1967 Brabham BT21 Formula B

History

According to a well known Brabham historian, Chassis BT21-5 was the factory show car at the annual Racing Car Show held at Olympia Hall in London, January 4-14, 1967. Early 1967 was a heady time for Brabham, having just won the 1966 Formula One World Championship. Fans flocked to the Brabham display to see the World Championship winning F1 car, and this new BT21 Brabham that could be raced in F2, F3, and in Formula Libre.  Sales were brisk, and soon these BT21 models were winning races all over the world. 

BT21-5 was then sold to Prince Adam Czartoryski of Poland, a professional race car driver and karate enthusiast. In 1968, Peter Hanson purchased the Brabham from the Prince. Hanson raced BT21-5 in Formula Libre events, scoring 5th in the BARC Mallory Park race on May 12, 1968, and 2nd at Snetterton on June 16, 1968.

Thereafter the Brabham was sold to Fred Opert, a U.S. race car importer, dealer, and team owner often with factory support.

The history from the early 1970’s onward is reported in an excellent article about the BT21 Brabhams, and this car in particular, at BritishRacecar.com. See an excerpt below.

“This particular car was owned by Marc Bahner at the end of the 1960s, until he sold it to Tom Shanley of Riverside. Tom explained (in December 2007): ‘This is my old car from the early seventies. I acquired it from Marc Bahner. I raced it with a Cossie SCC, an 1100cc MAE downdraught, a twin-cam, and a BDA at different times. Raced as a Formula Continental a lot of the time and as a Formula B too. I sold the car to Brad Schiere of Burbank in the early/mid 1980s. At that time it was in pieces as we (at British Sports and Exotics in Riverside California) had just rejigged the chassis and installed a taller rollbar, as we were going to update the chassis with a Lucas fuel-injected BDA. The car was sold to Brad with a Hewland Mk5 and about 30 gear changes. I also included four or five sets of MRD wheels: 6/8/10 fronts and 8/10/12/14 rears. Not installed were a set of BT23 front upper control arm pieces I got from Pete Halsmer. As I understand it, Brad sold the car to Sperry Valve works a few years later.’

From then it sat in storage for about twenty years until December 2005 when Dan Longacre of Dana Point California (just south of Los Angeles) sold it to Al (Murray). When purchased, the BT23-style front upper link/trailing arm conversion had been installed, but Al has subsequently restored the car to BT21-style control arms. Only one set of original MRD wobbly wheels (8″ front and 9″rear) came with the car. Formula 3 spec Girling AR brakes were installed all around. Everything else about the chassis was “basic BT21”. No motor or gearbox was included with the sale, but Al already had a suitable Lotus twin-cam and a Hewland Mk8 transaxle. He later retrofitted a Hewland Mk6. In restoring the car, Al noted that all the body panels seemed to have a matching sequence of thirteen paint layers, which suggests that the bodywork has been intact for most if not all of the car’s career.”

Circa 2016-1017, the Brabham was the subject of a frame up restoration by Huffaker Motorsports. The car was offered for sale at a reduced price of $89,000 in late 2017. See photo below. Tom Tuttle, of San Mateo, California, purchased the Brabham on December 10, 2017.  

The SVRA Gold Medallion log book that comes with the Brabham shows that Tuttle raced three times; Laguna Seca, Sonoma Raceway, and at COTA in the SVRA National Championship where he finished 10th in FB behind the likes of Geoff Brabham in a BT35. 

On February 1, 2020, Wes Wigginton of Austin, Texas purchased the BT21. Wigginton refinished the Brabham in white with green and gold stripes. He began racing the Brabham at the Hallett Motor Racing Circuit in August of 2020. He raced the car twice more, once at Road America, and once at COTA in the SVRA Speed Tour in November, 2021. 

In August 2022, Wigginton traded the Brabham with a friend for a 1960’s sports racer.  Since then the Brabham has been raced at Hallett in March 2023 and again in 2024. It was raced one more time at Eagle’s Canyon in September of 2024. This is the car’s last race to date.

The Brabham continues to be professionally maintained by The Vintage Connection in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Description

The Brabham is powered by a 1600 c.c. Lotus twin cam with dual Weber 45 DCOE carburetors. The engine was most recently rebuilt by Ivey Engines in October, 2023. According to the log book, the engine has only two race weekends on it since. The gearbox is a Hewland Mk6 with the stronger Mk5 gears and Rotoflex donuts. The gearbox was rebuilt by Hewland gearbox specialist, Scott Young in October 2020. 

The car has Koni shocks front and rear, with 350 lb. Eibach springs up front and 300 lb. springs in the rear. The BT21 also has an adjustable rear sway bar. The brakes are Girling all around with an adjustable bias bar and solid discs. The wheels are MRD web style mag wheels, 13X8 front, and 13X9 rear, and are shod with Avon tires. 

The Brabham is equipped with a Smiths dual oil pressure and water temp gauge. The car has the rare and desirable Smiths Chronometric cable driven tach (500 – 9,000 rpm), and a Smiths oil temp gauge. The BT21 has a Fuel Safe wedge fuel cell and a FireBottle fire suppression system. A Mountney steering wheel with quick release makes getting in and out of the car much easier. 

Invoices for the most recent work on the car are available upon request. A collection of spares can be seen in the photos below.

Formula B was basically the U.S. version of Formula 2 in Europe. Both series ran 1600 c.c. engines, but in the U.S. Formula B ran with the readily available and less expensive two valve Lotus twin cam engines (as well as some Alfa engines and a few others). Formula 2, on the other hand, quickly adopted the Cosworth FVA four valve as the engine of choice with its higher performance.

It wasn’t that long ago that Formula B cars were trading in the $80,000 to $100,000 range. However, as sometimes happens, interest in other series, like Formula Atlantic and Formula Ford, picked up as the shiny newcomers to the vintage racing scene. Many FB owners parked their cars to try something else. Now, however, it seems we are coming full circle with FA drivers disappointed at losing their premier events, and Formula Ford drivers looking to move up to more power and grip. It has been said by many formula car racers that FB is the best balance of power, grip, handling, cost, and fun of all of the formula car groups. We are about to find out for ourselves. We will be racing a 1971 Lotus 69B in 2026. Yes, we too raced Formula Atlantic and Formula Ford, and are looking to try something different, something from the classic era of formula car racing.

What’s even better is that FB is again getting major event attention, including its own Championship. The Velocity Invitational will feature a full grid of Formula B cars in 2026.  In addition, there is the FB Continental Championship, a four race series at iconic tracks like Laguna Seca, Road America, and Watkins Glen. 

So now is a great time to get a classic Formula B. The prices are at least  30% to 40% lower than they were, and the grids are wide open. This is a great opportunity to get in early and grow with the group. It will also never be easier to move up the grid than in the early days of a new series/championship. You can also run these FB cars with virtually any vintage racing group across the U.S. You can run with your local club, race at Velocity, and race in the Continental Championship. All good. 

Finally, these cars are sexy. They are from the classic mid-late 1960s era of formula cars, before wings sprouted and tunnels made them look like boxes. They are the final refinement of this genre. These are the kinds of cars that drivers and collectors mounted on the walls of their homes as pieces of art when their racing days were over. 

Get one and come join us on the track. You can hang it on the wall later.

All vehicle descriptions are accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of writing. Corrections, and supplemental information, are always welcome. Buyers are responsible for confirming vehicle histories, condition, and authenticity to their own satisfaction prior to purchase. Motorsports Market is not the owner of the vehicle and assumes no liability for errors and omissions.

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