Brabham F1 racer sold for $1.12 million

A PIECE of Australian motor racing history went under the hammer at the Pebble Beach classic car auctions in California last weekend when a Repco-Brabham formula one car driven by Australia’s Sir Jack Brabham sold for $US1.05 million ($A1.12m).

The British racing green car – the first of three 1967 BT24s built by the triple world champion’s own team using Australian-made Repco V8 engines – was raced by Sir Jack in the 1967 formula one series won by his teammate, New Zealander Denny Hulme.

Denny Hulme’s BT-20 Repco-Brabham from the same 1967 season also changed hands earlier this year in an auction in Monaco, making an even more impressive €1.09 million ($A1.55m).

The Monaco auction of the BT-20, in which Hulme won the Monaco grand prix, was held on May 10 – just 10 days before Sir Jack died at his Gold Coast home, aged 88.

The seller of Sir Jack’s race car at the Gooding and Co auctions at the weekend had hoped to receive between $US1.2 million and $US1.5 million for the BT24, which was the highest-point scoring Brabham formula one car driven by Sir Jack, even though he did not win the title that year.

However, the car was knocked down to an undisclosed buyer for $US1.05 million.

The deal included a spare engine – said to be new – and “copious” spare parts.

The Repco-Brabham legend was born in 1966 when Sir Jack won the 1966 F1 world title – his third – to become the first and only driver to win the title in a car of his own design.

The 3.0-litre race engine was based on an aluminium-block Oldsmobile V8, but heavily modified by the Australian Repco company with former Vincent motorcycle engineer Phil Irving in charge of the project.

The team not only won back to back driver titles in 1966-67, but also the constructor’s championship.