Mark Osborne
Global Director of Motorsport
LOT 134 *
1969 Brabham BT30 Formula 2 racing single-seater Chassis no. BT30-4 / BT30-7 (See text) / Arch Motors chassis serial stamp: AM 69/7
Estimate: €110,000 - €140,000
Lot 134*
The Ex-Frank Williams Racing Team/Ex-Derek Bell
1969 Brabham BT30 Formula 2 racing single-seater
1969 Brabham BT30 Formula 2 racing single-seater
1969 Brabham BT30 Formula 2 racing single-seater
Chassis no. BT30-4 / BT30-7 (See text) / Arch Motors chassis serial stamp: AM 69/7
Chassis no. BT30-4 / BT30-7 (See text) / Arch Motors chassis serial stamp: AM 69/7
The Brabham BT30 spaceframe chassis design by the great Ron Tauranac has become renowned as providing one of the most competitive, good-handling, nice-to-drive and above all forgiving single-seaters of its era. It was introduced by the Jack Brabham/Ron Tauranac-owned Motor Racing Developments company for the 1969 racing season and while it was made available to private customers as a tailored 1.6-litre Formula 2 contender it had a1-litre Formula 3 'little sister' using a similar frame, the BT28 model.
These cars were quite dramatic improvements over the already super-successful preceding 1967-68 BT23/23C series. The BT28 and 30 offered a more complex and much more rigid spaceframe chassis, and the Brabham production marque's almost unique ability to produce already well-developed and truly race worthy designs that were bug-free and in the right hands competitive straight o9ut of the box made them very popularly.
Unfortunately, the little factory at New Haw, Surrey, almost within the shadow of the pre-war Brooklands Motor Course banking, encountered early production delays, which perhaps cost them a few impatient clients, eager to have their new cars ready from the opening race of the new year.
The BT30s sleek new bodywork, with its aerodynamically-effective thrust forward lower lip to the nose radiator, proved very effective and the model was always a potential race winner on the faster 'slipstream' circuits.
For the third successive year Cosworth Engineering had things all their own way with their FVA (Four-Valve Type A) 4-cyliunder twin-cam engines. In 1968 they had made all the running until the last two European F2 races when the latest V6 Ferrari Dinos triumphed. However, during the winter into 1969 Cosworth extracted even higher revs from the units which then ran up to 10,000rom and most were developing around 230bhp. The price of the power unit alone was increased from £2,500 to £3,000 but they proved generally reliable and relatively inexpensive to maintain. One competitor even managed the remarkable feat of running his FVA engine in seven consecutive races without a rebuild...
The particular car now offered here began life as chassis serial "BT30/4', ordered by Frank Williams Racing Cars Ltd, the future multiple World Champion Formula 1 constructor then further consolidating his company in Formula 2 while running his first Formula 1 program with a single ex-works Brabham BT26 for his wonderfully talented driver Piers Courage.
Motor Racing Developments' early-year delays meant the car was not delivered to the Williams workshop in Slough, Buckinghamshire, until June 1969. It was immediately prepared and run for aspiring driver Malcolm (later Sir Malcolm) Guthrie in two Formula 2 races at Zolder in Belgium and Monza, Italy, and later in the season would be entrusted to former Ferrari works driver – and future five-times Le Mans 24-Hour race winner - Derek Bell in the 1969 Rome GP at Vallelunga ending that season.
The car then reappeared in June 1970 by which time it had passed from the Frank Williams team to the Italian Scuderia Jolly Club to be driven in Formula 2 events by Giancarlo Gagliardi. Although it was then recorded as carrying the chassis serial 'BT30-7' instead of 'BT30-4' we understand that the actual frame-identifying manufacturing number 'AM69-7' remained stamped into the metalwork. This stamping survives right ther to this day and we believe that the Italian teams simply used that number '7' accordingly as their car identifying Customs carnet number. Of course, at the time it was absolutely standard practice to apply whatever chassis number to a car that might be necessary to match pre-existing Customs carnet paperwork – fresh carnets were themselves costly...
The car subsequently appeared in the hands of sometime Formula 1 privateer Silvio Moser in the South American-series Colombian race at Bogotá early in 1971 and at at the far more prosaic-sounding British circuit of Mallory Park that March. The Italian Scuderia Ala d'Oro subsequently entered it for several other drivers until the team's other two BT30s were destroyed in accidents and its management invested in new March 712M cars as immediate replacements.
This surviving Scuderia Ala d'Oro BT30 was then noted as appearing at Monza in June 1971, where its driver 'Gimax' (Carlo Franchi) failed to qualify and became a non-starter.
It is subsequently believed to have passed into the ownership of Fabio Montani (Italy) in 1997 before being imported to the USA by Dave Irwin of Colorado in 1998. It was then restored before being acquired by Barry Marquart of Kansas in 1999. Later owners have included Peter McLaughlin of Hannover, New Hampshire in 2005, internationally well-know Historic and Vintage racer James King of Belleville, Illinois, 2006, and Richard Scott of Ohio in 2007 before passing into the discerning ownership of its current vendor, in 2009 when it appeared in the US Vintage Grand Prix event at Watkins Glen that September.
Overall, this most attractive Formula 2 Brabham-Cosworth BT30 has been campaigned at frontline international Formula 2 level for the legendary Frank Williams Racing Cars team by Malcolm Guthrie and Derek Bell, and subsequently by Italian entrants for Giancarlo Gagliardi, Silvio Moser, Gian-Luigi Picchi, Vittorio Brambilla, Ernesto 'Tino' Brambilla and of course Carlo 'Gimax' Franchi.
Please note that if this vehicle is sold to a French private buyer or an EU private individual the reduced rate of Import VAT at 5.5% will be charged on the hammer price. The Import VAT will be invoiced to you by our custom broker who will also charge a clearance fee. If you buy as a Trader or Company however, the Finances Publiques will charge you directly (based on our customs broker clearance) and the French VAT Import Charges will not appear on your Bonhams invoice. Please note that if you purchase as an EU Company, you are required to pay the VAT in your registered country at the relevant rate. Import rates to other EU Countries may vary and an administration fee will be charged to prepare the necessary customs clearance. If you have any questions regarding customs clearance, please contact the Bonhams Motorcar Department or our recommended shippers.
These cars were quite dramatic improvements over the already super-successful preceding 1967-68 BT23/23C series. The BT28 and 30 offered a more complex and much more rigid spaceframe chassis, and the Brabham production marque's almost unique ability to produce already well-developed and truly race worthy designs that were bug-free and in the right hands competitive straight o9ut of the box made them very popularly.
Unfortunately, the little factory at New Haw, Surrey, almost within the shadow of the pre-war Brooklands Motor Course banking, encountered early production delays, which perhaps cost them a few impatient clients, eager to have their new cars ready from the opening race of the new year.
The BT30s sleek new bodywork, with its aerodynamically-effective thrust forward lower lip to the nose radiator, proved very effective and the model was always a potential race winner on the faster 'slipstream' circuits.
For the third successive year Cosworth Engineering had things all their own way with their FVA (Four-Valve Type A) 4-cyliunder twin-cam engines. In 1968 they had made all the running until the last two European F2 races when the latest V6 Ferrari Dinos triumphed. However, during the winter into 1969 Cosworth extracted even higher revs from the units which then ran up to 10,000rom and most were developing around 230bhp. The price of the power unit alone was increased from £2,500 to £3,000 but they proved generally reliable and relatively inexpensive to maintain. One competitor even managed the remarkable feat of running his FVA engine in seven consecutive races without a rebuild...
The particular car now offered here began life as chassis serial "BT30/4', ordered by Frank Williams Racing Cars Ltd, the future multiple World Champion Formula 1 constructor then further consolidating his company in Formula 2 while running his first Formula 1 program with a single ex-works Brabham BT26 for his wonderfully talented driver Piers Courage.
Motor Racing Developments' early-year delays meant the car was not delivered to the Williams workshop in Slough, Buckinghamshire, until June 1969. It was immediately prepared and run for aspiring driver Malcolm (later Sir Malcolm) Guthrie in two Formula 2 races at Zolder in Belgium and Monza, Italy, and later in the season would be entrusted to former Ferrari works driver – and future five-times Le Mans 24-Hour race winner - Derek Bell in the 1969 Rome GP at Vallelunga ending that season.
The car then reappeared in June 1970 by which time it had passed from the Frank Williams team to the Italian Scuderia Jolly Club to be driven in Formula 2 events by Giancarlo Gagliardi. Although it was then recorded as carrying the chassis serial 'BT30-7' instead of 'BT30-4' we understand that the actual frame-identifying manufacturing number 'AM69-7' remained stamped into the metalwork. This stamping survives right ther to this day and we believe that the Italian teams simply used that number '7' accordingly as their car identifying Customs carnet number. Of course, at the time it was absolutely standard practice to apply whatever chassis number to a car that might be necessary to match pre-existing Customs carnet paperwork – fresh carnets were themselves costly...
The car subsequently appeared in the hands of sometime Formula 1 privateer Silvio Moser in the South American-series Colombian race at Bogotá early in 1971 and at at the far more prosaic-sounding British circuit of Mallory Park that March. The Italian Scuderia Ala d'Oro subsequently entered it for several other drivers until the team's other two BT30s were destroyed in accidents and its management invested in new March 712M cars as immediate replacements.
This surviving Scuderia Ala d'Oro BT30 was then noted as appearing at Monza in June 1971, where its driver 'Gimax' (Carlo Franchi) failed to qualify and became a non-starter.
It is subsequently believed to have passed into the ownership of Fabio Montani (Italy) in 1997 before being imported to the USA by Dave Irwin of Colorado in 1998. It was then restored before being acquired by Barry Marquart of Kansas in 1999. Later owners have included Peter McLaughlin of Hannover, New Hampshire in 2005, internationally well-know Historic and Vintage racer James King of Belleville, Illinois, 2006, and Richard Scott of Ohio in 2007 before passing into the discerning ownership of its current vendor, in 2009 when it appeared in the US Vintage Grand Prix event at Watkins Glen that September.
Overall, this most attractive Formula 2 Brabham-Cosworth BT30 has been campaigned at frontline international Formula 2 level for the legendary Frank Williams Racing Cars team by Malcolm Guthrie and Derek Bell, and subsequently by Italian entrants for Giancarlo Gagliardi, Silvio Moser, Gian-Luigi Picchi, Vittorio Brambilla, Ernesto 'Tino' Brambilla and of course Carlo 'Gimax' Franchi.
Please note that if this vehicle is sold to a French private buyer or an EU private individual the reduced rate of Import VAT at 5.5% will be charged on the hammer price. The Import VAT will be invoiced to you by our custom broker who will also charge a clearance fee. If you buy as a Trader or Company however, the Finances Publiques will charge you directly (based on our customs broker clearance) and the French VAT Import Charges will not appear on your Bonhams invoice. Please note that if you purchase as an EU Company, you are required to pay the VAT in your registered country at the relevant rate. Import rates to other EU Countries may vary and an administration fee will be charged to prepare the necessary customs clearance. If you have any questions regarding customs clearance, please contact the Bonhams Motorcar Department or our recommended shippers.
Footnotes
Ex-écurie Frank Williams/Ex-Derek Bell
1969 Brabham-Cosworth BT30
Monoplace Formule 2
Châssis n° BT30-4 / BT30-7 (voir texte)
Frappe du châssis Arch Motors : AM 69/7
Le châssis tubulaire de la Brabham BT30, conçu par le grand Ron Tauranac, est reconnu comme celui qui a donné l'une des monoplaces les plus compétitives, les plus maniables, les plus agréables à piloter et, surtout, les plus indulgentes de son époque. Elle fut inaugurée par la Motor Racing Developments company Jack Brabham, propriété de Ron Tauranac pour la saison 1969 et, bien qu'elle ait été proposée pour les pilotes privés en version Formule 2 1,6 litre, elle avait aussi une sœur jumelle de Formule 3 à moteur 1 litre sur le même châssis, la BT28.
Ces voitures étaient des versions sensiblement améliorées des modèles de la série BT23/23C de 1967-68 qui étaient déjà très réussis. Les BT28 et 30 faisaient appel à un châssis tubulaire plus complexe et bien plus rigide et la capacité unique en son genre de la marque Brabham à produire des modèles aboutis prêts à courir, sans défaut et particulièrement performants lorsqu'ils étaient confiés à de bons pilotes, sans autre préparation, les avait rendus très populaires.
Malheureusement, la petite usine de New Haw, dans le Surrey, située pratiquement sous les virages relevés du circuit de Brooklands, rencontra des retards de production qui lui coûtèrent probablement quelques clients impatients, pressés d'avoir leur nouvelle monture pour l'épreuve d'ouverture de la saison.
L'élégante nouvelle carrosserie des BT30, avec sa lèvre inférieure proéminente devant le radiateur s'avéra aérodynamiquement très efficace et le modèle était toujours un vainqueur potentiel sur les circuits les plus rapides.
Pour la troisième année consécutive, Cosworth Engineering avait les mains libres avec ses moteurs 4 cylindres à double arbre à cames FVA (Four-Valve - quatre soupapes - Type A). En 1968, ils avaient fait le spectacle jusqu'au deux dernières épreuves de F2 européennes lorsque le V6 Ferrari Dino l'avait emporté. Mais pendant l'hiver en 1969 Cosworth avait réussi à pousser le régime de ses blocs qui montaient désormais à 10 000 tr/min et la plupart développaient environ 230 ch. Le prix du moteur seul était passé de 2 500 £ à 3 000 £ mais il s'avérait généralement fiable et peu coûteux à entretenir. L'un des concurrents réussit même à engager son moteur FVA dans sept épreuves consécutives sans le refaire...
La voiture que nous proposons ici a débuté sa vie sous le numéro de châssis BT30/4, commandé par Frank Williams Racing Cars Ltd, le futur multiple champion de Formule 1, qui consolidait alors sa position en Formule 2, tandis qu'il entamait son premier programme de Formule 1 avec une seule ancienne Brabham BT26 d'usine, confiée à son talentueux pilote Piers Courage.
Les retards de Motor Racing Developments de début d'année eurent pour conséquence que la voiture ne fut pas livrée à l'atelier de Williams à Slough, dans le Buckinghamshire, avant juin 1969. Elle fut immédiatement préparée et confiée au pilote débutant Malcolm (plus tard Sir Malcolm) Guthrie dans deux épreuves de Formule 2 à Zolder en Belgique et à Monza en Italie, et plus tard dans la saison allait être confiée à l'ex-pilote d'usine Ferrari – et futur quintuple vainqueur des 24 Heures du Mans – Derek Bell, au Grand Prix de Rome, à Vallelunga, qui clôturait la saison 1969.
La voiture réapparut en juin 1970 alors qu'elle était passée de l'écurie de Frank Williams à l'écurie italienne Scuderia Jolly Club où elle était pilotée dans les courses de Formula 2 par Giancarlo Gagliardi. Bien qu'elle ait alors été enregistrée avec le numéro de châssis BT30-7 au lieu de BT30-4, nous savons que le vrai numéro de fabrication du châssis AM69-7 était toujours frappé dans le métal. Ce marquage subsiste encore aujourd'hui et nous supposons que l'écurie italienne a simplement utilisé ce numéro 7 sur les papiers d'identification des douanes. C'était une pratique tout à fait courante à l'époque d'attribuer n'importe quel numéro de châssis à une voiture pour qu'il corresponde aux papiers de douane existants – de nouveaux papiers étant extrêmement couteux...
Elle apparut aux mains du pilote privé de Formule 1 Silvio Moser à l'épreuve colombienne des séries sud-américaines à Bogotá au début de 1971 et au circuit britannique de Mallory Park en mars. L'écurie italienne Scuderia Ala d'Oro l'engagea par la suite pour différents pilotes jusqu'à ce que les deux autres BT30 de l'écurie soient détruites dans des accidents et que les dirigeants investissent dans les nouvelles March 712M pour les remplacer.
Cette BT30 survivante de la Scuderia Ala d'Oro a été revue à Monza en juin 1971, quand son pilote « Gimax » (Carlo Franchi) ne réussit pas à se qualifier et ne prit pas le départ.
On pense qu'elle est ensuite passée en la possession de Fabio Montani (en Italie) en 1997, avant d'être exportée aux États-Unis par Dave Irwin dans le Colorado en 1998. Elle a alors été restaurée, avant d'être acquise par Barry Marquart dans le Kansas en 1999. Les propriétaires suivants comprennent Peter McLaughlin d'Hannover, dans le New Hampshire en 2005, le pilote d'épreuves historiques internationalement connu James King de Belleville, dans l'Illinois, en 2006, et Richard Scott dans l'Ohio en 2007, avant d'atterrir aux mains connaisseuses du propriétaire actuel en 2009 lorsqu'elle courut l'US Vintage Grand Prix de Watkins Glen en septembre.
Cette séduisante Brabham-Cosworth BT30 de Formule 2, pour résumer, a été engagée au plus haut niveau en Formule 2 international par la légendaire écurie Frank Williams Racing Cars pour Malcolm Guthrie et Derek Bell, puis par la suite par des écuries italiennes pour les pilotes Giancarlo Gagliardi, Silvio Moser, Gian-Luigi Picchi, Vittorio Brambilla, Ernesto « Tino » Brambilla et, bien sûr, Carlo « Gimax » Franchi.
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| * | Import low rate |
| VAT on imported items at a reduced rate of 5.5% on the hammer price and the prevailing rate on buyer's premium if the item remains in EU. TVA sur les objets importés à un taux réduit de 5.5% sur le prix d'adjudication et un taux en vigueur sur la prime d'achat dans le cas où l'objet reste dans l'Union Européenne. |
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