Brabham BT23

[Simon Hadfield]

Its a Merlyn!

[Unit 2 Racing]

Originally Posted by allenbrown

This might help - just spotted on TNF:


Scheckter's Ehrlich at the 1971 Victory Race. BT23?

I can't help with the chassis, but Scheckter drove the Merlyn Holbay Mk21 in this race, an Ehrlch EMC 606 was driven by Ian Ashley.

[allenbrown]

OK, misidentified picture. Thanks all.

[Andrew Fellowes]

as Cirrus said on TNF,

There are quite a few Ehrlich F3 pictures on Gerald Swan's F3 site http://www.f3history.co.uk

under manufacturers and I had forgotten that there is a good photo of Jody in the EMC 606, nee BT23, and Gerald goes on to say that Jody finished the season off in the Merlyn.

[Andrew Fellowes]

A/S 10th June 1971 p.50 MRE Spares for Sale, BT23C chassis, as new £70

'as new' ? so I read that as repaired. Somewhat intriguing as to which one this could be, the choice is down to about three from what I can guess.
Any ideas,
Andrew

[tedwentz]

Hello all,

BT23C-7 is now in my posession. It is still fitted with an FVA and still turned out in Frank Williams Racing Cars livery. The chain of ownership since it came to the USA was Bobby Rahal, Justin Segel, Tom Claridge. It was raced in vintage monoposto events by each owner.
I'll try to do it justice.

Ted Wentz

[Andrew Fellowes]

Ted let me be the first to say congratulations and may you have much enjoyment, it couldn't have gone to a better home!!! Thank you for letting us know, I'll update the BT23C web page tonight.
Piers was my hero, not least because when I was fresh out of college I got to meet him a couple of times.
Andrew

[Andrew Fellowes]

-after thought, how about coming to the Tasman Revival at the end of November ???

[tedwentz]

Thank you Andrew! The Revival is now on my checklist, not this year though, but hopefully in '09. That would be nearly 40 years since Roly Levis raced this car in the Tasmin to good effect. And thank you for helping to keep the flame burning.
Ted

[Penny]

Originally Posted by Ted Walker

BT23b-1 still in UK 2006.BT23b-2 still in UK 2006. BT23b-3What proof do we have that it went to Canada after Jack Smiths accident ????I thought the engine and box were removed.The engine going into the "tasman anglia" the chassis ?????(Jack Smith was Canadian) Only 3 cars were constructed.

My parents were with Jack, his wife Helen and mechanic Del on the day that he was killed at Snetterton. The car was towed back to my parents’ house and garaged there until it was sold to Canada some time later. There was little damage to the car – Jack died instantly from a broken neck when running backwards into the barrier. I have a photograph taken around 69/70 of my father [posing] in the “#247 white car” – I could scan and post it if you wish.

Jack left two young daughters and his death hit us all very hard. The accident brought to an abrupt end my father’s interest in racecars, financial or otherwise. I’m afraid I have no further details as what became of the Brabham as my father died in 1986 and my mother is now very elderly; her memory of the events has faded with time.

Penny

[Andrew Fellowes]

Penny, Welcome. Thank you for taking the time to add this very useful contribution.
A photo would be brilliant,

Many Thanks,
Andrew

[Penny]

Photo as promised.

R.P. 'Dixi' Dean (wearing Jack's helmet) ... He was Jack's sponsor although my mother didn't know for quite some time.



I spoke to my mother this morning and she was pleased to know that Jack's name hasn't been forgotten. She was very fond of him although he had a very short fuse on race days. My father and Helen (Jack's wife) would retreat to the bar leaving my mother with polishing cloth to bear the brunt of some rather ripe language. She could never understand why he loved his racing so much when it played such havoc with his nerves. She added that she couldn't recall being at a race that he didn't win. He was a Chartered Surveyor by profession; perhaps he found that a little tame.

This thread has brought back some good as well as sad memories and I'm glad I found it.

Penny

[Penny]

I found THIS that gives more details of the car. Mum has no recollection of a Roy Pike or that the car returned briefly to Canada - she also seems to recall the livery being yellow at one point - her job was to keep the "Brab" polished so I guess she should know. I've had the b/w photo for just shy of 40 years so to me it is The White Car that I last saw in our garage in Hertfordshire in '72 - I hope the car wasn't completely broken up as there appeared little visual damage. I read here that Jack was killed by his fire bottle; that was the first time I'd heard that.

Penny

[Andrew Fellowes]

Originally Posted by Penny

........- I hope the car wasn't completely broken up as there appeared little visual damage. I read here that Jack was killed by his fire bottle; that was the first time I'd heard that. Penny

Is there any reason why the ex John Dimmer BT24 Replica now with Ron Maydon could not be BT23B-3?

Andrew

[allenbrown]

That car can be traced back to Switzerland. It certainly looked like a BT23 to me when I saw it at Watkins Glen in 1994.

Allen

[Andrew Fellowes]

so Gérard Pillon's BT23-4 would be more logical, am I correct in thinking both Pillon and Siebenthal were in the same line of business? -but of course there are a number other BT23's that would fit too.

Andrew

[allenbrown]

Good question. I don't know the line of work of either of them.

[John Turner]

I have just received this communication from Robin Widdows, for which, I thank him. Of course, it would be good if we could persuade him to join us on 10-Tenths!

" Good day. The BT23 bought by The Witley Racing Syndicate for Robin Widdows was sold at the end of the season to Mitsubishi Motors and was shipped to Japan where I think that it was raced as a Colt. I am surprised if it came back to UK.
Best wishes
Robin Widdows"

[allenbrown]

Nice one John!

That potentially explains the BT23 in Japan in 1973 (Koichi Sato's car at the 1973 JAF Japan GP) but causes one or two problems elsewhere.

Here is the history we had for BT23-6 until today:

BT23-6
1967 Whitley Racing Services for Robin Widdows
1968-71 Dr Ehrlich, believed to have been rebuilt as Dr. Ehrlich’s 1969 F3 EMC later raced by Jody Scheckter.
1971-74 G.Hyatt *3
1974-77 R. Strange for hillclimbs. *3
1977-84 D. McLaughlin, (unrestored)
1984-88 P. Coleman, restored.
1989-93 Chris Holland
1993-97 Jay Galpin, full rebuild to correct spec.
1997-00 Barry Marquardt
2000-05 Bob Baker
2006- David Jacobs

[allenbrown]

Mitsubishi had already built the F2A before the BT23 could have been bought and their F2B and F2C models were derivatives of the F2A, according to their own site. I would speculate that the BT23 was bought to study, rather than to race. Or maybe to acquire a FVA as they were then building their own 1600cc R39 engine.

[Andrew Fellowes]

Originally Posted by John Turner

" . I am surprised if it came back to UK.
Best wishes
Robin Widdows"

John well done indeed, with all the recent discussion about anther 36 in Japan my next project was to try and dig out which BT23 it was, and you've done it, fantastic!

My conversation with David was that he really could remember little about how he acquired it or what led him to believe it was #6. A question he said he has been asked numerous times. I have also corresponded with Pete Coleman. Pete is far from well but couldn't add anything either.
*Hyatt & *Strange are unconfirmed which adds to argument that this car could have been wrongly identified.

I tend to go along with Robin's last remark, and propose to amend #6 on ORC and it does beg the question, what did Dr Ehrilch buy?
From memory he did buy a Brabham, so the question is which one?

Andrew

[allenbrown]

Should we add David Jacobs car to the foot of the page under a heading of "Unidentified ex-Ehrlich car"?

[Andrew Fellowes]

so for #6 it would be "Sold to Japan, nothing further known"
and then put David Jacobs car with brief history at the foot of the page, would that be OK?

I see I have a note that says 'see BT28-11' do we know what happened to that?

Andrew

[Andrew Fellowes]

Just looking at the evidence so far,
Robin Widdows raced BT23-6 in '67 and BT23C-12 in '69. (Bryan you always said BT23-6 went to Japan!)

Dr Erlich produced the EMC 606 at the start of '69 and I always assumed that 'based upon a BT23' was a euphemism for 'was a BT23'. By the end of '69 he had BT28-11.

Missing histories are BT23C-3 and BT23C-9.
I was told by Pete Coleman when he first raced his car, that a lot of it was not Brabham.

Andrew

[allenbrown]

All looks fine to me Andrew. I happened to be reading the 1967 Roma GP report last night and noted that the Alfa in Galli's BT23-8 was a GTA engine built and maintained by Autodelta.