It’s the new year and with that brings new possibilities, and one of the new possibilities is you can now get a road compliance conversion option for the Brabham BT62. Last Tuesday, the Australian manufacture Brabham Automotive announced to the automotive world that customers who decide to take up this option will now pay an additional £150,000 (Aus. $270000) to the list price.
Feast your eyes on a road legal Brabham BT62
You may be asking what needs to be done to a BT62 to make it road legal? Some of the modifications Brabham Automotive listed are, installing an axle lift kit for both the front and rear axles; this is to help raise the ride height (so you don't rip off your front splitter or rear diffuser). You also get an increase in the steering lock range. Air conditioning is installed for these Australian Summers. Door locks and immobilisers are fitted to keep those unsavoury characters away, and to top it off you get a higher-grade upholstery inside.
This road compliant option will be offered to UK customers before its provided in Australia and other countries. Brabham Automotive has stated that each BT62 will comply with two standards/test, the DVSA (Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency) IVA (Individual Vehicle Approval). Brabham Automotive advises these tests will ensure each car is safe to drive on the open road. Brabham Automotive will also be offering the Brabham Driver Development Programme; when you think about it, this program would be a great insurance policy considering each car puts out 700bhp.
Brabham Automotive reckons the first road legal BT62 should be cruising the streets sometime in mid-2019.
Now let's get onto the next big announcement from Brabham this week, only two days after Brabham announced a road-going version of the BT62 they dropped the proverbial cherry on top that Brabham will be going racing again. That's right, one of the biggest names in Motorsport will be returning to the race track full time in 2021/2022 with the BT62. Brabham Automotive will be competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and World Endurance Championship for 2021/2022 and intends to compete in the GTE class.
AutoCAD image of the WEC BT62
David Brabham said there will be extensive testing to develop the BT62 between now and 2021/2022.
David Brabham’s comment on returning to motorsport racing:
“Returning the Brabham name to Le Mans is something I have been working on for years, so it’s fantastic to make this announcement today. Brabham Automotive only launched its first car, the BT62, in May 2018 so we have a long road to travel to earn the right to return to compete at Le Mans. That work starts now with a long-term racing commitment. We look forward to developing the BT62 and future products while building a world-class competitive race team around the leading engineering and manufacturing talent we have in the business.”
Brabham Automotive also announced that it would also compete in "lower level series" before it goes full time and competes at Le Mans and the WEC. How I read that is; potentially we could see the BT62 at the Bathurst 12hr in 2020, fingers crossed that happens because that would be one of the best things to happen in Australian motorsport history.
Finally, as I said last year when the BT62 was revealed to the world, I'd like to congratulate David Brabham again and all of the people at Brabham Automotive, as well as Fusion Capital for believing in David’s vision to bring back the Brabham name to Automotive world. It was a courageous decision by Fusion Capital to back and fund a company in the Automotive Manufacturing space and to base it here in Adelaide Australia when Holden, Ford and Toyota shut the doors and walked away from manufacturing.
Everyone, please do yourself a favour and keep watching Brabham Automotive, because we can't wait to see the BT62 chasing down some of the heavyweights of the Automotive industry at some of the best race tracks in the world.
All Images © Copyright 2018 Brabham Automotive Ltd
Website: https://www.brabhamautomotive.com/
Project Brabham: http://www.brabham-digital.com/
Missed Car Hamlet articles/blogs of the Brabham BT62: