ONLINE TRIBUTE SERVICE FOR RON TAURANAC

Online tribute service for Ron Tauranac – Photo: Auto Action Archive

Tributes from some of the biggest names in world and Australian motorsport will be seen and heard at a memorial service in Sydney this week for legendary Brabham and Ralt designer Ron Tauranac.

The service at Sydney Motorsport Park will be online because of the limited number – the 100 invited guests – allowed at the venue.

Tauranac died on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast on July 17, aged 95, and pandemic restrictions dictated that only a small private funeral could be held at the time.

While restrictions remain in the various Australian states, the Australian Racing Drivers’ Club and the Historic Sports and Racing Car Association of NSW, of which Tauranac was patron, have arranged the memorial service at Sydney Motorsport Park at 10.25am AEST on Wednesday, September 23 (GMT 12.25am).

The link for viewing the service is: https://www.FuneralVideo.com.au/RonTauranac

The organisers say that it can be watched there live or at any time from 30 minutes after the service for six months.

Tauranac designed many of Sir Jack Brabham’s Formula 1 cars, including those that won the 1966 world championship – Brabham’s third title – and again in 1967 in the hands of Brabham’s teammate, New Zealander Denny Hulme.

All the Brabham cars of the era carried the appellation BT – standing for Brabham and Tauranac – before the model number, and Sir Jack’s youngest son, David Brabham, has revived that tradition with his BT62 road and race car.

After the sale of the Brabham F1 team to Bernie Ecclestone in the early ‘70s, Tauranac became the world’s most prolific builder of open-wheeler racing cars under the marque Ralt – a name he’d earlier used in Australia in partnership with his brother, Austin.

Apart from recorded messages from one of Tauranac’s two daughters, Jann, and son-in-law Geoff Heslop for Wednesday’s service, video or written tributes have been received from Bernie Ecclestone, designers Sir Patrick Head and Professor Gordon Murray, legendary Honda chief Nobuhiko Kawamoto, engine builder John Judd, and Australian racing identities Tim Schenken and Larry Perkins – both ex-F1 drivers apart from their other achievements.