THE BRABHAM BT24

History rightly records the Lotus 49 as one of the seminal grand prix cars of the 1960s. Conjoined with the Ford-Cosworth DFV engine, it rendered its opposition obsolete at a stroke. And yet it was beaten to the world championship in its first year by one of those very dinosaurs.

Appearing for the first time on the same weekend as the Lotus – Zandvoort 1967 –Brabham’s BT24 was everything Colin Chapman’s masterpiece of lightweighting wasn’t. From its steel spaceframe chassis and glassfibre bodywork to its simple coil-over-springs suspension, it was a work of pragmatism and simplicity rather than restless innovation. Still, at least it had bespoke-designed, cast magnesium suspension uprights rather than the ex-Triumph Herald forgings used by its predecessors.

These differences cut to the heart of what marked Brabham out from Lotus in the 1960s. Both businesses relied on selling cars to supplement their prize money from racing, but whereas Chapman brazenly shifted lesser machinery to his customers, Brabham