Brabham BT19 - Racing History

Racing History

Although regarded by its designer as a "lash-up", BT19 had a very successful Formula One racing career, almost entirely in the hands of Jack Brabham. BT19 was entered in several non-championship Formula One races before the beginning of the 1966 world championship season. At the non-championship South African Grand Prix at East London on 1 January, BT19 was the only new 3-litre car present. It recorded the fastest time in the qualifying session before the race – therefore taking pole position for the start of the race – and led the majority of the event before the fuel injection pump seized. Similar problems stopped the car on the second lap of the Syracuse Grand Prix in Sicily, but at the International Trophy at the Silverstone circuit, Brabham set pole position, a new lap record, and led the whole race to win ahead of 1964 champion John Surtees in a 3-litre works Ferrari.

The 1966 world championship season opened with the Monaco Grand Prix. Brabham was affected by a cold, and qualified poorly before retiring when the BT19's gearbox failed. Surtees led the race in his Ferrari before his differential failed on lap 15; the race was won by Jackie Stewart in a 2-litre BRM P261. At the following Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa circuit, Brabham survived an enormous 135 miles per hour (215 km/h) slide in the rain on the first lap. The shower eliminated half the field, including Stewart, who would miss the next race with his injuries. The BT19, using Goodyear tyres that were not suited to the conditions, came home fourth of five classified finishers. Surtees won the race for Ferrari, the last before he quit the Italian team.

At the French Grand Prix, held at the high speed Reims-Gueux circuit, Brabham followed race leader Lorenzo Bandini closely from the start of the race, using the slipstream of Bandini's more powerful Ferrari to tow him to up to 8 mph (13 km/h) faster down the straights than the BT19 could manage on its own. This allowed Brabham to consolidate his lead over Ferrari's second driver, Formula One novice Mike Parkes. After 12 laps Bandini pulled away from Brabham, eventually by over 30 seconds, but when the Italian car was delayed by a broken throttle cable on lap 32, Brabham cruised to the finish to win from Parkes and become the first man to win a Formula One World Championship race in one of his own cars.

Although the first Brabham BT20, the definitive 1966 car, had been available at Reims, Brabham continued with the BT19 and used it to win the next three championship races. Ferrari, competitive in all three championship races to that point, were not present for the British Grand Prix. The race was held on the tight and twisting Brands Hatch circuit, the track made slippery by oil leaking from other cars and by drizzle. Brabham set pole and led the entire race. At the next championship round, the Dutch Grand Prix, Brabham reported the low speed Zandvoort circuit to be "even more oily and treacherous than Brands." Brabham won the race after Jim Clark's less powerful 2 litre Lotus 33-Climax, which had passed Brabham for the lead mid-race, was delayed by overheating problems. The German Grand Prix was held at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, which Brabham described as "Brands Hatch on steroids". On the opening lap Brabham took the lead from Surtees, now driving a Cooper-Maserati. Brabham won after a race-long fight with the Englishman in the rain. With four wins and more finishes than any of his championship rivals, Brabham had a 22 point lead in the drivers championship and could only be caught in the championship by Surtees or Stewart if one of them won all three of the remaining races.

Jack Brabham used BT19 again at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, another high speed circuit. A second BT20 was completed at the Italian track and Brabham tried it in practice for the race, but decided to race his Old Nail, which he felt was fitted with a stronger engine. As at Reims, Brabham successfully slipstreamed the race leaders early on, but an oil leakage stopped the car after 8 laps. Neither Surtees nor Stewart finished the race and Brabham clinched his third world championship.

Brabham used the BT19 once more that season to take pole position and victory at the non-championship Oulton Park Gold Cup, before using a new BT20 for the final two races of the championship season. The BT19 was used again at three of the first four championship races in the 1967 Formula One season, debuting the new Repco 740 engine at the Monaco Grand Prix, where it took pole position, and finishing second at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Commenting on the reasons for the unexpected competitiveness of the 1966 Brabham-Repcos in Formula One, motorsport historian Doug Nye has suggested that they "could score on weight over the more powerful Ferrari, BRM, Cooper-Maserati, Eagle-Weslake and Honda in their undeveloped forms, and on sheer 'grunt' over such interim stop-gap cars as the nimble 2-litre Climax and BRM V8-engined Lotus 33s and BRMs."

BT19 also competed in the final two races of the 1965/66 Tasman Series in Australia, which was run to the pre-1961 Formula One regulations, including an engine capacity limit of 2.5 litres. Tasman racing was the original purpose of the Repco engine and Brabham's involvement was supposed to promote the 2.5-litre version. Frank Hallam, head of the Repco-Brabham organisation responsible for designing and building the Repco engines, has said that the smaller version "never put out the power per litre that the 3 litre engine produced", which itself was not a powerful unit. Fitted with the 2.5-litre engine BT19 recorded one retirement and a third place in the series.