Page 1 of 2 Next >> Still a Cooper works driver at the time, Jack Brabham joined forces with fellow Australian and longtime friend Ron Tauranac in 1961. With the aim of building racing cars of their own design, they established MRD (Motor Racing Developments) and produced their first Formula Junior racer. The name of the car was soon after changed to Brabham as the pronunciation of MRD is almost identical to a French swearword.
Before a real conflict of interests emerged, Jack Brabham left Cooper at the end of 1961. One of the main reasons was that he believed that he could be more competitive through his partnership with Tauranac. Unfortunately, the new Brabham Formula 1 car would not be ready in time for the first Grands Prix of the season, so a customer Lotus 24 was fielded instead. This provided Brabham and Tauranac with plenty of time and also an insight into one of the rival's designs.
Known as the BT3 (for Brabham and Tauranac), the fledgling manufacturer's first Formula 1 car was a conventional design. A steel tubular spaceframe chassis was suspended by double wishbones at the front and links, reversed wishbones and twin trailing arms at the rear. As in the Brabham Lotus a Coventry Climax FWMV V8 engine was used. It was mated to a Colotti Francis six-speed gearbox as previously used by Brabham at Cooper. Page 1 of 2 Next >>