Australian racing team Brabham this month launched the new automotive division Brabham Automotive, whose first product is the BT62 track car.
Adorning the car is Brabham's new logo, which to the casual observer resembles some teeth about to take a bite out of its victim. It turns out there's a bit of heritage behind the design.
According to Brabham, the lower part of the design is derived from the V that prominently featured on the badges of Brabham’s Repco-powered championship-winning racers from the 1960s, while the upper part is derived from the fangs from the iconic “Hissing Sid” snake that was synonymous with Brabham’s Ecclestone-era Formula 1 cars. (Bernie Ecclestone bought the team at the end of 1971.)
As for the naming strategy behind the BT62, it continues the tradition that began in 1961 when Brabham co-founders Jack Brabham and Ron Tauranac designed and built the BT1 race car for the Formula Junior series. Other cars to wear the BT prefix have included the BT7, which Jack drove to his first F1 victory in 1963, as well as the BT19, which Jack made history in back in 1966 by becoming the first driver to win an F1 title in a car bearing his own name.
Unfortunately, Brabham plans to build just 70 examples of the 700-horsepower BT62, and as mentioned above the cars are for track use only. The good news is that with the money Brabham raises from selling the BT62, the company will funnel this back into developing additional variants including potentially a road-going version and Le Mans racer.
Brabham BT62
