Brabham BT30X car-by-car histories
Mike MacDowel in Bob Jennings' Brabham BT30X at Wiscombe Park in April 1970. Copyright Ted Walker 2012. Used with permission.
Brabham records show that two examples of a Brabham BT30X model were built for 1969, but only BT30X-1, driven with considerable success by Mike MacDowel, is known with any certainty. The second car is likely to be the 'BT30' crashed early in 1969 by Roger Hickman.
Although given the chassis plate BT30X-1, the Brabham BT30X of Bob Jennings and Mike MacDowel bears very little relationship to the 1969 Formula 2 BT30 design. The chassis appears to be closer to the 1967-1968 BT23 series of cars than the BT30, and, as a hillclimb car did not require the fuel tank capacity of a F2 car, the BT30X does not have the side tanks of the F2 car. The identity of BT30X-2 is not known but it is reasonable to assume that it was Roger Hickman's car, described as a BT30 in most reports but also as a BT29 at least once. The BT29 was a sister design to the BT30, designed for Formula B in the US, but had much slimmer bodywork. However, the Hickman car had a frame that resembled the BT23 series of cars and its bodywork was also closer fitting and more similar to a BT23 than to a BT29.
Both these cars have had troubled lives. The Hickman car was crashed heavily in 1969 but was rebuilt with a new frame to race again. Its life ended after a big accident at Shelsley Walsh in 1974. The better-known BT30X-1 raced until a crash in 1973 and then reappeared in 1979 when it was raced in Formule Libre at Lydden before being stripped of its engine and corners in 1980. All that remained by 2015 was a repaired frame and a large pile of BT30 components, but it was then fully rebuilt to its 1971 specification.
If you can add to our understanding of these cars, or have photographs that we can use, please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com.
Bob Jennings in his Brabham BT30X at Doune in 1971. Copyright Steve Wilkinson 2006. Used with permission.
Andy Tippett in his Brabham BT30X-Buick at Harewood in August 2018. Copyright Steve Wilkinson 2018. Used with permission.
New to Bob Jennings (Puttenham, Surrey) and fitted with a 2-litre Climax FWMV V8 engine. Used in the 1969 British Hill Climb Championship by Jennings, sharing with Mike MacDowel (Guildford, Surrey) who won at Bouley Bay in July and finished second at Rest-and-Be-Thankful and Craigantlet. Retained for 1970 when MacDowel won at Doune. Jennings continued with the car in 1971 but had Roy Lane fit it with a 3.7-litre Buick V8. To David Fyfe (Edinburgh) for 1972, then to Murray McGrath (Edinburgh) for 1973 but crashed at Doune and sold to Hamish McLean (Fife). Then unknown until owned by Barrie Dutnall (Gillingham, Kent) and raced at Lydden Hill in 1979. In 1980, Dutnall stripped the car of its engine and suspension, which were used on a new car built around a BT40 tub. The BT30X reappeared in 1985 when sold by David Rishworth (Leamington Spa, Warwickshire) to Ted Walker (Dursley, Gloucestershire), who sold it to Peter Coleman (Lenham, Kent) about six months later. Believed to have been restored with a new F2-style BT30 chassis and sold to Japan, while the original chassis and some other original parts passed via Simon Hadfield (Shepshed, Leicestershire) to Steve Worrad (Whitchurch, Shropshire) in 2005. The chassis and accumulated parts to Neil Glover (Ansty, West Sussex) 2008 and then to Chris Keen (Fritham, Hampshire) in 2009. The chassis remained at WDK Motorsport in February 2015. By 2018, it had been acquired by Andy Tippett (Stretton on Fosse, Warwickshire) and was fully restored to its 1971 Buick specification. Used by Tippett in hillclimbs from 2018 onwards.
Driven by: Mike MacDowel, Bob Jennings, David Fyfe, Alex Brown, J A Murray McGrath, Alistair Beaumont and Barrie Dutnall. First race: Loton Park, 5 Apr 1969. Total of 59 recorded races.
Nigel Wooddisse in his Brabham BT30 at Prescott in June 1970. Copyright Ted Walker 2024. Used with permission.
This chassis number was not mentioned in any contemporary report but BT30X-2 is likely to be the car sold to Roger Hickman for hillclimbs in 1969. If so, then raced at Loton Park, Woburn and Wiscombe Park in the opening weeks of the 1969 season but crashed heavily in the latter race. The car was repaired for the 1970 season with a replacement chassis. Acquired by Nigel Wooddisse (Wolverhampton) and raced by him and Brian Pickering (Pedmore) in 1970 and 1971 with a 1500cc Winkelmann Ford twin cam replacing the original Cosworth FVA. Sold to Tony Lambert (Warwick) at the end of the 1971 season who fitted a FVA and continued to use it in sprints and hillclimbs. Advertised by Lambert in May and June 1974. Sold to Martyn Griffiths (Arley, Worcestershire); then sold to Doug Pound (Rock, Birmingham) who crashed and severely damaged the car at Shelsley Walsh in August 1974. It is understood to have been buried.
Driven by: Roger Hickman, Brian Pickering, Nigel Wooddisse, Tony Lambert and Doug Pound. First race: Woburn, 11 May 1969. Total of 15 recorded races.
Acknowledgements
These histories were originally constructed with the assistance of Brabham historian Ted Walker, Chris Townsend, Steve Wilkinson and others. If you can add anything to our understanding of these cars, please contact Allen Brown (allen@oldracingcars.com).
These histories last updated on .