Mildren (racing cars)

Did You Know?

• The Mildren Chevrolet was a monocoque Formula 5000 car designed by Len Bailey with assistance from Frank Gardner.
• Kevin Bartlett drove the Mildren Chevrolet in the 1970 Australian Grand Prix but failed to finish.
• Bartlett placed seventh in the 1971 Tasman Series driving the Mildren Chevrolet.

Mildren Maserati

A one-off sports car built in 1964, the Mildren Maserati used a Lotus 19 chassis clone with Cooper T51 components and a 2.9 litre Maserati Type 61 engine. Bob Britton constructed the chassis. Kevin Bartlett drove it to win the 1965 Victorian Sports Car Championship. Frank Gardner was favoured to win the 1965 Australian Tourist Trophy, but an engine failure in a preliminary heat prevented the car from starting the race. Sold to Ross Ambrose in 1966, it was later fitted with a 2.2-litre Coventry Climax engine and raced as the Rennmax-Climax, then re-engined with a 4.4 litre Traco-Oldsmobile in 1969 to become the Traco-Rennmax.

Mildren Waggott (Rennmax BN3)

Built by Bob Britton for Alec Mildren Racing, this space frame open wheeler was one of several Rennmax BN3 cars derived from the Brabham BT23. Originally powered by a 1.6 litre Alfa Romeo engine, it was driven by Max Stewart in the 1969 Tasman Series. Due to the Alfa engine's lack of power and high oil use, the car was later fitted with a 1.6 litre Waggott engine. Stewart won the 1969 and 1970 Australian Formula 2 Championships with the car, and the 1971 Australian Drivers' Championship using a 2.0 litre Waggott TC4V engine. He also won the 1972 Singapore Grand Prix with the car, which was Ford powered for that race.

Mildren Mono

The Mildren Mono was a monocoque open wheeler designed by Len Bailey and built by Alan Mann Racing. It replaced the team's 1965 Brabham BT16 and its 2.5L Coventry Climax engine, which was sold to Col Green. Debuting in late 1968 at Warwick Farm Raceway with Frank Gardner driving, it was powered by a 315 bhp, 2462 cc Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 V8 engine, the same type used in the team's Brabham BT23D. As the official Australian Alfa Romeo importer, Alec Mildren obtained these V8 engines from Autodelta, the same engine used in Alfa's 1967 T33/2 Daytona 2.5L endurance sports car.

Kevin Bartlett won the 1969 Australian Drivers' Championship with the Mono, using the Alfa Romeo engine and also 4-cylinder, four-valve-per-cylinder Waggott engines of 1850cc and 2 litre capacity. For 1969 racing, the car was fitted with high front and rear wings; Bartlett noted that the team's Brabham BT23D was the first open wheel race car in Australia to use wings during the 1968 Australian Drivers' Championship. In the 1969 Tasman Series, Gardner drove the Mono Alfa while Bartlett drove the Brabham Alfa.

Though the fastest of the local entries, the Alfa V8 lacked the pace of the Cosworth DFV-derived DFW V8 (rated at about 360 bhp) and V6 Ferrari (rated at 300 bhp) cars. After all eight series events, Gardner was the highest placed Australian in 6th place. Following the Tasman Series, Gardner returned to London, and Bartlett took the Mono to win the 1969 Macau Grand Prix, becoming the first Australian to win that race. In 1969, Bartlett also raced the Mildren Mono-Alfa in the inaugural JAF Grand Prix at Fuji Speedway in Japan, run to Formula Libre rules.

He qualified 4th, being fastest after the first session, but a burned piston after his fastest lap dropped him to 4th on the grid. The race ended early when a replacement engine fitted overnight also burned a piston.