Category Formula One Designer(s) Ron Tauranac Successor BT37 | Constructor Brabham Predecessor BT33 Chassis Aluminium monocoque. | |
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The Brabham BT34 was a Formula One racing car designed by Ron Tauranac, and used by Brabham during part of the 1971 and 1972 Formula One seasons.
Contents
Development
In 1971, Jack Brabham sold his share of the team to co-owner and designer Ron Tauranac. Englishman Graham Hill was signed to drive the BT34 and Tauranac also signed Australian Tim Schenken to drive the older Brabham BT33. Tauranac designed the BT34 which was nicknamed the 'lobster claw', derived from its twin radiators mounted ahead of the front wheels. Only one BT34 was built for Hill.
1971
Brabham used the BT33 in the 1971 South African Grand Prix. The BT34 made its debut at Spain and Hill retired with steering issues. The Englishman crashed at the Monaco Grand Prix. Hill finished tenth at Holland and retired at the French Grand Prix with a broken oil pipe. The start of Britain was a shambles, with a bungled flag drop causing a crash between Hill and Jackie Oliver (McLaren), for which Oliver was fined £50. Hill finished ninth at the German Grand Prix. Hill finished fifth at Austria and retired at the Italian Grand Prix with a broken gearbox, Hill crashed at a wet race in Canada. The Englishman finished seventh at the United States Grand Prix.
Brabham finished the season in ninth place in the Constructors' Championship with five points, two scored by Hill and five by Schenken.
At the end of the year Tauranac, an engineer by choice, started to feel his Formula One budget of £100,000 was a risk he could not afford to take on his own and searched around for an experienced business partner. He sold Brabham for £100,000 at the end of the year to Bernie Ecclestone, former manager of Jochen Rindt and former owner of Connaught Engineering. Tauranac stayed on to design the cars and run the factory.
1972
Ron Tauranac left the Brabham team in early 1972 after Ecclestone changed the way Brabham was organised without letting him know. Ecclestone said "In retrospect, the relationship was never going to work", noting that "[Ron Tauranac and I] both took the view: 'Please be reasonable, do this my way'". The 1972 season was disappointing, despite the team running three different cars, the BT33, BT34 and BT37.
Brabham replaced Schenken with Argentinian Carlos Reutemann for 1972. Hill remained with the team but Brabham put the Argentinian in the BT34. The 1972 Argentine Grand Prix saw Reutemann take pole in his first grand prix but finish seventh. The Argentinian retired from South Africa with fuel system failure. Reutemann broke his ankle after a mechanical failure on his Rondel Racing entered Brabham at Thruxton during a Formula Two race. The BT34 was not used at the Spanish and Monaco Grands Prix. For Belgium, Brabham entered a third car for Brazilian Wilson Fittipaldi but he retired with a broken gearbox. The Brazilian finished eighth at the French Grand Prix. Fittipaldi finished 12th at Britain despite having stopped the car on lap 69 with broken suspension. The Brazilian finished seventh at the German Grand Prix. Fittipaldi retired from the final four races of the year, brake failure at Austria, broken suspension in Italy, broken gearbox at Canada and engine failure at the United States.
The Brabham team had scored seven World Championship points, four by Hill and three by Reutemann, earning them ninth place in the Constructors' Championship for the second season running.
The BT34 was replaced by the Brabham BT37 for the 1973 season.
Complete Formula One World Championship results
(key)(results in bold indicate pole position, results in italics indicate fastest lap)
^1 This total includes points scored by the Brabham BT33.
^2 All points scored by the Brabham BT33 and Brabham BT37.
Non-Championship Formula One results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)