Brabhams to drive BT19 F1 car in Adelaide
Two generations of Brabhams will drive the priceless Brabham BT19 Formula 1 car at the Adelaide Motorsport Festival this weekend.
The BT19 will join a long list of significant historic Formula 1 cars that will cut laps of a shortened version of the Adelaide street circuit.
For the first time the car will be shared by two generations of Brabhams with David Brabham and son Sam both set to spend time behind the wheel.
David's father Sir Jack Brabham drove the BT19 to both the drivers' and constructors' world championships in 1966, marking the last time a driver won titles in a car bearing his own name.
The car is now owned by Repco, fitting given the automotive parts retailer built the three-litre V8 engine that powered the car to its world-beating success.
“The significance of the Repco and Brabham partnership is a really important piece in the history of motorsport,” said Sam Brabham.
“Repco built the engines for the Brabham cars for a number of years, ultimately winning the Formula 1 world championship with Jack in his own car in 1966. It’s a feat that has never been done since, and in all likelihood, will never happen again.
“It’s going to be fantastic to not only have the BT19 on track, but to have my father coming to drive it with me at the Adelaide Motorsport Festival is going to be really special.
“It's fantastic to have the Adelaide Motorsport Festival back; we’ve missed it the last couple of years and now it's back bigger than ever. To have such an amazing array of beautiful cars with such incredible history not just for Australia but all around the world is fantastic.
“This is actually my first time at the Adelaide Motorsport Festival but I’m really excited and heard amazing things about the event. Obviously I raced last year at the Adelaide 500, so I can see what the city brings with motorsport and it's such a fantastic atmosphere.
"I’m really looking forward to it.”
Repco's head of sponsorship Mitchell Wiley added: "The crew at Repco are really looking forward to reuniting the BT19 with David and Sam.
"We would like to thank the team at Adelaide Motorsport Festival for helping to bring this to life. The list of incredible cars that will be on show and track this weekend is truly remarkable, so it is fitting that arguably one of the most important cars in the sports history join that list.
"We can’t wait to see David and Sam get behind the wheel. We are also excited to be bringing the Repco Pitstop Challenge and some other very cool show cars to the event.”
The AMF will feature a number of cars split across categories such as Formula 1, Tipo F1, Supercars, Heritage Touring Cars and more.
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