In the history of Brabham, the lion's share is occupied by Formula cars (1, 2, 3 and 5000, as well as for the Indycar championship), but there were also models with closed wheels, such as the 1964 BT8.
The name Brabham is on hearing in everyone who is interested in motorsport, and especially Formula-1. From 1962 to 1992, the cars with this name took part in the 402 Grand Prix. They brought their pilots 35 wins, 120 podiums, two cups of designers and four world champion titles. The team and its own company, which built the car for it (Motor Racing Developments, MRD), dissolved in history in the early 1990s, although attempts at revival were. But last month the son of the famous Australian, Jack Brabham, David Brabham, created a new firm Brabham Automotive, which promised on May 2, 2018 to present "the first Brabham in 26 years."
The official teaser of the company is sound: the engine of the new sports car is heard in the video.
Obviously, work on the mysterious car was conducted long before the formal launch of the company. The authors did not say a word about what this machine will be in fact, although the surest guess is a road supercar. The model index continues the line of those designations that were used for Brabham cars: BT62. Here BT - Brabham and Tauranac (designer Ron Toranak - co-founder of the original team of Brabham and firm MRD). Well, the number is just the serial number of the model in history. A hint that the newly emerged Brabham Automotive inherited the business of the original firm.
Like his father Jack Brabham, 52-year-old David is a racing driver. True, in Formula 1, unlike the parent, he did not win success (two seasons, 1990 and 1994, he finished without glasses). But in 1989, David won the British championship in Formula-3. And in 2009 he and his partners won "24 Hours of Le Mans" behind the wheel of the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP.
The brand of Brabham was remembered for fans of races for a number of innovations. For example, in 1963, the team of Brabham was the first in Formula-1 to use an aerodynamic tube to refine the car. In 1970-1980, the technical director of Brabham was the famous engineer Gordon Murray (one of the fathers of McLaren F1). During this period, the team of Brabham was the first to introduce carbon fiber brake discs and pads, displaying previously unheard of bolides with aluminum monocoque reinforced with carbon fiber reinforced plastic (although the team passed the full carbon fiber body later than everyone else). And one of the most interesting Brabham cars is the Formula 1 BT46B Alfa Romeo with a fan in the stern, creating a vacuum under the bottom.
It should be clarified that the BT46B (pictured) was not the first racing "vacuum cleaner". Here the primacy behind the model Chaparral 2J of 1970, performed in Can-Am. But in Formula-1 it was the team of Brabham who tried this method, which the FIA immediately outlawed by making appropriate amendments to the regulations.
The Brabham BT46B car took part in just one Grand Prix (Sweden, 1978), which won. Rather, the laurels went to the legendary Nicky Laude. Starting from the third position, he easily defeated opponents, after which the organizers of the championship banned the "vacuum cleaner". But the result of that race of the judge was upheld. In 1981, the FIA introduced in the Formula-1 minimum clearance of 60 mm to limit the ground effect. Murray responded with a hydropneumatic suspension on the BT49C car, which regulated the ground clearance on the fly (at high speed it was done below).
The device, called the Brabham BT92 of 2009, essentially radically redesigned Bavarian "emka," has nothing to do with the original Brabham team, but only demonstrates attempts to revive a well-known brand. It was a project of entrepreneurs Michael Trick and Stefan Goldsmith.
Opponents began to protest, but since the letter of the regulations was not violated, it was not possible to achieve the ban of such a system. Soon other teams created their analogs of such a device. In the early 1980s, the refurbishment of tires and refueling during the race, which was absent from Formula One in 1957, was initiated by the Brabham team. In general, if the new firm Brabham inherited from the previous this inventive itch, then the mysterious model Brabham BT62 will turn out to be interesting. As for the return of the brand Brabham in Formula-1, it's too early to talk about it. But we would not rule out such a step in the future. By the way, speculation on this topic has been plying in the industry for several years.
