$ POR

1973 Tui BH3 - SOLD

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Description:

The project is very nearly finished with little work to be done (many new parts) however the fuel cell needs to be replaced if you are going to use the car in vintage racing as it still has the original Marston cell. There is no need to replace the fuel cell if the car is going to be used in autox. Tub is in excellent condition with normal signs of use. Suspension (all corners) is excellent and was "nos" when the car was rebuilt for autox in 1977. They are nickel plated and show no signs of damage. Gearbox is a Hewland Mk8 with Mk9 parts ie. brakes are inboard. The gearbox also has the correct rear cover for aircooled engines. Engine is 2276cc with less than 1 hour on it and I was told produces 180hp. It has SuperFlo heads Webber 48 IDAs and is dry sumped etc. Complete fire system with nozzles at each carburetor, fuel pump and footwell area. Very few of these cars remain in unmolested condition as many were (still are) used in auto crossing and are highly modified. I have a set of correct size Super Vee ATS wheels for the car that are new however the front are gold and the rears silver. I will include with this car a Tui Supernova BH5 tub with chassis plate SSV75 (s/n 004). The BH5 used the same suspension as the 3 so one would have something to copy from. Bodywork was different as the 5 had fiber glass upper body as well as nose and engine cover. This car also had wings. Tub is in excellent little used condition but history is unknown.

History

This car was raced in the 1973 VW Gold Cup Championship and was driven by Bertil Roos in the Opert Racing Team. Roos won the championship in '73 with this car Chassis #011 - the car was also used in the Super Vee World Championships in which Roos finished 2nd. The photo of the car at Hockenheim was provided to me by Fred Opert. Actually this car won many autoX races and championships in Nevada - I think 4 years in a row. Tui cars was formed by New Zealander Alan McCall who was one of Jim Clarks mechanics. He moved on to McLaren where he worked in USAC, CanAm and F1. At this time he decided to build his own F3 car which included many parts borrowed from the McLaren works including suspension, windshield and wheels. Many said the car was a mini version of the McLaren M7. The car was very successful in the US winning the FB championship with Bert Hawthorn (NZ). The chassis was redesigned for formula 2 and became the AM29 (also used in Super Vee). Sadly Bert Hawthorne was killed at Hockenheim at the very same corner Jim Clark lost his life. John Watson took over the drive and put in some excellent performances. After Hawthorne was killed the prefix on Tui cars became BH for Bert Hawthorne. The BH3 Super Vee is basically the same chassis as the AM29 with very minor differences. The car was very successful in Super Vee winning the championship with the Fred Opert Racing Team and Bertil Roos driving. Tui Formula Atlantics (Tui BH2 ex AM29) were also relatively successful considering there were only a couple of cars and Alan McCall's team was on a very tight budget. They became a bit of a thorn in the side for March who otherwise dominated in 1976. Alan McCall was also involved with the Hexigon Brabham F1 team as manager (John Watson - driver) and also designed the Tecno PA123 F1 car. I hope this gives some insight to those who have never heard of this little known marque.

Competition History

Many AutoX wins
Performance Data