Number 6: 1978 Brabham BT46B – aka the "fan car"
Story: Brabham BT46B was powered by 3 litre Alfa Romeo Flat-12 engine that that produces 500 bhp. And the story goes that once Lotus had introduced the concept of ground effect to the Formula One with the Lotus 79 in 1978. Gordon Murray who designed the Brabham BT46 could not put ground effect technique onto the car due to Alfa Romeo flat-12 engine used by Brabham that season was too wide to permit the venturi tunnels needed for really significant ground effect. So, the Brabham BT46B was inspired by the Chaparral 2J sticking a fan at the rear of the Brabham BT46B to dubbed the car to many as the "fan car". It only managed to do one Grand Prix and winning its only Grand Prix, the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix with Niki Lauda. Afterwards the Brabham BT46B 'fan car' never raced again. It is popularly thought that it was banned, but it was actually voluntarily withdrawn by Brabham themselves. All in all a legendary car none the less.
Number 5: 1974-75 Brabham BT44
Story: The Brabham BT44 was designed by Gordon Murray, the Brabham BT44 was powered by the 3 litre V8 Cosworth DFV engine that produces 430 bhp. Brabham BT44 took five victories between 1974 and 1975, four for Carlos Reutemann and one for Carlos Pace. Although the Brabham BT44 never took a drivers' championship in those two seasons. It did took Brabham to second place in the Constructors championship in the 1975 season behind Ferrari in the standings.
Number 4: 1983 Brabham BT52
Story: Brabham BT52 was designed by Gordon Murray, the Brabham BT52 was powered by the BMW four cylinder 1.5 litre turbocharged engine which in 1983 produced about 850 bhp in qualifying, detuned to around 600 bhp for race spec. Brabham BT52 took four wins in 1983, three for Nelson Piquet and one for Riccardo Patrese. While Nelson Piquet driving the Brabham BMW BT52 took the drivers championship in 1983 and winning his second of his third F1 drivers championship. And took Brabham to third place in the Constructors championship that year.
Number 3: 1979-82 Brabham BT49
Story: Brabham BT49 was designed by Gordon Murray, the Brabham BT49 was powered by the 3 litre V8 Cosworth DFV engine that produces 490 bhp. Brabham BT49 took seven wins in two and a half years, six for Nelson Piquet and one for Riccardo Patrese. While Nelson Piquet driving the Brabham BT49 took the drivers championship in 1981 and winning his first of his third F1 drivers championship. And took Brabham to second place in the Constructors championship that year.
Number 2: 1995 McLaren F1 GTR
Story: Basically the McLaren F1 GTR developed from the McLaren F1 road car. Designed by Gordon Murray, the McLaren F1 GTR had 600 bhp from a BMW 6.1 litre V12. The McLaren F1 GTR was a grand touring race winning machine, winning races in series such as the BPR Global GT Series, FIA GT Championship, JGTC, and British GT Championship. But, It is most famous for its overall victory at the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans where Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing team of Yannick Dalmas, Masanori Sekiya and JJ Lehto, won the race overall ahead of faster purpose-built prototypes. Also in that race, four McLaren F1 GTR finished inside the top five after 24 hours as-well(1st-3rd-4th-5th place).
Number 1: 1988 McLaren MP4/4
Story: The McLaren MP4/4 use powered by the famous Honda 1.5 litre V6 turbo engine underneath the McLaren MP4/4, the last of the turbos in Formula 1 (until next season that is) which produce over 1000 bhp in qualifying and around 790 bhp in race pace. Which, McLaren took fifteen victories from sixteen races in 1988, eight for Ayrton Senna and seven for Alain Prost, including ten 1-2 finishes, fifteen Poles which Senna took thirteen poles that season. Finally gives McLaren the Constructors Championship in 1998 and Ayrton Senna to the Drivers Championship in 1988 as-well. As this is the best Gordon Murray race car he has ever designed.
End of blog for now, new post soon. Bye.
Jon, As a chassis design engineer at McLaren (1984-2005) I can confirm that Gordon was not in fact the designer of the MP4-4; it was entirely the creation of Steve Nichols who also penned the MP4-3. Crediting Gordon as the designer has always been an unfortunate common error. Though I agree that Gordon created some wonderful cars (many of which you have listed) it would be entirely wrong to perpetuate the myth that the 4/4 was his. Gordon's role in 87 and 88 was to co-ordinate the production departments within McLaren and Steve's was Chief Designer for Turbo cars. Best regards, Matthew Jeffreys
ReplyDeleteMy error, thank you Matthew.
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