1962 Brabham BT3 Climax (chassis number F1-1-62) - Apart from the lovely original turquoise blue and gold livery of this unique car, it has its place in history as the first Brabham team F1 car. Jack Brabham was still driving for Cooper when he started Motor Racing Developments (MRD) with his Australian friend, Ron Tauranac in 1961. The original purpose was to build Formula Junior and other race cars for sale to private teams, but Brabham decided that following a poor season driving with Cooper he would leave and develop his own F1 car to drive. The BT3 (where ‘B’ stood for Brabham and ’T’ for Tauranac) was a very conventional design for the period, with a tubular steel spaceframe chassis covered by a fibreglass body, rather than a ‘monocoque’ as launched on the Lotus 25 in the same year. It was powered by a 1.5 litre Coventry Climax FWMV V8 engine paired up with a Colotti Francis six-speed gearbox as previously used by Brabham at Cooper. This gave the 485 kg car just under 190bhp at 8,500 rpm. MRD were challenged to get the car fully prepared for the 1962 season and it only debuted in August at the Nürburgring for the German GP. Disappointingly Jack Brabham only qualified the car in 24th place and in the race he had to retire with a broken throttle cable. In this early development phase, the team also ran with a Lotus 24, so the BT3 did not race in every GP. In 1962 it raced in two further F1 races, placing fourth at both Watkins Glen and Kyalami, though it also qualified in 3rd position in South Africa. The car was effectively a prototype for the BT7 which was to run in 1963 and which in 1964, driven by Dan Gurney, gave Brabham their first Grand Prix victory. Whilst the BT only ever competed in six World Championship races, it did give Jack Brabham victory in some non-championship races, such as the 1963 Solitude Grand Prix and the 1963 Austrian GrandPrix. The car was therefore the first F1 car to be driven bearing the same name as its driver and the first to score championship points on the same basis. With only a little development it also formed the basis of the BT4, a successful Tasman Series and Intercontinental Formula car. At the end of the 1963 season the BT3 was sold to a privateer, Ian Raby, who replaced the Climax engine with a BRM V8 and he raced the car a few more times in 1964 and 1965. In 1965 he sold the car to David Hepworth, a hill climb champion, who used the car in hills climbs fitted with a Chevy V8. Shortly after it was taken in to the Donnington Grand Prix museum collection where it stayed until 2012, having been restored to its original 1962 build specification. Since 2012 the car has been used again for historic racing. The blue and gold livery of the car is the original, but for cars following Brabham replaced the turquoise blue with a dark green, in line with Australia’s national colours. The car is photographed here at the Goodwood Revival in 2013.
