# Brabham BT36 (F2)

- Source: https://racingcarnetwork.com/wiki/brabham-bt36/
- Publisher: Racing Car Network (racingcarnetwork.com), the race car marketplace
- Type: car · Brand: Brabham
- Discipline: formula
- Series: f2
- Era: 1970s
- Last updated: 2026-07-06
- For sale on RCN: https://racingcarnetwork.com/for-sale/brabham-bt36/ (0 live listings right now)

The Brabham BT36 was Tauranac's final Formula 2 statement: the 1971 FVA car raced by Graham Hill and the era's rising class in the European championship's fiercest seasons — a late-spaceframe gem in historic F2.

## Specifications

| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Engine | 1.6 L Cosworth FVA inline-4 |
| Power | ~225 hp at 9,000 rpm |
| Weight | ~415 kg |
| Gearbox | Hewland FT200 5-speed |
| Chassis | Tauranac tubular spaceframe (final F2) |
| Brakes | Discs all round |
| Years | 1971–1972 |
| Class | European F2 (historic F2 FVA class) |

## History

The BT36 (1971) closed the Tauranac F2 line in the designer's last MRD year: the spaceframe philosophy at maximum refinement — lower, cleaner and better-balanced than the BT30 it evolved — built for the FVA formula's final seasons before the 2-litre era swept in. Works-supported and customer cars ran across the 1971–72 European championship.

Its drivers spanned the formula's whole ecology: Graham Hill took the BT36 to victory in the 1971 International Trophy's F2 companion events and European rounds' points, Wilson Fittipaldi and Carlos Reutemann-generation rising names ran them hard, and the graded-star structure kept every weekend a mixed showcase of Grand Prix names and hungry juniors. Against March's volume and Tecno's speed the BT36 held the marque's end up to the spaceframe's very limit.

Historic Formula 2 gives the type its due: eligible in the FVA class alongside BT30s, rarer than its predecessor (a short production run in a transition year), and carrying last-of-line collectibility — the final Tauranac F2 design, from the final Tauranac year, at values that track that story.

## Palmarès

European F2 championship round wins and podiums 1971–72 (Graham Hill among the type's winners); Argentine temporada and non-championship F2 results; the closing chapter of Brabham's works F2 record before the marque's 2-litre retreat — now an FVA-class historic F2 contender.

## What to check before you buy

Rarity reshuffles the diligence: fewer BT36 frames than BT30s means identity verification through the registers matters even more, and Hill-driven or works-entered history multiplies value within the small run. Same engine-first economics as all FVA cars — builder lineage, hours, internals spec dominate price — plus Hewland FT200 and crack-test currency. The last-Tauranac-F2 story carries genuine collector weight at revival meetings; a documented BT36 is both raceable historic and marque-history punctuation mark, and trades accordingly.

## Did you know

- The BT36 was Ron Tauranac's final F2 design before selling MRD to Bernie Ecclestone — the end of the customer-Brabham era in its purest category.
- Graham Hill raced BT36s in F2 while a sitting Monaco legend — the graded-driver formula let fans watch a double champion fight club-level heroes for no points.
- Spaceframe F2 died with the FVA formula — the BT36 sits at the exact hinge where British customer racing went monocoque.

## Related entries

- Brabham BT30 (F2) — https://racingcarnetwork.com/wiki/brabham-bt30/
- Brabham BT40 (F2/Atlantic) — https://racingcarnetwork.com/wiki/brabham-bt40/
- Brabham BT33 — https://racingcarnetwork.com/wiki/brabham-bt33/
- Surtees TS9 (Formula 1) — https://racingcarnetwork.com/wiki/surtees-ts9-f1/