In the sixties South Africa enjoyed a thriving Formula One circus of it’s own and one of it’s best remembered practitioners was Brausch Niemann. Not because he was especially talented – although he did appear to be half-sharp – but because he had a Lotus Seven and, by all accounts, a particularly tatty one.
Now a Lotus Seven isn’t a Formula One car is it…? Well it could be, if you had enough imagination and Brausch Niemann definitely had enough imagination!
He stripped it down to the bare necessities, fitted a Ford 109E engine bored out to 1475cc with four Amal carburettors and a special camshaft and head. He cut the chassis in half lengthways and narrowed it two inches to comply with F1 regs. Fitted front brakes off a 1958 Mercedes 180 with finned drums and changed the back axle to one from an Austin.
All he needed to do now was to qualify for the 1962 Rand GP at Kyalami, and he would be an F1 driver. So he did. In last place, which doesn’t sound that impressive until you realise that the Rand GP had attracted a lot of world-class entrants from Europe, and that there were 13 other cars that didn’t even make the grid at all.
Brausch did little to worry the big-boys, but he completed the race, finishing in 11th and last place, 5 laps behind the winning Lotus-Climax of works driver Jim Clark. Again, not especially impressive, but it was more than many achieved that day. He was also timed at 127mph through the speed-trap on the straight. The Natal GP followed, and Braush qualified 20th, out of 32 starters. But this time he didn’t finish.
