Footnotes

• This beautifully presented Formule Libre or Tasman Formula Brabham BT11A is understood to be the first car of the ‘IC’ – ‘InterContinental’ – series of only five single-seater racing cars constructed by Motor Racing Developments Ltd (MRD) for 1964. MRD was the specialist manufacturing company created by Jack Brabham and his Australian business partner and design engineer Ron Tauranac. It was based at New Haw Lock, within a stone’s throw of the pre-war Brooklands Motor Course just outside Weybridge in Surrey. Ron Tauranac’s new BT11-design chassis was intended for both Formula 1 and Tasman Formula use into the 1964 International season.
  
  While the works Brabham BT11 Formula 1 cars were to be powered by contemporary 1½-litre Coventry-Climax FWMV V8 engines and entered by the Brabham Racing Organisation at World Championship level, the BT11As had a rejigged rear engine bay section to accommodate either 2.5 or 2.75-litre 4-cylinder Coventry Climax FPF power units.
  
  In 1962 and 1963 the Antipodean summer series of ‘Tasman’ races in New Zealand and Australia had been open to InterContinental Formula cars of up to 3-litres capacity. This had permitted Formula 1-derived single-seat Cooper, Lotus, Brabham and Lola cars to be despatched from the UK to run with the enlarged 2.75-litre FPF ‘Indianapolis’ engines – which had been originated for Jack Brabham’s Cooper entry in the Indy ‘500’ in 1961.
  
  For 1964 a tighter set of regulations had been agreed between the Australasian race organisers and the regular entrants – including Brabham – under which a new Tasman Formula was agreed with a ceiling capacity of 2.5-litres. The 1964 ‘Tasman’ BT11As were therefore equipped with 2½-litre versions of the ubiquitous Climax FPF engine, but this initial chassis built emerged as a different animal.
  
  It was instead constructed to the order of leading Swiss mountain-climb exponent Charles Vogele, and for the type of European competition in which he was involved he was able to exploit the additional torque and power of the 2.75-litre ‘Indy’ FPF – free of the restrictions with which his fellow BT11A owner/drivers would have to conform ‘down under’.
  
  Accompanying this car – ‘IC-1-64’ – is a comprehensive list of Vogele’s appearances in his Brabham-Climax, beginning with the 21st Saint Ursanne-Les Rangiers mountain climb in Switzerland in which he immediately set Fastest Time of the Day (FTD), as confirmed by the contemporary report in the Swiss ‘Powerslide’ magazine, October 1964, page 13. Vogele’s red-liveried, white-striped Brabham-Climax subsequently won its class in the Sierre-Montana-Crans mountain climb, set FTD at Urcy in France, failed at Freiburg-Schauinsland, Germany, and completed the 1964 season at Eigenthal.
  
  Charles Vogele retained the car into 1965, setting FTD at the La Semois mountain-climb (Belgium), 2nd FTD at Kaalenbach (Luxembourg), 2nd in class in the Payenne Slalom (Switzerland) and FTD at both Koralpe and Rochefort-la-Tourne. He won his class at both Turckheim-Trois Epis and Saint Ursanne-Les Rangiers (where he was also 2nd overall), and he featured at Ollon-Villars, Kandersteg and Mont Verdun. He raced the car in the Swiss event at Monza, winning hands-down, and at Hockenheim, where he again won his class, before enjoying further success into 1966.
  
  All this time the Vogele Brabham had effectively been competing as an up-to 3-litre or Formule Libre monoplace.
  
  As offered here this strikingly potent 1960s single-seater is fresh for the 2007 racing season. It has been continuously maintained to a high standard ever since its restoration to raceworthy standard, and since having a new crown-wheel and pinion fitted it has been used in only two further races. Overall its present vendor describes the car as being in “very good” condition. It is presently fitted with 15-inch rear wheels as the ‘doughnut’-profile 13-inch racing tyres are no longer available. This change to specification has, we understand, been agreed with the Historic Grand Prix Car Association.
  
  Charles Vogele was in period the best-known of the European mountain-climb exponents, and his exploits in the Brabham-Climax BT11A were very well documented.
  
  Latterly, this exquisite single-seater has formed part of an impressive stable of competition motor cars since 2000 and has enjoyed much success in the hands of its present fastidious owner. Notable results include First at Brands Hatch 2001, First Donington 2001, Sixth Monaco 2002, Second Oulton Park 2005, First Brands Hatch 2005, Pole position Porto and Silverstone 2005/2006. As has been so ably demonstrated, IC-1-64 is a potential winner and front runner in the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association pre 1966 series of races, and a welcome sight at international events such as Silverstone Classic, Pau, Porto, and the Nurburgring.
  
  As offered here this is a rare opportunity to obtain the only ‘InterContinental’ Brabham to remain in period within Europe.