Vintage Racing Services

1964 Repco Brabham

1964 Repco Brabham BT8 Earls Court Showcar

A rare opportunity to own one of only a handful of Brabham BT8 sports racing cars that were called Giant Killers in the day, and the class of small sports racers for vintage racing today.

When the young Brabham Racing Organization introduced the Brabham BT8 sports racing car at the London Racing Car Show at Earls Court in January 1964, they created a giant killer. Nine BT8s were built in 1964, and a further three cars in 1965-1966 for a total of 12—all accounted for. BT8s were variously raced in Europe and North America by Hugh P.K. Dibley, Robs Lamplough, Trevor Taylor, Denny Hulme, Jack Hinkle, Skip Barber, Peter Revson, Tony Dean and Jack Brabham himself. BT8s frequently raced successfully against larger-engine competition. The greatest victory for the type came in the 1965 Tourist Trophy race at Oulton Park where Denny Hulme in a 2-liter BT8 came in 1st o.a. beating the larger Lola T-70 of John Surtees, Lotus 30 of Jim Clark, McLaren-Oldsmobile of Bruce McLaren, Ferrari 250 LM of David Piper and Cobra of Sir John Whitmore.

Others who have prepared or driven BT8s more recently in vintage racing describe the cars in glowing terms. Thor Thorson, writing in Sports Car Market, said: “(BT8s are) a glorious, beautiful, great handling car. Clearly the class of the small sports racers. As such, BT8s sell for half again to twice as much as any of their competitors.”
BT8 SC-1-64

Repco Brabham BT8 SC-1-64 was displayed as the prototype at Earls Court in 1964 and has been featured in multiple contemporary and vintage publications. An FIA Historic Vehicle Identify Form issued in 2003 and Vehicle Log Book accompany this automobile. SC-1-64 was first raced by British hillclimb champion Arthur Owen. SC-1-64 was quickly sold in June 1964 to Robs Lamplough, who raced it once at Goodwood before shipping the car to North America for the Canadian GP at Mosport, the Los Angeles Times GP at Riverside and the Pacific GP at Laguna Seca. Lamplough sold the rolling chassis to Judy Kondratieff in the U.S. for Bart Martin to race in 1965, but retained the original 2.0-liter Climax engine and gearbox. SC-1-64 was rebuilt for the 1965 season with a 289 cu. in. Ford engine. The car was destroyed in an accident in late 1965 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Only the parts removed during conversion to 289 Ford power remained, including the engine, gearbox, original suspension and various engine-related components. In 1990 Phillipe de Lespinay (US), who already owned BT8 SC-7-64, undertook a period reconstruction of SC-1-64 with some of the original parts of SC-1-64, including the Coventry Climax engine and Hewland gearbox. Other components originally part of SC-1-64 were purchased from Bill Mitchell. SC-1-64 was reconstructed at a 1990-1991 cost of $275,000 and has been raced extensively at the Monterey Historics and shown at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. The current owner has also raced the car at Goodwood, Spa, Road America, Road Atlanta, Watkins Glen, St. Jovite and Mt. Tremblant. This is a fine and fully sorted example of one of the best and rarest sports racing cars on the market.

Specifications

Chassis: SC-1-64
Engine: 2.5-liter Coventry Climax FPF
Engine Number: FPL430-27
Transmission: modified Hewland HD-5
Brakes: 10.3” Girling disc
Color: red/black
Price: $200,000