After six decades of being a racing icon, the name “Brabham” transitioned to something else: a car company. That company has something tangible in the works, too, teasing a 5.4-liter V8 supercar with a wing big enough to pull bar stools up to and use as an eat-in kitchen.
The whole car should debut in May.
The car is called the BT62, which is the same naming structure as the Brabham team’s race cars used. It’s meant for track use, and, according to the company, will pair about 700 horsepower with 2,646 pounds downforce. That means the BT62 apparently has more downforce than the car NASCAR ran at its top level, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, last year by more than 1,000 pounds. Brabham Automotive teased the photo of the car above, which shows a massive wing helping those downforce numbers climb so high.
The car will also be naturally aspirated, limited to 70 models and cost about $1.4 million at current exchange rates. Oh, the prices we pay for famous nameplates.
The Brabham name has a long history in Formula One and sports-car racing, starting with Jack Brabham’s debut in midget cars in 1948. Brabham as a team went on to win four F1 drivers’ championships and two constructors’ titles. In three decades, the Brabham team won 35 grands prix and stood on 120 podiums in F1. Brabham was pretty good, you could say.
Running with less funding than the others once the 1990s rolled around, the team stopped racing in F1 in 1992. But two of Jack Brabham’s three sons kept racing in sports cars and endurance races long after the team stopped, and one, David Brabham, launched “Project Brabham” in 2014 as a team return to racing.
But earlier this year, Brabham announced a “new chapter for one of the most celebrated and evocative names in motor racing history.” There weren’t many details to go along with it, other than the name “Brabham Automotive” and the fact that David Brabham was behind the idea.
The company statement on Brabham Automotive was vague, via Autosport:
“Led by multiple Le Mans winner David Brabham, the announcement marks a continuation of the family’s legacy that started with his father, triple Formula 1 world champion, Sir Jack Brabham.
“Today’s launch heralds the start of a new chapter in the story of a family synonymous with success.
“Drawing on vast experience from four decades of competing at all levels of global motorsport, David Brabham has combined his skill, passion and enthusiasm to guide this project ahead of its unveiling.”
It looks like that unveiling will come not long after that original announcement, with the car debuting on May 2.
Hop online and find some bar stools soon, because no matter how the finished product turns out, we’ll get to see Brabham’s first car in a long time at its debut next month—and it so happens that the debut will come with a good, large surface to pour celebratory drinks on.