Lot details
Registration No: N/A
Chassis No: 1663
Mot Expiry: N/A

Having achieved success in his native Australia, Jack Brabham came to England in 1955 to further his racing career, winning the World Championship for Cooper in 1959 and 1960. He then became disillusioned at Cooper's pace of progress and created Motor Racing Developments (MRD) with fellow Australian Ron Tauranac in order to become a constructor in his own right. The BT2 Formula Junior car was MRD's first commercial product, which did well in the hands of Works driver Frank Gardner. 1963 was the final year of Formula Junior, the stepping stone to F1 that had replaced the motorcycle-engined 500cc F3 cars. The brainchild of Italian Count 'Johnny' Lurani, it comprised 1.0 or 1.1-litre production engines and gearboxes in miniature Grand Prix chassis. Races were run from Australia to Estonia and Cuba to Macau. Jim Clark, John Surtees, Jochen Rindt, Mike Spence, Wolfgang Von Trips, Lorenzo Bandini and Giancarlo Baghetti were among the Grand Prix aces to springboard their careers in Formula Junior.

Brabham's offering for the 1963 season was the BT6. With its mid-engined spaceframe configuration, it was an up-to-the-minute design of which some 20 examples were reputedly sold around the world. The single-seater on offer is said to be one of those, chassis 16-63. According to the vendor, it was the car campaigned in Europe by Madagascan-born Jo Schlesser that season, during which he won such races as the Trophée D'Auvergne and the French Championship, running under the banner of Ecurie Ford France. The Brabham is then understood to have been sold to Paul Hawkins, who Schlesser had competed against that year. In more recent times it was raced in Italy by a gentleman driver and has remained in the same hands since 1990. The vendor currently considers the bodywork, paintwork, engine and transmission of the red-coloured BT6 as all "good", while he further informs us that it is accompanied by expired FIA papers and an Italian Technical Passport CSAI.

PLEASE NOTE: Since the catalogue went to press we have been informed that various elements of this lot's chassis design do not confirm to a standard Brabham BT6.