Brabham is a British racing car manufacturer and Formula 1 racing team. Founded in 1960 by Australian driver Jack Brabham and British-Australian designer Ron Tauranaq, the team has won four World Drivers’ Championships and two Constructors’ Championships in its 30-year history of Formula One. Jack Brabham’s 1966 FIA Drivers’ Championship remains the only achievement to feature a car bearing the driver’s own name.

In the 1960s, Brabham was the world’s largest manufacturer of open-wheel racing cars for sale to customer groups, and by 1970 it had built over 500 cars. During this period, teams using Brabham cars won championships in Formula Two and Formula Three. Brabham cars also raced in the Indianapolis 500 and Formula 5000. During the 1970s and 1980s, Brabham introduced innovations such as in-race refueling, carbon brakes, and hydropneumatic suspension. The unique car designed by Gordon Murray won its only race before being retired.

The team won two more Formula One Drivers’ Championships in the 1980s with Brazilian Nelson Piquet. He won his first championship in 1981 in a ground effect BT49 – Ford and became the first to win a drivers’ championship in a turbocharged car in 1983. In 1983, a Brabham BT52 driven by Piquet and Italian Riccardo Patrese was powered by a BMW M12 inline-four and propelled Brabham to four of the team’s thirty-five Grand Prix victories.

British businessman Bernie Ecclestone owned Brabham for most of the 1970s and 1980s and later became responsible for managing the commercial aspects of Formula One. Ecclestone sold the team in 1988. Its last owner was the Japanese engineering company Middlebridge Group. Midway through the 1992 season, the club suffered financial ruin as Middlebridge was unable to repay loans made by Landhurst Leasing. In 2009, the German organization made an unsuccessful attempt to enter the 2010 Formula One season under the Brabham name.

The Brabham BT62 continues the legendary “BT” name created by founders Jack Brabham and Ron Tauranaq in the 1960s and honors the brand’s automotive heritage. It has a specific power of 730 hp. per ton and weighs only 972 kg. It is powered by a 5.4 liter Brabham V8 naturally aspirated engine. It produces 710 hp. and 667 Nm of torque. Power is sent to the rear wheels via a rear-mounted racing gearbox. Brabham BT62 production will be limited to just seventy cars.

Source: RES-EMI