<< Prev Page 2 of 2 A few races into the 1966 season, the 3-litre car was joined by the BT20 built for teammate Denny Hulme. It served only for a few races and in the hands of the New Zeelander won only one race, the Monaco Grand Prix. Again following the trusty design principles a new single seater was designed for 1967; the BT23 for Formula 2 and the BT24 for Formula 1. The latter featured different suspension, brakes, wheels and gearbox to cope with the latest specification Repco engine, which now produced 330 bhp. The competition seemed to have gotten to grips with things and the days for Brabham seemed numbered. Fortunately the rock-solid reliability and nimbleness again proved too much for the more advanced competition and the BT24 scored three 1-2 finishes in the hands of Brabham and Hulme. Together with the Monaco win in the BT20, it was enough for Hulme to score his first Driver's Championship, just ahead of his boss. The team won the Constructor's Championship for the second year running.
To keep up with the growing number of Cosworth powered cars, the Repco V8 was heavily revised for 1968. Twin cam heads were developed, which featured four valves per cylinder. These changes hiked the power to 400 bhp, which was almost a match for the British V8s. Sadly the reliabilty suffered heavily and throughout the season the fragile engine prevented Brabham to put in good results. After winning the Constructor's Championship for two years, finishing in a lowly eight in 1968 was a bitter disappointment.
There was little else Brabham could do than to switch engines for 1969 and jump on the Cosworth bandwagon. The new for 1968 BT26 chassis were all modified to accept the new engine. In almost all cars of the day, the DFV engine was installed as a fully stressed member, but because Brabham still used the proven spaceframe chassis, the engine was installed in a subframe. There was a substantial gap between the rear firewall and the engine; clear proof of the very compact design of the DFV engine.
Breaking a long standing relationship might have been tough for Brabham, but it proved to be well worth it. Although a year old, the BT26 design was clearly not outdated as new driver Jacky Ickx scored two wins and enough point finishes to end the year in second position behind Jacky Stewart. The Brabham team also finished second in the constructor's standings behind Ken Tyrrell's Matras. Rule changes left the spaceframe chassis obsolete at the end of the season, but at least Brabham and Ickx made sure the career of Tauranac's successful design finished on a high. << Prev Page 2 of 2
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A few races into the 1966 season, the 3-litre car was joined by the BT20 built for teammate Denny Hulme. It served only for a few races and in the hands of the New Zeelander won only one race, the Monaco Grand Prix. Again following the trusty design principles a new single seater was designed for 1967; the BT23 for Formula 2 and the BT24 for Formula 1. The latter featured different suspension, brakes, wheels and gearbox to cope with the latest specification Repco engine, which now produced 330 bhp. The competition seemed to have gotten to grips with things and the days for Brabham seemed numbered. Fortunately the rock-solid reliability and nimbleness again proved too much for the more advanced competition and the BT24 scored three 1-2 finishes in the hands of Brabham and Hulme. Together with the Monaco win in the BT20, it was enough for Hulme to score his first Driver's Championship, just ahead of his boss. The team won the Constructor's Championship for the second year running.