Estimate 350,000 - 450,000 Euros
Result (incl.) 407,250 Euros

Engine: 300hp 2,994cc single overhead camshaft mechanical fuel injection aluminum block V8; Gearbox: Hewland 5-speed transaxle; Suspension: four wheel independent with coil springs and tubular shock dampers and anti-roll bars; Brakes: four wheel Girling hydraulic discs. Monoposto.

History of the marque

In 1967 there were eleven different chassis constructors in Formula One. All mid-engined designs, they ranged from proven champions like Ferrari, Cooper and Lotus to newcomers like Eagle. They fielded eighteen different chassis models.

There were ten different engines. A few were on their last competitive laps, like the Maserati V12 and Coventry Climax four. Some were proven, like Ferrari's V12. Others were imaginative, exotic attempts to seize a technical advantage in the second year of the 3-litre formula, like BRM's powerful but insanely complex H-16 and the ingenious Gurney-Weslake V12.

There were twenty-four different entrants. Six different engine/chassis combinations were winners during the eleven race season.

1967 was a significant year in Formula One history. It saw the first appearance of, and win for, the Cosworth-Ford DFV V8. 1967 witnessed Maserati's last Formula One victory when Pedro Rodriguez captured the season opener at Kyalami in a Maserati V12-powered Cooper, and Honda's first Formula One win by John Surtees in the RA300 at Monza. The Gurney-Weslake V12 made its first appearance and scored its first, and only, win in the Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps in Dan Gurney's Eagle T1G. That win was the first victory for an American driver in an American GP car since Jimmy Murphy's triumph driving a Duesenberg in the French GP in 1921 and mirrored Jack Brabham's win in the 1966 French GP in the Brabham-Repco BT 19, the first GP win for a driver in car bearing his own name.

In fact, 1967 was one of the truly great years in grand prix competition with great names, both old and new, in the drivers' seats, on the cars and making the power for epic performances.
1967's upheaval in technology, technique and regulations created a unique opportunity for the Brabham team to repeat its 1966 World Constructors' and Drivers' Championships. Brabham achieved this feat with one of the least advanced chassis among the 1967 season's eighteen. They were powered by what was generally agreed to be - aside from the aged and under-sized Climax four - the least powerful of the season's ten engines.

What made the difference in 1967 was Brabham's consistency. Even changing chassis in mid-season to the semi-monocoque BT24, the simplicity, reliability and predictable performance of Ron Tauranac's Brabham chassis and the simple, robust Repco V8 powerplant made the difference. Denny Hulme won World Championship. Jack Brabham finished second. Brabham won the Constructor's Championship for the second consecutive year, scoring 63 points to the 44 points of Clark and Hill driving for Colin Chapman's Lotus team.

Motor Racing Developments, the Brabham organization, had been established in 1961 while Jack Brabham was in his final season with Cooper. Designer Ron Tauranac came up with a simple, reliable Formula Junior which they gave the designation BT 1, the initials standing for the company principals, Brabham and Tauranac. Brabham's first Formula One car, the BT 3, appeared in mid-1962. In it Jack scored points in only their second outing with a fourth place finish at the US GP in October.

For 1963 Dan Gurney was added to the Brabham team and a new car, the BT 7, debuted in Monaco at the beginning of the season. In only its second full season the Brabham team finished third (behind Lotus and BRM) in the standings, with Gurney 5th in Drivers' points and Brabham 7th.

Gurney gave Brabham its first grand prix win in the BT 11 at Spa in 1964 and ended the season with a win in the Mexican GP. Gurney and Brabham were joined by Denny Hulme for the 1½ litre formula's last year, 1965, and although Jim Clark won every race but three (Graham Hill's Monaco and US GP victories and Jackie Stewart's win at Monza, all in the BRM P261) the team finished third in the Constructors' Championship with Gurney 4th in the Driver's points.
In November 1963 the Commission Sportif International announced its Formula One rules beginning with the 1966 season. The crucial provision was a 3-litre naturally aspirated, 1.5-litre supercharged, engine displacement limitation. When Coventry Climax announced it would not be building an engine for the new regulations many of the independent teams found themselves looking for power. One of them was Brabham but Jack had an ace up his sleeve, a long term relationship with Australian auto parts firm Repco which had been developing an engine for the 2½ -litre Tasman championship.

It was based on the aluminum 215 cubic inch Oldsmobile F85 V8 engine block, replacing the pushrod overhead valve cylinder heads of the Oldsmobile with chain-driven single overhead camshaft heads. The standard Oldsmobile cylinder bore of 3½" (88.9mm) and a very short stroke crankshaft of 60.3mm (using yet another modified production part, the 6.3" long connecting rods from the Daimler Majestic V8) gave the Repco V8 2,994cc displacement. A need to minimize the engine's width ruled out dual overhead camshafts. The Repco V8's structure and development, directed by Repco's Ross Kirkham with detail design by Phil Irving, produced a highly modular unit. Assemblies, like the complete timing gear housing, cylinder heads (which were the same on both sides) and water pumps, were designed as units which could be removed for service or replacement individually.

The Repco V8 was a brilliant response to a momentary opportunity. Inexpensive to make, to repair and to maintain, it was lightweight and had a broad, flat power and torque curve that gave usable power from 4,000 rpm all the way to the engine's effective maximum speed of just over 8,000 rpm. Its single camshaft heads were narrow, minimizing frontal area. The Repco V8 was the first engine since Ettore Bugatti's immortal Type 35 in the mid-Twenties to successfully contest grands prix with a single camshaft and inline valves.

The BT 20 chassis was an evolution of the first Brabham Formula One car, designed for the 1 1/2-litre Coventry Climax four. A triangulated tube frame design with unstressed aluminum skins, its 1 1/2-litre origins and the lightness of the Repco V8 contributed to weight that was the lowest of all its competitors. Tauranac's design used wide based wishbones that spread braking loads and gave good suspension geometry. Strong, reliable, fully-adjustable and a known quantity that was easily repairable in the event of accidents, the Brabham BT 20 chassis matched the attributes of the Repco V8 engine.

Some of the Brabham-Repco BT 20's success was due to the failures of its competitors but at the same time it was a sound, state-of-the-art, lightweight grand prix chassis and engine combination that successfully employed innovative thinking in many areas. It was the double, Constructors' and Drivers', Grand Prix champion two years running, first with the experienced veteran Jack Brabham behind the wheel and then with newcomer Denny Hulme.