Graeme Lawrence's exciting 1971 season abroad

[BritishV8]

Graeme Lawrence bought Evan Noyes' Brabham BT29 in early 1971, uprated it, and campaigned it all over the far east...

Can you help verify the accuracy of any of the following information and/or help fill in missing data?

Graeme Lawrence's 1971 Race Results (in his Brabham BT29)
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Singapore Grand Prix (Thomson Road circuit) on April 11 --- finished 1st of 7 (with Twin Cam)
Kuala Lumpur Grand Prix (Shah Alam circuit) on May 18 --- finished 1st of ? (with Twin Cam)
Japanese Grand Prix (Fuji Intl. Speedway) on May 3 --- finished 4th of 14 (with FVC)
Angus&Coote Diamond Trophy (Oran Park AU) on June 27 --- finished 2nd of 16 (with FVC)
Malaysian Grand Prix (Shah Alam circuit) on September 5 --- finished 5th of ? (with Twin Cam)
Macau Grand Prix (Guia street circuit) in November --- (didn't participate)
Australian Grand Prix (Warwick Farm AU) on November 21 --- finished 4th of 21 (with Twin Cam?)

(At Oran Park he spun, then set a lap record for the course while battling his way back!)
(At Warwick Farm he was the fastest <2L car & just 4sec off podium, outrunning 5 of 8 F5000 cars!)

Should other races be included here?

[pallmall]

I suggest asking the man himself. I believe he can be found on that dreadful facebook place.

[David McKinney]

The KL Grand Prix was in April, a week after Singapore, and probably on the Batu Tiga circuit. He was first
The Malaysian GP was on 5 September
Lawrence did not enter the 1971 Macau GP

There was no official name for the southeast Asian series until the '70s, when it was sponsored by Rothman's

[BritishV8]

Thanks David. That's good progress.

I have one source that says he won the Malaysian GP and another that says he finished second... where might I find more information?

I tried contacting Graeme through Facebook, but the way he has his entry set-up (as a public figure) doesn't allow messages from people he doesn't already know.

[BritishV8]

Still prodding at this...

It seems that "Shah Alam circuit" and "Batu Tiga circuit" are two names for the same racetrack, which incidentally closed down in 2003. No? So the Rothman's series raced twice at the same circuit in 1971? Or was there another circuit then? (Johor’s Circuit at Pasir Gudang dates to 1986. Sepang opened in 1999.)

[Milan Fistonic]

Still prodding at this...

It seems that "Shah Alam circuit" and "Batu Tiga circuit" are two names for the same racetrack, which incidentally closed down in 2003. No? So the Rothman's series raced twice at the same circuit in 1971? Or was there another circuit then? (Johor’s Circuit at Pasir Gudang dates to 1986. Sepang opened in 1999.)

I have an undated booklet headed Supplementary Regulations for Shah Alam Motor Racing Circuit Batu Tiga, Selangor so I think you can safely say they are one and the same.

Lawrence's Brabham was powered by a Ford Twin Cam in the Singapore and Kuala Lumpur races (which he won) before having the FVC fitted for the Japanese GP.

The car was flown to Australia after the Japanese race where it was supposed to be sold. When the sale fell through Lawrence decided to enter the second round of the Australian Gold Star Championship at Oran Park on June 27. He finished second to Max Stewart but did not score championship points because he did not have an Australian competition licence. Stewart's Mildren Waggott had a 2-litre engine while Lawrence's FVC was only 1800cc. Despite that handicap the Kiwi driver set a new lap record in his fight back after recovering from a spin.

The Twin Cam engine was back in the car for the Malaysian Grand Prix on September 5.

[David McKinney]

Still prodding at this...
So the Rothman's series raced twice at the same circuit in 1971?

As previously mentioned, there was no Rothmans Series in 1971

[BritishV8]

Thanks! I've updated the first post with information from your various replies.

Is it as accurate as we can get it now?

[BritishV8]

I'm still looking for anything I can turn up on this car's history.

It probably looked a lot like this, except with wings installed:



The blue windscreen interests me. I've heard that McLaren fitted some tinted screens in the late sixties, and I wonder in anyone remembers seeing that sort of thing on a Brabham. I bet the original header tucked downward and came out below the shock absorber. Do any of you remember seeing this car back in the day?

[David McKinney]

It did have a tinted screen (can't remember the colour) in the day, and also a dark nose-band (can't remember that colour either... )

[BritishV8]

Well...I've completed and uploaded a very detailed article about Graeme Lawrence's racecar to this address. Fascinating stuff! Thanks again to everyone who helped me gather the information.

Here's the link: Murray Sinclair's (ex Graeme Lawrence) Brabham BT29 Racecar (includes ~50 close-up photos)





(Please don't hesitate to let me know if you spot any inaccuracies, so I can fix them.)

[GD66]

Lovely. I think, as depicted,the screen was clear. With an Air NZ paint job, if the stripes were teal it's very possible the nose band was gold. Numbers (14) were black. And ooh, the sound....