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Brabham BT50 |
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Brabham BT50 BMW Turbo driven by Nelson Piquet 1982 |
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Sir Jack Brabham won two world championships in 1959 and 1960 driving a Cooper Climax. He then went on to form his own team and became the first person to win a world championship in a car bearing his own name. |
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He teamed up with Ron Tauranac, as a designer in 1961 and by 1966 had secured his third world title driving a Brabham Repco. |
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In 1971 Ron Tauranac sold the Brabham team to Bernie Ecclestone. One of Tauranac’s design assistants, Gordon Murry, became responsible for the design of the Brabham cars from then on. |
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In1982 Gordon Murry designed the chassis of the BT50 around a four cylinder 1.5 litre DOHC turbocharged engine built by BMW. |
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After many years of using the Ford Cosworth engines, which had proved reliable and inexpensive, Brabham played safe and used both the BT50 and the Ford powered BT49 for the 1982 season. As a new engine it naturally suffered from a few teething problems, but by only it’s fifth race it took it’s first victory at the Canadian grand prix in Montreal. |
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With a boost pressure of 1.8 atmospheres the BMW turbo produced 570 bhp at 1000 rpm. The cars were driven by Riccardo Patrese and as modelled here, Nelson Piquet. Piquet took the BT52 to the driver’s world title of 1983 with the team claiming third in the constructor title. |
