1978 Ralt RT1 (FIA)

Having sold his interest in Brabham Cars to Bernie Ecclestone, legendary British-Australian engineer, driver and fighter pilot, Ron Tauranac, spent the next few years involved with various freelance projects with other F1 teams including Ligier, Williams, Trojan and Theodore Racing, the last of which resulted in the successful International Trophy-winning TR1. However, the urge to produce customer cars had not gone away and having come to know fellow Australian Larry Perkins in 1974, and working with him to sort out his F3 GRD 374, Ron was convinced that he could do better and drew up what became the Ralt RT1 (RALT stands for Ron and Austin Lewis-his brother Tauranac.) The RT1 was a simple car but a brilliant design that could be adapted for use in Formula Atlantic, Formula 2, Formula 3 and even, in later years, in sports cars. Larry Perkins won the first European F3 Championship in 1975, a great start to the car’s career. 1976 was the year when the first Formula 2 win was scored by Freddy Kottulinsky at Nurburgring and Ralt won the German Formula 3 Championship. More titles came in 1977 with the Italian and the Swedish Formula 3 Championships being added to the Ralt name. In 1978 Ralt drivers won the two British Formula 3 championships as well as the German, Swedish and the European crown in that category. Between 1975 and 1979, 165 RT1s were manufactured to be followed by 160 of its successor, the RT3, from 1980 to 1984, and over 130 of the Formula Atlantic version and 115 of the Formula Super Vee variant.

This 1978 Ralt RT1 (RT1-34) has been raced successfully in the HSCC Historic Formula 2 Series following a full rebuild in 2019. The car was rebuilt to a very high standard by reputable historic racing team, Hi-Tech Motorsport, and has been prepared to current FIA specification and regulations. It’s been carefully maintained to ensure its competitiveness and this is reflected in the great results it has achieved since it was rebuilt including an overall win in Historic F2 at the Silverstone Classic in 2019, as well as wins and podiums at Hockenheim, Brands Hatch and the Oulton Park Gold Cup.

The engine is a BDG built by Geoff Richardson Race Engines and the vendor reports that there are circa 450 race miles on the unit, whilst the gearbox was built and maintained by JP Raceshop. During the cars 2019 rebuild, the chassis was restored with new fuel-cells fitted, all new uprights and suspension, new wheels and a complete set of new bodywork.

Pleasingly, RT1-34 has up-to-date FIA HTP papers with eight years remaining. To replicate this car today would cost a lot more than our current estimate and this particular example also benefits from being a proven and highly developed car, capable of winning at the best events in the right hands and consequently offering great value for money. We encourage all interested parties to get in touch for any further information required.