1965 Brabham BT8 Sportscar

Lot details
Registration No: N/A
Chassis No: SC-2-65
Mot Expiry: N/A

The Brabham BT8 is one of the most desirable of all the Coventry Climax engined sports racing cars of the 1960s. On offer here is a Brabham BT8, of which Jack Brabham and Ron Tauranac laid down nine chassis for the 1964 season, just two in 1995 and only one chassis in 1966. On offer is the best known and most successful of all the BT8s, chassis SC-2-65, the final BT8 produced by the Brabham factory in 1965, which was first supplied to Bill Kay in the US for Peter Revson to drive. Originally fitted with a 2.0 Coventry Climax engine, SC-2-65 was entered by Kay Racing in the SCCA Championship.
Some of our older clients may well have been at Silverstone in July 1965 for the Martini Trophy race. If they were there, they would no doubt remember Revson's fine second overall and 2-litre class win. The American star also drove the car in the Guards International Trophy at Brands Hatch in August of that year. Whilst in the Stardust GP USRRC event, held at Las Vegas, Revson finished eighth and again won the 2-litre class, and in the Los Angeles Times GP at Riverside in October 1965, he drove it to second place in a 20 lap race for under 2-litre cars. Finally, during December's Bahamas Speed Week, Revson piloted the BT8 to third overall in the Nassau Trophy Race, although he failed to finish the Governor's Trophy Race due to handling problems.
Following the Kay Racing years, the Brabham was sold to Skip Barber, whilst other owners on file were Peter Helfrick, Fred Opert and Bill Mitchell. In fact, Mitchell was quite successful with the car, winning the SCCA North East Division B Sports Racing Championships in 1968 and 1970 with Climax and Alfa Romeo engines. However, he crashed it at Lime Rock.
The Brabham's next owner was David Headley who moved it on to wheeler-dealer-racer Rob Lamplough, in whose hands parts from SC-1-65 were added to SC-2-65. Next, during Roger Bates ownership, the car was restored and, via M G Harrison, was sold to Vintage Racing Motors of Redmond, Washington.
In period, BT8s were powered by various engines, among them the BRM and Oldsmobile V8s, as well as the both 2.0 and 2.7 Coventry Climax. BS-2-65 was fitted with one such 2.7 Climax motor (430-17-1287) on the car's return to the UK. This 4-cylinder engine with dry sump and separate oil tank was rebuilt by Tony Mantle with new cylinder block, steel crankshaft, Carrillo conrods, Omega pistons resulting in 10.5:1 compression ratio, and ran with 55 Webers jetted and choked for mid-range power. The engine was last rebuilt in 2001 with bearings, valves, valve springs and piston rings all renewed. Car and engine subsequently finished second overall at Silverstone in the British GP support race.
The Hewland HD5 5-speed gearbox, correct as per the FIA papers, has been recently checked over by specialist JP Race and the transmission has only been used once since. An FT 200 gearbox is also available by separate negotiation with the vendor.
The back section of the bodywork is new and the car comes with a spare front body as well as two spare wheels and tyres. The car originally ran on 13in diameter wheels, although now sits on 15in wheels with the same ride height as before. Two spare wheels are included.
With an on-the-button 2.7-litre Coventry Climax engine behind you, BT8 SC-2-65 would make an ideal car for the new 'Sports Racing Challenge' series. Few other front running cars are blessed with so much strong period race provenance.