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| In the late 1960s Italian
race organisers were offering additional money to anyone fielding an Italian
car in F3 events. This led to a large number of manufacturers emerging from
the woodwork, the most successful being Tecno. The legendary Brambilla bothers,
Tino and Vittorio supported Birel in their efforts to create a local car,
the resulting series of Brabham BT21 copies gave Vittorio some success in
the final years of the 1-litre formula. |
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| An almost direct clone
of a contemporay Brabham, unfortunately for the Birel team it wasn't as
quick as the real thing and results were disappointing.. |
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| The Birel design was
now beginning to move away, if only slightly, from its Brabham roots and
The Brambilla brothers were now getting involved in the project. Ernesto
Brambilla took a second place at Monza in May indicating the car was getting
better. |
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| Vittorio
Brambilla in a Birel during a German F3 race in 1970,
the Brabham influence is evident. |
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The
Birel now looked very like a Brabham BT21 and it was obviously going
like one as Vittorio Brambilla scored several good results with
it including wins at Vallelunga and Monza. |
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| For 1970 the Brambilla's
switched to building karts but at the end of the season Vittorio took his
car out of mothballs and won a race at Munich to show it was still competitive. |
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Vittorio
Brambilla in the Alfa Romeo powered 1971 Birel.
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For
1971 the '69 car was rebuilt with some Alpine characteristics and
raced as the Birel 71. Vittorio winning one race with an Alfa Romeo-based
engine and two more with a Nova version. |
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| By 1972 the Birel star
had waned, Vittorio doing 5 races with a Wainer-tuned Alfa engine and 2
with a Nova whilst Tino did 5 races with the Alfa version. The chassis was
based on a Tecno chassis and used Alpine inspired bodywork. After securing
only a single point each the switch to a Brabham chassis was made and the
Birel name disappeared from racing history. |
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| Drivers |
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| 1967 |
Ernesto
Brambilla, Luciano Selva. |
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| 1968 |
Alessandro
Angeleri, Ernesto Brambilla, Vittorio Brambilla, Enzo Corti. |
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| 1969 |
Vittorio
Brambilla, "Guido". |
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| 1970 |
Vittorio
Brambilla. |
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| 1971 |
Vittorio
Brambilla, Pino Pica |
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| 1972 |
Ernesto
Brambilla, Vittorio Brambilla, Roberto Manzoni. |
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