For sale: 1976 RALT RT1

This RT-1 Ralt is probably the most original and the quickest RT-1 in the world. The car has only had three owners:1976-1977 Bruce Allison, who raced in the Stuyvesant series in NZ with quite some success.

1977-2002 Bob Johns, raced infrequently up to 1992

2002-Present: Peter Landan. The car underwent a full restoration during 2002-2003 and has been raced sparingly until 2009. It has always been expertly maintained and is in perfect order

The car has never been crashed and during the refurbishment, care was taken not to destroy the original patina of the car. The chassis is perfect and the car is known for its unique rear wing. The engine is a Molloy-Gibbs big valve Cosworth producing around 225hp. The car races in Group Q and has rarely been beaten by other Q cars. In fact it beats many of the younger Group R cars.

As can been seen below, the RT-1 was the first model to be designed by Ron Tauranac after establishing the RALT Marque. Ron is widely regarded as one of the greatest ever, open wheel race car designers. The RT-1 had many successes, winning the European Formula Three series in 1975. Unlike the RT2/3/4’s there were not many RT-1’s made and currently there are only two in Australia. This makes this RT-1 very collectable and in particular, the car is important because of its: – Unique originality – Unique body and wing shape – High performance

The car comes with current Logbook and Certificate of Description. Old logbooks dating back to 1977 and the original Cosworth paperwork accompany the car. All invoices and racing records, from the current ownership, go with the car. Also there are significant spares, including one spare set of Dymag wheels with wet tyres, four spare front splitters, splitter moulds, suspension part.

Ron Tauranac

Ron Tauranac was the Australian designer for Formula One driver Jack Brabham from 1962 until Brabham’s retirement as a driver at the end of the 1970 season. Tauranac briefly owned and managed the Brabham team in 1971, but he sold the team to Bernie Ecclestone in late 1971. He remained in England to assist with a redesign of a Politoys Formula One chassis for Frank Williams in 1973 and helped Trojan develop a Formula One version of their Formula 5000 car.

After a brief retirement in Australia, Tauranac returned to England to establish the Ralt marque (a name he and his brother Austin had used for some ‘specials’ in Australia in the 1950s winning the NSW Hillclimb Championship in 1954 with the Ralt 500). The first “modern” Ralt was the Ralt RT1 chassis, to be raced in Formula Three, Formula Two and Formula Atlantic. The chassis proved very successful, winning the European Formula Three championship in 1975 in the hands of Australian driver Larry Perkins. The 1978 season also proved successful for the RT1 chassis, winning the European F3 championship for Jan Lammers.

Two new designs were created for the 1979 season, the RT2 for Formula Two and the RT3 for Formula Three. The RT3 chassis proved highly successful, winning the 1983 European F3 championship for Pierluigi Martini and five consecutive British F3 titles.

A joint venture with Honda resulted in the RH6 chassis which won the 1981, 1984 and 1985 titles.

In October 1988 Tauranac sold the Ralt business to March Engineering for £1.25m. Tauranac has remained involved with various aspects of the sport since departing from Ralt, including racing-school cars for Honda, a Formula Renault car, consulting work for the Arrows Formula One team, and continuing his relationship with Honda that goes back to their early Formula Two days as engine supplier to Brabham in the 1960s.

He has now moved back to Australia but still retains an interest in the sport.

More information please call the Classic Throttle Shop on +61 2 9922 2036 or email sales@classicthrottleshop.com