Ralt was a manufacturer of single-seater racing cars, founded by ex-Jack Brabham associate Ron Tauranac after he sold out his interest in Brabham to Bernie Ecclestone. Ron and his brother had built some specials in Australia in the 1950s under the RALT name (standing for Ron and Austin Lewis Tauranac), but this article concerns itself only with the Ralts built by Ron's company. Auto racing (also known as automobile racing or autosport) is a sport involving racing automobiles. ... Sir John Arthur Jack Brabham, OBE (born April 2, 1926) is an Australian racing driver who was Formula One champion in 1959, 1960 and 1966. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Brabham - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Bernard Charles Bernie Ecclestone (born October 29, 1930 in Ipswich, Suffolk, United Kingdom) is the president and CEO of Formula One Management and Formula One Administration, and owns a stake in Alpha Prema, the parent company of the Formula One Group of companies. ...

As a constructor, Tauranac acquired a reputation for building safe, simple, strong cars that were manufactured to very high standards -- he tended to invest his firm's profits in high-quality machine tools and Ralts acquired an enviable reputation as the best-built "customer" cars of their era.

The Cars

The early multi-formula cars and their derivatives

Tauranac founded Ralt in 1974 and the first product was the RT1, a simple and versatile car used in Formula Two, Formula Three and Formula Atlantic racing between 1975 and 1978. Formula Two was a type of formula racing. ... Formula Three, also called Formula 3 or, in abbreviated form, F3, is a type of formula racing and a class of open-wheeler motor racing. ... The Toyota Atlantic Championship is an auto racing series with races throughout North America. ...

The RT2 was a Formula Two car for 1979 with three cars being built for the Toleman team. Later three more cars were built for private owners including one exclusively for the revival of the CanAm series. The Toleman Group built their own (TG280) cars for 1980 based somewhat on the RT2 design and later licensed Lola to build it as the T850. Further-modified Tolemans appeared in F2 as Docking-Spitzleys. Two of the original Toleman RT2 team cars ended up in the Can-Am series. The third one ended up in South Africa where copies called Lants were made. Related cars have appeared in hillclimb and sprint events in the UK as Romans and SPAs. Formula Two was a type of formula racing. ... Toleman Motosport was a Formula One constructor based in the U.K. It was active between 1981 and 1985 and attended 131 Grands Prix. ... Cover of Car and Driver magazine, showing transparent diagram of CanAm racer The Canadian-American Challenge Cup or CanAm, was an SCCA/CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1974. ... For other meanings, see Lola (disambiguation) Lola Racing Cars (also Lola Cars International) is a racing car engineering company founded by Eric Broadley and based in Huntingdon, United Kingdom. ... Toleman Motosport was a Formula One constructor based in the U.K. It was active between 1981 and 1985 and attended 131 Grands Prix. ... Cover of Car and Driver magazine, showing transparent diagram of CanAm racer The Canadian-American Challenge Cup or Can Am, was an SCCA/CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1974. ...

RT3 was a Formula 3 car derived from the RT2. Formula Three is a class of auto racing. ...

RT4 was a Formula Atlantic car based on the RT2. Some RT4s did occasionally appear in F2.

RT5 was a Formula Super Vee car derived from the RT2 and very similar to the RT3. Formula Vee is a popular single-seater junior motor racing formula, with relatively low-costs in comparison to Formula Ford or Formula BMW. It is based on a 1963 Volkswagen Beetle. ...

Works F2 cars

RH6 was the start of Ralt's association with Honda in Formula Two (but not Ron Tauranac's - he had been Jack Brabham's partner when Brabham introduced Honda to F2 in the 1960s). The RH6 designation was used for works cars between 1980 and 1984, with the 1980 and 81 cars being a development of the RT2 theme and 1982-4 cars being further developed around a new honeycomb tub. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Formula Two was a type of formula racing. ... Sir John Arthur Jack Brabham, OBE (born April 2, 1926) is an Australian racing driver who was Formula One champion in 1959, 1960 and 1966. ...

Formula 3000 cars

RB20 was the marque's first Formula 3000 car, and in keeping with most of the F3000 grid in 1985, it was essentially a further development of the last generation of the RH6, fitted with a Cosworth DFV engine. (The 'B' was for Bridgestone, Ralt's main sponsor - F3000 did not go onto control tyres until later!) Formula 3000 is a type of formula racing. ... Cosworth Logo Cosworth is an automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958 specialising in engines for automobile racing. ...

RT20 was a cheaper, more economical F3000 for 1986, with a traditional aluminium tub - easier to maintain. The works used John Judd/Honda V8s, but customers used Cosworths. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

RT21 was a further development for 1987, this time again incorporating honeycomb elements in the monocoque.

RT22 (1988) was Ralt's last season as an independent constructor in F3000. The RT22 was its first carbon-fibre F3000, but little success was achieved.

RT23 (1989) was designed partly by Tauranac but manufactured under the auspices of the March Group who'd bought out the team; there were major chassis problems with this and it was not at all successful. A couple of cars were developed for 1990 as the RT24 (by Simtek), to no avail. Simtek (Simulation Technology) was an F1 car constructor and racing team, founded in 1989 by Max Mosley and Nick Wirth. ...

Formula Three Cars

RT3 has a long history - a 1979 ground effect Formula Three car which was enhanced every year until 1984, becomingi the dominant car in the formula. Ground Effect is an aerodynamic effect used in car design, which has been exploited to create downforce, particularly in racing cars. ... Formula Three, also called Formula 3 or, in abbreviated form, F3, is a type of formula racing and a class of open-wheeler motor racing. ...

RT30 was introduced for the flat-bottom rules coming into effect in 1985. Notable mainly for being very asymmetric - it had only one sidepod, and a deformable structure panel on the other side. Developed over the 1985-6 seasons into a highly competitive car, although some teams converted their old RT30s into flat-bottom cars.

RT31, the 1987 car, applied some of the honeycomb ideas from the RT21 F3000 car; it was fairly competitive but Gary Brabham's experiments with lowering the engine showed the way ahead. Gary Brabham was a professional race car driver from Australia. ...

RT32: for the 1988 season, Gary Brabham's modifications were incorporated and a honeycomb/carbon tub was adopted.

The RT32 theme saw Ralt through to the end of Ron's time with them, subsequent RT33 (1989)-RT35 (1991) cars essentially being developments of this basic model.

The 1992 RT36 was designed by Andy Thorby and lightly revised by Tauranac for 1993 as the RT37. These cars were not particularly successful in Formula Three (in part because many teams switched to Dallara chassis and therefore did not develop them) but the basic monocoque continues to be extremely successful as a hillclimb car nearly fifteen years later. Dallara was a Formula One constructor from 1988 through 1992. ...

The Ralt 94C was designed by Chris Radage and was not a success.

Later Formula Atlantic variants

RT40 and RT41 were FAtlantic derivatives of the later Formula Three cars; RT40 was the last Ralt with which Ron was involved.

Many Champcar World Series and Indy Racing League drivers past and present, honed their skills in these cars, including Jacques Villenueve the 1995 Indy 500 winner and 1997 F-1 World Champion.

After being phased out of the Pro Atlantic series in 1998 in favor of the Swift 008a, the Ralt RT40 and 41s are still being raced competitively (2007) in the Sports Car Club of America, some 13-14 years after the RT40's debut, winning the SCCA Championship as recently as 2003.

Originally equipped for Pro Atlantic racing with a highly tuned variant of Toyota 4AGE twin cam engine displacing 1.6 litres and developing approximately 250 bhp; several of these chassis have been converted both with bodywork to compete in C Sports Racer (CSR) and with other engine packages such as the twin rotor 13b Mazda, Honda and Cosworth 1600.

Ralt in other hands

Ralt's 1988 Formula 3000 car was proving a challenge to develop; the works drivers' backers (for the first time, Ron was running paying drivers rather than paying his own!) encouraged them to leave the team and not pay up; the company was also suffering from loss of its American markets for RT4s (Swift were upping the stakes dramatically) and RT5s (SuperVee was on its last legs in the USA as a major category). Reynard's aggressive marketing was cutting into the F3000 and F3 markets.

Tauranac was looking to sell the company and ultimately ended up selling out to March for just over a million pounds; they had concentrated on high-value bespoke racing cars and allowed their customer cars to atrophy so the merger appeared to be a good move.

The subsequent history of Ralt as part of March is complex, but can be summarised as - operated as March's customer car division for a couple of years, was part of a management buyout when the March Group board decided to divest itself of all its motor racing interests; bought by enthusiasts Andrew Fitton and Steve Ward in 1993. Ron Tauranac left from the firm soon after.

Fitton and Ward wound March up, but Ward continued operating Ralt independently - the Ralt name continues, and Ralt F3 cars have occasionally appeared.

Ron Tauranac post-Ralt

Ron has remained involved with various aspects of the sport since departing from Ralt, including racing-school cars for Honda, a Formula Renault car, consulting work for the Arrows formula one team, and continuing his relationship with Honda that goes back to their early Formula Two days as engine supplier to Brabham in the 1960s. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Formula Renault Cars at Donnington Park (2005) Formula Renault is a class of formula racing founded in 1971 popular in Europe and other countries. ... Team Orange Arrows Formula One car at the 2000 United States Grand Prix The Arrows Racing Team team was founded in 1977, by Italian financier Franco Ambrosio (A), Alan Rees (R), Jackie Oliver (O), Dave Wass (W) and Tony Southgate (S) when Rees, Oliver, Wass and Southgate left the Shadow... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Formula Two was a type of formula racing. ... Brabham - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...