Brabham BT40

[Chris Townsend]

Here is the list I have of BT40s in Canadian and SCCA races 1973 - 76. This is very incomplete for SCCA and 73-74 in Canada


1973

Alan Lader BT40
Craig Hill BT40 retained 1974
Mike Hall BT40 [Opert]
Ted Titmus BT40-33

South East Asia 1973
John Macdonald BT40 chassis no 35
Albert Poon BT40 kept for years and later raced by his wife
Brian Robertson BT40 [Opert]
also uses BT38 'ex Jaussaud' [Opert] this car also raced by de Adamich for Opert at Caracas, Venezuala


1974
Canada
Alan Karlberg Probably a BT40
Bill Eagles BT40
Craig Hill BT40
Peter Ferguson BT40 at Edmonton [as Ferguson races a Chevron B20 at Westwood and later in the season at Mosport and Halifax I'm guessing that this car is badly damaged at Gimli, the race after Edmonton for which I have no report, or else it was a hire car]

SCCA
Norm Johnson BT40
Dan Carmichael BT40
Mike Hall BT40

1975
Canada
Ron Householder BT40 ex Alan Lader

SCCA
Mike Rand BT40
Ken Duclos BT40-17
John Elder BT40

1976
Howard Kelly BT40 ex Craig Hill


Anybody able to fit any of those into a pattern or offer connections?!!

Chris

[David McKinney]

Some comments on Chris's impressive list:

Plus Robertson in a BT40 in Canada 1973 - the car he raced for Opert in Asia?
Jaussaud also drove an Opert BT40 in 1973, I think Roos’s regular mount

[Chris Townsend]

Agree Jaussaud in an Opert BT40 in 1973 but described as a new car built for the race at Trois Rivieres

Robertson's BT40 is Opert

Chris

[Chris Townsend]

Some more digging in Canadian race results for 1973 gives us the following updates on Brabhams

BT40s
Lader
Hill [both already mentioned in this thread I tink]
plus
Bill Eagles
Gilles Leger


At Sanair R3 we have the appearance of Hugh Cree in an unspecified Brabham, Peter Overing in a BT38 [not the Powell car] and Lader races the Eagles BT40 after stuffing his own in practice

At Debert, R5, Roos races an Opert BT35, but at Mosport R7, he has a new BT40

Chris

[allenbrown]

I've been working through this thread identifying Sprint BT40s.

The one I can't identify is:

Brabham-Hart BDA BT40 (1.6) - John Hart

Thanks

Allen

[Chris Townsend]

My researches into Canadian and USA FB/Atlantic races have led me to the vexed question of Brabham BT40s. There are a lot of gaps which I'm hoping someone can fill. There seem to have been at least 35 built, but I can only account for about 20, with all of 12 tied to a chassis number. This seems to be the worst documented of all Brabhams.

This is what I have:

Chassis no
12 Works F2 car for Watson; 1974 rented by works to Bautrone for Estoril F2 race; then 1976 John Hart for H/C until 1979; then to Barrie Duntall to 1981 then Alan Cook for H/C 1982

14 John Wingfield, then 1974-5 loaned by Wingfield to Chequered Flag for Ray Mallock; end 75 used by Len Booysen in British Atlantic and taken home to S.Africa by him - but no sign of him racing it there.

15 Unknown in period, for sale at a Coys auction in 2000

17 Ken Duclos 1973 - 75 [at least] Recently for sale on race-cars.com

18 Chuck Dietrich 1973 at least, now being restored by Westerburg Collection

19 Vittorio Venturi [F2] then Shangry La 1974.

21 Graham Eden, mainly for Cyd Williams until 1975, then David Winstanley 1976 -77. Williams had a big accident in a BT40 before this number is noted on his chassis, so there may have been an earlier BT40 written off in that accident

27 Unknown in period, now in Matthews Collection

30 unknown in period. 2003 owned by Mike Fazzi with an SCCA log book from 1980 with only school activity and a few vintage races

33 Ted Titmus [USA] to 1974 at least. Recently for sale on race-cars.com

35 John MacDonald [HK] to 1976, then to Pocholo Ramirez, 1988 to Jason Ho, 1992 to present owner Neville Mackay

36 Works F2 car for de Adamich; 1974 - 77 Tom O'Leary, then unknown until 1981 Chris Charlett in W. Indies, recently sold on race-cars.com

Here are the unknown cars

Opert
The Robertson car. Debuted at Singapore GP by Brian Robertson in April 73 and trashed. Rebuilt and used as hire car by Opert team in 1974 Canadian series.

The Hall car. Used by Mike Hall in pro series in 1973 and mainly SCCA 1974

The Roos car. New for Bertil Roos in Canadian series, August 1973

The Jaussaud car. New for Jean-Pierre at Trois Rivieres Sept 1973

Others
The Reeves car. Intended Ed Reeves for Dave Morgan to run 1973 F2 series. Crashed badly in testing and never raced. Sold to someone in Kent in 1976 but again never raced.

The Poon car. Albert Poon 1973, still being used by Mrs Poon in S.Asian races in 1977

The Lader car. New for Alan Lader 1973 [maybe run by Opert]. Ron Householder in Canada 1974-75

The Hill car. New for Craig Hill, 1973. Kept 74, appears with Howard Kelly in Canada 1976

The Leger car. New for Gilles Leger Canadian series 1973

The Eagles car. New for Bill Eagles, 1973 US/Canada, retained 74.

Where on earth did the rest go? Were they all in SCCA races?

Chris

[Pete Brennan]

Chris,BT40-30 was delivered new to the USA with BDA to Olie(Bill)Meyers in 73,he then sold car to his 2 Mechanics,Victor Tostado and Mark Munroe,Mark was the driver and unfortunatly was killed in a sprintcar in late 70's,car was sold to a Richard Christ,then John Whitton .Mike Fazzi sold the car recently.There are 2 other cars in Oz,Bryan Miller could give you the info on these,i believe they are both owned by Nev Mckay.

[Bryan Miller]

Chris,

BT40-12 , as you state John Watson , thence Wilson Fittipaldi for works .
John Hart for hillclimbs 1976 .
Barrie Dutnall , eng changed to Rover V8 for hillclimbs,1978/9.
Simon Law , hillclimbs , retired into storage after eng. blew up and retained untill 2000.
To Steve Worrand as restoration project. Not started.
2002 to Peter Boel of Brisbane Australia , and under restoration at the moment, with all correct components sourced , resides in Wynnum West , Queensland.

As Pete Brennan advised Nev. McKay has 2 x BT40s , one is BT40-35 and resides at Mona Vale in Australia , Nev also owns a second car which I am sure is the Albert Poon car , however this is still in S.E.Asia.
I will try to find out the chassis number.

Bryan. P.S. you gave up on the BT21's quickly.

[bobdar]

Chris: There was a car in the Colorado area that may be the Bertil Roos
BT-40 It was owned and raced by Cam Macarthur (sp?), then sold to Terry Allard, then sold to Bill Swope in Albuquerque. I emailed Bill to get the chassis number, haven't received any reply, will keep trying. When Macarthur had the car for sale, he had an album of photos of the car's history, including some of Roos. Also had heard that the Fazzi car, #30, was sold and shipped to Australia.

[allenbrown]

A minor snippet: BT40-17 for sale in VM Sep/Oct 1992 p94 by Peter Gates as ex-Duclos. It was said to be totally restored with a new tub.

Allen

[Richard Young]

Chris,
I have a feeling the Len Booysen car is in Ireland. I remember him racing it at Kirkistown in period, and something that looked very like it (black/white livery from memory) was part of Tommy Reids collection the last time I was there.
Richard

[jkeller]

Ron Householder still has his BT40, (at least he has A BT40, I have a picture of it that was taken about a month ago).
A friend of mine is going to see him next week, I'll have him look at the car and see what chassis number it is.

Jim

[troubadour]

Chris, I just stumbled onto this site and have some information you may find interesting. In early 1975 I bought the Bertil Roos car from Fred Opert as a roller then bought a Hart motor from him later that spring. Before I bought it Bob Kime raced it as a Formula C with an 1100cc BDA. He was northeast division champ in '74 and finished second in the runoffs that year. I raced it in CENDIV nationals and regionals as an Atlantic through the '79 season. I sold the car to Cam in the spring of '90. All of the paperwork went with the car but if memory serves the chassis was #11. I remember giving Cam a picture of the car from the winners circle of a pro Formula B race at Watkins Glen in August of '72 with Bertil Roos, Fred Opert and Miss Columbo Yogurt. Hope this fills in some of the gaps. Gary Wallace

[deimh]

Originally Posted by troubadour

I remember giving Cam a picture of the car from the winners circle of a pro Formula B race at Watkins Glen in August of '72 with Bertil Roos, Fred Opert and Miss Columbo Yogurt. Hope this fills in some of the gaps. Gary Wallace

toubadour, I have been chatting with Fred Opert and mentioned that I had come across this post about a picture of him, Bertil and Miss CY and he indicated that he would love to get a copy!

Any chance of this?

(PM also sent)

[deimh]

Originally Posted by deimh

toubadour, I have been chatting with Fred Opert and mentioned that I had come across this post about a picture of him, Bertil and Miss CY and he indicated that he would love to get a copy!

Any chance of this?

(PM also sent)

All, it has also been established that Robert Kime drove the Titan Mk6 that I currently own when it was first owned and raced by Fred Opert Racing in 1971/2.

Does anyone have any idea of how to contact Robert Kime. I have some addresses / phone numbers for him in Florida, but it seems he has moved on from these addresses.

I have managed to find a number of news paper articles regarding him driving his Brabham in 1972 if this would be of interest to those here?

Any help from you guys (and girls) tracking him down would be much appreciated. - as would a copy of the photo fro Fred Opert...

[deimh]

Originally Posted by troubadour

Chris, I just stumbled onto this site and have some information you may find interesting. In early 1975 I bought the Bertil Roos car from Fred Opert as a roller then bought a Hart motor from him later that spring. Before I bought it Bob Kime raced it as a Formula C with an 1100cc BDA. He was northeast division champ in '74 and finished second in the runoffs that year. I raced it in CENDIV nationals and regionals as an Atlantic through the '79 season. I sold the car to Cam in the spring of '90. All of the paperwork went with the car but if memory serves the chassis was #11. I remember giving Cam a picture of the car from the winners circle of a pro Formula B race at Watkins Glen in August of '72 with Bertil Roos, Fred Opert and Miss Columbo Yogurt. Hope this fills in some of the gaps. Gary Wallace

Sorry for this additional post guys, but this is the quote that I meant to go with my above post a couple of days ago asking for any info on Robert (Bob) Kime....

When I talked to Fred Opert about Kime, he told me that Bertil Roos (at least initially / on occasion) actually raced in Robert Kime's Babham - so its possible that Roos might have raced two Brabhams in period, his own and also the one owned by Robert Kime (which according to Fred Opert was white, with possibly a blue stripe)

[allenbrown]

Post as much as you like deimh - it's good to know someone's in conversation with Fred and that his memory for detail is so good.

[Chris Townsend]

Originally Posted by deimh

Sorry for this additional post guys, but this is the quote that I meant to go with my above post a couple of days ago asking for any info on Robert (Bob) Kime....

When I talked to Fred Opert about Kime, he told me that Bertil Roos (at least initially / on occasion) actually raced in Robert Kime's Babham - so its possible that Roos might have raced two Brabhams in period, his own and also the one owned by Robert Kime (which according to Fred Opert was white, with possibly a blue stripe)

Bob Kime's car was the one used by Roos at Watkins Glen in 1973
That would make it BT40-11, the car now owned by Phil Franzone in Australia, which came with documentation from that race.

Opert ran at least three BT40s in 1973. Brian Robertson destroyed one of the early cars at Singapore GP in May. This was rebuilt and run as a rental car for David Fram and Bob Beyea in 1974.
Roos gets his BT40 at Mosport in August, having earlier run an Opert BT35.
Mike Hall's car was run by Opert, and Jaussaud also has a car at Trois Rivieres




Really like your stuff on your Titan BTW deimh. We need more stuff like that, good detail from log books!

[Collin Jackson]

Guys

I just got my hands on (4) Brabham badges for the nose and (3) for the the steering wheel! Better to be lucky than good!
-I have BT40-37 -Ex: LAder/Householder car.

Car is coming along.
-New wiring, new re-made oil tank, new fuel cells.
-Re-building the original FT200 now as well as the BDA engine
-Hubs were good but the whell bearings were pitted badly.
-All new rodends for the suspension
Currently looking at what to do about the armstrong shokes?
-Rebuild seems impossible. Several USA sources of custom made
vintage shocks that look original and are vintage legal.
Any ideas?
Also anyone got any Griling 4-piston front calipers?
-Mine work but the castings were re-welded around the bleeder

Collin j (cjackson at bmandm dot com)

[EliSolomon]

As far I am aware, the ex-Albert Poon car was trashed in Malaysia and has had its tub rebuilt by Neville Mackay (he's got the Macdonald Macau winning car). The Poon car is in pieces in Macau.

[Richard Knox]

I just ran accross this thread. I used to own a BT40 ( as well as a BT35) which I bought from David Kerr ( Jamaica ) & subsequently sold it to Bob Howlings ( UK ). I have no knowledge what happened to it but I suspect that it may have been the Bill Eagles car referred to in an earlier post.

[Andrew Fellowes]

Originally Posted by Richard Knox

I just ran accross this thread. I used to own a BT40 ( as well as a BT35) which I bought from David Kerr ( Jamaica ) & subsequently sold it to Bob Howlings ( UK ). I have no knowledge what happened to it but I suspect that it may have been the Bill Eagles car referred to in an earlier post.

Richard may I ask about the BT35? Mike Sharott had one in Jamaica BT35-35?
(I'll copy this to the BT35 thread)
Andrew

[Mike Rand]

Mike Rand here, enjoying the read.
Funny story RJ, how are you ? God knows if anyone was opportunistic it was, and I'm sure still is, Fred Opert.
Another thread I can add a bit of information to.
I bought the rebuilt Brian Robertson car [after he destroyed it in Singapore in 1973] from Opert to replace my crashed Rondel/Motul M1 in the early fall of 1974. Took it to Road Atlanta for the Runoffs, finished third in a 3 BT40 train, Duclos-Mike Hall-me with a new lap record that day.
I ran the car all of 1975 and it was showing it's age as an Atlantic/B car so I converted it to FC with a Cosworth BDJ 1,100cc injected motor. A little heavy for FC when guys were running F3 chassis with the same motor but a typical Brabham, strong, forgiving, easy to work on, brave, thrifty, clean, etc etc all the good Boy Scout stuff.
As someone else posted, no chassis number for you, we just didn't care back then.
Sold it to Larry Snover from Pennsylvania somewhere and I think he sold it to Ohio where at one point someone contacted me as they were converting it to a sports racer of some description.
I loved that car, real quality, a far cry from a modern production race car.

[Collin Jackson]

Hello everyone, I am new to the site.
-I just took possesion of the Ex: Lader/Householder
BT40-37!
She is in good condition as she was tested earlier this year by Ron Householder.
The car has not raced previous since 1978!

Does anyone have a new replacement fuel cells?
-Or have a vendor that already has the drawings
done for the cells?

PS: I did get a narrow nose design mold with the car if it
helps anyone.

Collin Jackson
Canada
cjackson@bmandm.com

[Bryan Miller]

Welcome Colin from Australia.

I own BT40-17 the ex Chuck Dietrich BT40 .

What rear wing do you have ?

I need to return my car to 1973 spec. with the fibreglass rear wing and small
diameter tube mount system not like the horrible alloy wing with centre mount the car came with.

Bryan Miller.