Curt Lincoln
FJ-9-63 Works Denis Hulme, A.Mildren Racing,Roly Levis,Bill Stone, Giggs
Alexander,Ian McDonald,Ed Holly
FJ-10-63 Mike Hailwood
FJ-11-63 Giannini A&d, Scuderia Montegrappa
FJ-12-63 Denis O'Sullivan, Ken Sager
FJ-13-63 John Peterson (written off)
FJ-14-63 Ford France Jo Schlesser
FJ-15-63 Gavin Youl, Greg Cusack,various,Henk Woelders,Jon Davison,Harry Forde,Peter Johnson.
FJ-16-63 Betty Haig, Peter Richardson
FJ-17-63 Charles Vogelle Silvio Moser
FJ-18-63 Andy Buchanan, Bill Caldwell, to Wock? UK **
FJ-19-63 Grand Prix International Corp of L.A. Bruce Kessler
FJ-20-63 Langley garage Graham White

* FJ-4-63 At Snetterton Banting had bad crash with Roy James- car rebuilt
-new chassis??
** FJ-18-63 Roly Levis helped in rebuild after big accident and drove the car but never owned it.
More to come Regards Denis

[Ted Walker]

FJ-11-63. Are you sure Denis ????

[allenbrown]

Great stuff Denis. I had been asked to hold of publishing your list until I'd had a chance to speak to Duncan Rabagliati but it never got to the top of my to-do list.

Now the cat is out of the bag and right in among the chickens!

Allen

[David McKinney]

Interesting statement that Levis never owned #18 - was it still owned by the Caldwell family then?
Next owner's name was Yock, incidentally

Also, on #9 - Jiggs Alexander (not Giggs)

[Chris Townsend]

FJ-1-63 observed by F1R on Mike Lawlor's car entered for John Miles 31 Jan 1965, so presumably the Lawlor car in 1964?

Hard to square this with the car going to Cunningham

Chris

[allenbrown]

... unless Brabham were already doing what they later did with the BT14s and sending cars with the same chassis plate to different corners of the planet.

[Ted Walker]

That is possible Allen. That could explain the chassis 11 mystery.Sent to Tasman Series on a BT4 as well as Italy on a Junior.Has anyone got any race entries for Italian FJ races ???

[Andrew Fellowes]

FJ-15-63 Tasman Revival Meeting

[Ted Walker]

Denis. Could you please reply re chassis 11 .I have had contact with someone in Europe who claims to know its where-abouts, but until your list always thought it was allocated to a BT4

[John Turner]

Bryan Miller sent me this a while back (aplogies, Bryan). A scan taken from
'The Book of Australian Motor Racing' , W.P. Tuckey [Murray Publishing ] about 1966. I'm afraid that I can't really read the caption properly; perhaps Bryan can clarify:

[John Turner]

Another scan, sent by Bryan:-

[Bryan Miller]

Thank you very much John.

1st photo is the Catalina Park accident in Jan. 1964 of FJ-15-63 , after this a new frame and other components were recieved from the factory and the car rebuilt , the new frame that was supplied appears to be a BT9 , slight differences.

The remains were acquired about 1967 by ex Brabham employee Roy Pounder and along with the radiator and other stuff from the John Harvey/Bob Jane BT14 , FL-1-65 , these were all built back up and was the car 1st used by Andy Frankel , thence to Pat Burke racing for a new and upcoming driver Neil Allen , then with Terry Finnigan and called a BT18 then recieved BT36 body panels , then to Roy Goodman , then to Current owner Brian Pymble , rebuilt back as an FJ , frame no. is 2363 , from memory , but maybe 2763.
The bits that came from FL-1-65 were available as Bob Brittan [ Rennmax] had converted that car to 2.5 Repco and they needed some heavier duty components .

The second set of photo's are from Bob Brittan's collection of FJ-15-63 as it was being readied to transport to Canberra for Greg Cusack , the car having just been offloaded from the boat from the U.K.
I have about 20 various photo's of the car at this point.

Bryan Miller.

[Denis Lupton]

Regarding the rebuilt car which ended up with Pat Bourke Racing,
I think the young upcoming driver was Warwick Brown,was it not.?
Had quite a career after this car,also.
Also,I'm sure Neil Allen could afford his own cars.
Cheers Denis

[Bryan Miller]

You are quite correct , Sunday morning brain fade.

[Ted Walker]

Please ignore all the c..p I was talking about re FJ-11-63 I do of course mean 11-62 (BT2)

[TM Lee]

I was interested if anyone has or knows any history on this BT 6 21-63
Once owned by Dick James and Bob Baker and Reg Howel.
Is it infact a BT 6?

[Denis Lupton]

G'day T M Lee
I have records and some photos of several BT6's,or cars reputed to be BT6's, in the U.S.A for many years.
FJ-21-63 with the owners you list,also Ed Brannon,of Scottsdale, Arizona
FJ-22-63 Jim Miller, Palo Verdes,California
FJ-24-63 Cameron MacArthur,Fort Collins, Colorado , this car supposedly
ex Augie Pabst , and in 1991 to Sid Hoole.(Also John Stokes,and Neil Porter in US)
Maybe these cars were a late production run for Fred Opert,or back door car's , who knows, but certainly these cars have long and interesting histories in the US.
Denis

[TM Lee]

Thanks Denis,
You're right about Ed Brannon, I'm told (by Dick James)he purchased 2163 from Fred Opert in 66 or 68 and it came into the states with a twin cam.
It was restored back to Formula junior spec in 99 when Bob Baker bought the car from Dick James.
Does anyone know, if indeed these are frame numbers is there a record of frame numbers that relates to chassis #?

[allenbrown]

I'm still stuck on the 1500cc Brabham that John Romanes drove through 1964 but, given that he had it as early as April and yet only ran minor events, I'm guessing it had to be a BT2 or BT6.

But the reason's I'm posting here is that I found an advert for a Brabham Formule Libre Racing Car (1963) in Autosport 17 Apr 1964 p545 described as "one or two hill climbs only, in virtually new condition" and with or without a twin cam. Offered by The Chequered Flag (Grand Touring Cars) Ltd of Gemini House, High Street, Edgware. I know I should know who they were but I've gone a blank. Is this another BT6?

Allen

[Bryan Miller]

Allen,

Pretty much has to be a BT6 , all the BT2's are running around in various places / continents , and being advertised in mid April 64 , it just about has to be a BT6 , cannot really see a 1964 production BT9/BT10 being used in a few hillclimbs and then sold , your U.K. season has barely started by that time.

Bryan.

[allenbrown]

In an effort to move this forward a notch:

Brabham drivers in UK 1963 (from formula2.net)

Rodney Banting - BT6 [FJ-4-63]
John Dunn (Green Man Garage) - BT6 [FJ-7-63]
Frank Gardner (Ian Walker (Racing)) - BT6 [FJ-6-63]
Mike Hailwood (Reg Parnell Racing) - BT6 [FJ-10-63?]
Paul Hawkins (Reg Parnell Racing) - BT6 [FJ-3-63?]
Denny Hulme (works) - BT6 [FJ-9-63?]
Roy James - BT6 [FJ-1-63?]
Bob Olthoff - BT2 [FJ-6-62]
Denis O'Sullivan (Motor Racing Stables) - BT6 [FJ-12-63]
David Prophet - BT6 [FJ-5-63]
Cliff Ward - BT2 [FJ-9-62] and 'BT6' (the BT2 again?)

Also elsewhere in Europe (from formula2.net)

Giorgio Acutis (Scuderia Centro Sud, I) - BT6 is this [FJ-11-63]?
Curt Lincoln (Scuderia Askolin, SF) - BT6 [FJ-8-63]
Philippe Martel (F) - BT2 [unknown] and BT6 [FJ-2-63]
John Peterson (North Star Racing Team) - BT6 [FJ-13-63]
Jo Schlesser (Ecurie Ford France, F) - BT6 [FJ-14-63]
Klaas ’Jimmy’ Twisk (The Tulip Stable, NL) - BT2 [FJ-4-62]

BT6s that aren't seen in Europe

(FJ-1-63 and FJ-2-63 aren't easy to decipher)
FJ-15-63 in Australia
FJ-16-63 "Betty Haig, Peter Richardson" - who?
FJ-17-63 in Switzerland
FJ-18-63 in New Zealand
FJ-19-63 Bruce Kessler (US) in SCCA FJ racing 1964
FJ-20-63 Graham White (Langley Garage, Cheam) in 1965. No sign of either in 1964.

Can anyone help with some of the question marks? The Chequered Flag libre car isn't easy to spot in this but FJ-16-63 and FJ-20-63 are possibilities.

Allen

[edholly]

Allen

FJ-9-63 was Hulme’s “works” car. Duncan Rabagliati and Denis Lupton support this in correspondence I have querying a claim by another BT6 in this regard.

Interestingly, at the end of the ‘63 season Frank Gardner fitted a Cosworth/Lotus twincam for the 64 Tasman series for Alec Mildren Racing, which Frank then drove in the Australian races. The car went on to have 24 starts in Tasman events over next 5 years, until 1968, (65/66 Roly Levis, 67/68 Bill Stone) I think this is more starts than any other Tasman car.

On a side issue a mate has just bought the first Elan ever to race in Australia, and although it is completely apart and body in poor condition, it is all there, and the head was stamped 26 3 63 with this in mind we looked under the head of the BT6 and although we could not see the day, the last numbers were 10 63 which would indicate that FJ-9-63 still has its “Cosworth” head from when Frank fitted it in late 1963, some 43 and a bit years ago! These 2 heads are quite different externally to the later Escort type heads.

[allenbrown]

Originally Posted by edholly

The car went on to have 24 starts in Tasman events over next 5 years, until 1968, (65/66 Roly Levis, 67/68 Bill Stone) I think this is more starts than any other Tasman car.

Could be!

Of the cars I can trace, best is Brabham BT7A [IC-1-63] on 23 starts. But for a DNS at the 1967 NZ GP, it would have been a tie.

Allen

[edholly]

As part of my ongoing research into FJ-9-63 I have spoken to a New Zealander, Wayne Rogers who lives in Auckland, but is not on the internet unfortunately.

Wayne owned FJ-4-63 for a time, and was at a race meeting around 1982 with this car. Also at this meeting was Denny Hulme.

Wayne tells me that Denny wandered over to the car and looked into the cockpit and upon seeing the chassis plate there, said to Wayne, in company with Peter Bruin and Terry Holthon ....

"Ah good old chassis no 4, this was the car that I used at Brands Hatch in 196? in the snow. I removed my engine and gearbox from my red car and put it into this spare chassis and ...

... the question mark is because Wayne thought he said 1963, but on reflection Wayne agreed it must have been 1962.

I believe that the last of the BT2s was on a boat about to leave for Australia, so one would have to imagine that the BT6s were already under construction around the end of December, why Denny chose chassis 4 one could, I guess, never be sure, but one thing I reckon you could be sure about is that he would remember the car he drove there.

It was this drive that really then brought about the invite to have the works drive in Formula Junior(chassis 9) in 63 and consequently launched Denny's career. Of course Chassis 4 went to Rodney Banting according to the archives, then Alan Bates before Bruce Harre bought it off Clive? Baker and shipped it to New Zealand for Graham Lawrence.

[Neptune]

I know someone will be interested in the following link to the photo of a Brabham FJr. I am not a Brabham expert, but I suppose it is either a Bt2 or BT6. It does have the same 4-spoke wobbly wheels I have. Photo was from Lyndale Farm course near Chicago in 1965. The track is no longer in operation.
http://mcsccpix.homestead.com/65_13.html

Roger