Brabham BT40

[Gary Jarlson]

Chris/Allen

I have the following information on a couple of the BT40/41s.

BT40-33: The car and an engine from Swindon was purchased by Ted Titmas through Brabham dealer Swanson Motor Racing of Costa Mesa, CA with provision made for Titmas to pick it up at MRD. The already-paid-for car sat at the factory for quite a bit of time, prompting several calls from Eccelstone as to what was going on. Perhaps, since it was just sitting there, Bernie figured he would run it for Reutemann at Thruxton. Titmas eventually collected the car and ran a couple of UK events before shipping it back home. Titmas ran the car sporadically in the US before selling it. The next time I saw the car, which had a '74/'75B March nose, was when I raced against it at club eents at Las Vegas and Riverside. It was owned an driven by John Angus. Marc Bahner bought the car and restored it, updating it to 4-poot Lockheeds on the front and aluminum Konis. Bahner sold the car and it was raced in West Coast clubs events by George Seidel (sp?) and Bob Schilling. The last time I saw the car, about 6 or 7 years ago, was at a vintage race in Tustin, CA, and was owned, I believe, by Ken Partch (sp?) Just today, I came across an ad for the car in the August 2005 edition of Vintage Racecar magazine. I spoke with the then-owner, Perry Sands. He said he sold the car last year, but doesn't remember who he bought it. He claims the car was Titmas", but the chassis number is 35.

BT 40-30: This ex-Meyers-Munroe-Christ-Whitton-Fazzi car is supposedly now owned by Tom Crowther in Texas.

BT41-30: This car, currently advertised on the Race Car Sales site, was raced in Southern California in the late '70s and early '80s by Tom Spagnola. The ad says the body is Falconer, but it looks very much like a kit Marc Bahner produced for several Brabhams, including his own BT29, my BT28 and Warren Pogue's BT38. It consisted of a '73B March nose and cowling and a '74B engine cover. Interest note: the ad says the car has an aluminum tub, but when I comtemplated buying from Spagnola, I was warned away because the BT41s were built with steel tubs to meet F3 minimum weight.

Gary Jarlson