Birrana was the name of two motor racing organisations, both associated with South Australian racing driver and engineer Malcolm Ramsay. From 1971 to 1978 Birrana constructed a series of successful open-wheel racing cars under the Birrana name. It also constructed a Holden Kingswood HQ for Ramsay to compete in Group C Improved Production Touring Cars racing.
Ramsay brought the Birrana name back to motor racing in the 1990s running a series of Reynard Motorsport built Formula 3000 chassis in the Australian Drivers' Championship. Birrana came to dominate the championship winning titles with Jason Bright, Paul Stokell, Rick Kelly and Simon Wills as well as giving Mark Webber his first racing experience of wings and slicks open-wheeler racing. As Formula Holden started to wither, Birrana moved into V8 Supercar with Wills. Ramsay reduced his involvement as the team morphed into Team Dynamik. Today Ramsay continues the Birrana name as a mechanical engineering firm servicing the mining industry.
Birrana Racing Cars Pty Ltd was formed later in 1972 by Alcock and Ramsay and construction of racing cars was undertaken in a former service station in suburban Adelaide.[2] The company would go on to sell a total of 16 cars.[1]
Birrana F72
The first car sold by Birrana Racing Cars was a Formula Ford,[2] the F72 produced in 1972 for Steven Drewhurst of Melbourne.[1]
Peter Brock also drove an ex-Leo Geoghegan Birrana 273 during the 1973 Australian F2 Championship, finishing second at Oran Park and sixth at Amaroo, while also winning a number of non-championship races. Brock ran the Birrana under the "Team Brock" banner and the car used a Ford engine, and later a Hart engine. Brock's Holden Dealer Team boss Harry Firth claimed that he let Brock race the Birrana to get formula cars out of his system.
Birrana Racing Cars Pty Ltd was closed in 1974.[2] Bob and Marj Brown took two Birrana 273s and Tony Alcock[8] to England to compete in the 1975 Formula Atlantic series. Later, Tony Alcock joined Graham Hill's Embassy RacingFormula One team.[1] Later that year he was killed in a plane crash which also took the lives of Hill and four other Embassy Racing team members.[1]
There were three 374’s made by the team all that were very successful on track
Birrana S74
The S74 was a speedcar built to run at the Adelaide International Raceway half-mile bitumen oval. It utilised a mid-engined configuration.
Birrana A78
The Birrana A78 was built by Malcolm Ramsay using 273 and 274 components for Ramsay to contest Rothmans Series events in Malaysia in 1978.[1] Ramsay finished second in the Penang Grand Prix and the Selangor Grand Prix and third in Malaysian Grand Prix and was leading the series when it was cancelled.[1] The A78, which was the last model to carry the Birrana name, was later sold to John Holmes of Queensland as were all Birrana patterns, jigs and dies.[1]
References
^ abcdefghijklmnopPedr Davis, The Macquarie Dictionary of Motoring, 1986, page 46
