Brabham BT29 (Formula B)

History

While Europe's Brabhams fought F2 and F3, the BT29 (1969) chased America: built for SCCA Formula B — 1.6-litre production-based twin-cams, effectively the continent's premier open-wheel customer class — with the proven Tauranac spaceframe recipe sized for Lotus-Ford twin-cam power and North American circuit demands.

It sold and won in the way MRD intended: BT29s filled Formula B grids from Mosport to Laguna Seca through 1969–71, taking SCCA national honours and Canadian series results against Lotus 69s and Chevrons, and serving the era's US-based professionals as the class's default serious equipment. The type also fed the pipeline that became Formula Atlantic — the BT29's category matured into the championship that later launched Villeneuve's generation.

Survivors stayed largely in North America, where historic Formula B/Atlantic classes (SVRA, VARAC and Monoposto grids) run them regularly: parts commonality with the wider Tauranac catalogue, twin-cam engines the vintage trade knows completely, and values well below equivalent European F2 Brabhams — the underpriced door into genuine Tauranac single-seater ownership.

Palmarès

SCCA Formula B national race wins and championship results 1969–71; Canadian Formula B series success; the professional-class record of North America's premier small-bore open-wheel category — then decades of vintage Formula B/Atlantic grid regularity.