The
Repco Brabham BT24 was a
Formula One racing car design. It was one of three cars used by the Brabham racing team during their championship-winning
1967 Formula One season. Only three BT24 chassis were ever raced.
Designed by Ron Tauranac, the BT24 was somewhat behind the times in having a spaceframe chassis and the underpowered Oldsmobile-derived
Repco V8 engine. Compared with the
Lotus 49, which had debuted a race earlier in
Holland, the Brabham seemed almost obsolete, but its better reliability made it the tortoise to Lotus's hare.
With reigning champion
Jack Brabham and
Denny Hulme at the wheel, the BT24 took 3 wins to the
Jim Clark's 4 in the Lotus, but with six 2nd places, two 3rds, a 4th and a 5th the Brabham team comfortably took the Constructors' Championship, while Hulme pipped team-owner Brabham to the Drivers' Championship by 5 points.
In addition to its three championship race wins the BT24 also won the prestigious 1967
International Gold Cup at Oulton Park in the hands of Jack Brabham.
Later years
The original two chassis were raced by Brabham and Rindt in the season opening
1968 South African Grand Prix, but with the
BT26 ready in time for the next race, these two chassis were sold to local teams and left in South Africa, with
Sam Tingle and
Basil van Rooyen finishing third and fourth in that year's
South African Formula One Championship. Sam Tingle later took part in the
1969 South African Grand Prix, the last World Championship Formula One event for a...
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