David Brabham, son of renowned three-time Formula 1 champion Sir Jack Brabham, has revealed that his family plans on taking the recently resurrected brand into the arena of road cars.
Brabham unveiled earlier this year the track-only BT62 supercar, the very first car to wear the illustrious Brabham name since its BT60B F1 car in 1992. As of the moment, the BT62 remains to be a track-only vehicle, strictly. This means that for now the vehicle is not plagued with any restrictions that usually concerns racing series. It is also not being imposed with any road regulations. However, the car is only the beginning of a planned line of variants that Brabham is planning on pushing through production.
Formally launched in May, the company has demonstrated that BT62 was intended as a track only. However, the company has expressed the intent to go racing. They have plans to go to the road too. What the company needs for the meantime though, is the time to mature and to grow. For now, these are dreams that the company is striving for as it works towards earning back its place in the annals of F1 history.
The very first deliberate move that Brabham made is to aim for a track-day car. This is something quite similar to Ferrari’s FXX-K, Aston Martin’s Vulcan, and McLaren’s P1 GTR. What the company is intending to do is provide the necessary base that will allow them to build upon any future endeavours. At the same time, they aim at doing this while avoiding the usual hefty investment that any full-blown race program or regulated road car would usually bring.
What the Brabham DNA is known for has always been racing. This is why the company wants to come up with something- a product that will relate to racing more than anything else. The BT62 is fast. It does not hurt that it looks great too. Its next variants can even be aimed at racing. However, to just go straight to the production of a road car would mean massive investments. As of the moment, the company does not feel that the strategy is right as of now.
Brabham’s BT62 currently costs £1 million. It churns out 700 hp and a torque of 492 pound-feet with a V8 engine that has a 5.4-litre capacity. Its downforce is quite impressive at 1,200 kgs. Every corner of the vehicle is adorned with Michelin tires. The same is true with its carbon brakes, which are F1- graded. Learn more about the legend and tradition left behind by Sir Jack Brabham in his obituary.