2005 Goodwood Festival of Speed F2 Brabham BT18 Honda

The Brabham BT18 was an

open-wheel An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have thei ...

formula racing Formula racing (known as open-wheel racing in North America) is any of several forms of open-wheeled single-seater motorsport. The origin of the term lies in the nomenclature that was adopted by the FIA for all of its post-World War II single- ...

, designed, developed, and built by British constructor

Brabham Brabham () is the common name for Motor Racing Developments Ltd., a British racing car manufacturer and Formula One racing team. Founded in 1960 by Australian driver Jack Brabham and British-Australian designer Ron Tauranac, the team won four ...

, for both

Formula 2 Formula Two (F2 or Formula 2) is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009–2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The name return ...

and

Formula 3 Formula Three, also called Formula 3, abbreviated as F3, is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One driv ...

racing categories. Powered by a

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...

engine, it won 11 out of 12 races in 1966.

Design and development

The previous Brabham BT16 forerunner initially had a

Cosworth SCA Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream automotive industries ...

BRM British Racing Motors (BRM) was a British Formula One motor racing team. Founded in 1945 and based in the market town of Bourne in Lincolnshire, it participated from 1951 to 1977, competing in 197 grands prix and winning seventeen. BRM wo ...

, or Holbay MAE engine. On 20 March 1965, at the Formula Two meeting at Silverstone, it was equipped with the Honda RA300E engine. Displacing , the engine produced 135 bhp at 10,000 rpm. The BT18 was designed as a Formula 2 and Formula 3 racing car. The car had a space frame that was reinforced by load-bearing plates. Two cars, F2-18-66 and F2-19-66, were used by the factory Brabham team with revised Honda RA302E engines, which now gave 150 bhp at 11,000 rpm. 32 were Formula 2 racing cars and designated ''BT18A''. Six copies were equipped with a Cosworth SCA engine for private teams. A special version ''BT18B'' of 8 examples was fitted for the Honda Racing School with

Ford Kent engine The Ford Kent is an internal combustion engine from Ford of Europe. Originally developed in 1959 for the Ford Anglia, it is an in-line four-cylinder pushrod engine with a cast-iron cylinder head and block. The Kent family can be divided into th ...

s for the upcoming 1966 Formula Ford. A total of 46 examples of the BT18 (+A+B) were produced.

Race history

In 1966,

Jack Brabham Sir John Arthur Brabham (2 April 1926 – 19 May 2014) was an Australian racing driver who was Formula One World Champion in , , and . He was a founder of the Brabham racing team and race car constructor that bore his name. Brabham was a R ...

and

Denny Hulme Denis Clive Hulme (18 June 1936 – 4 October 1992), commonly known as Denny Hulme, was a New Zealand racing driver who won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship for the Brabham team. Between his debut at Monaco in 1965 and his ...

achieved a total of 11 wins in 12 races with the Brabham-Honda BT18. Brabham won the 1966 Trophées de France championship and Hulme was runner-up.

References

{{F1 cars 1966 Brabham racing cars Formula Two cars Formula Three cars 1960s cars