Top Six Gordon Murray race cars (Re-altered)

Last month, I did a posts on the Top Six Gordon Murray race cars. However, a former chassis design engineer at McLaren and a few of my friends quietly stated that my number one choice the McLaren MP4/4 was not designed by Gordon Murray but Steve Nichols designed the McLaren MP4/4, so basically my error.



So this post is the top six Gordon Murray race cars (Re-altered), starting with number six:

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 It is popularly thought that it was banned, but it was actually voluntarily withdrawn by Brabham themselves.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: 1984 Brabham BT53
Story: The Brabham BT53 was designed by Gordon Murray, the Brabham BT53 was powered by the BMW four cylinder 1.5 litre turbocharged engine which in 1984 produced about 850 bhp in qualifying, detuned to around 600 bhp for race spec. Brabham BT53 took two victories in 1984, all of them for Nelson Piquet. It did took Brabham to fourth place in the Constructors championship in the 1984 season behind McLaren, Ferrari and Team Lotus in the standings.



Number 4: 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 3: 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 2: 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 1: 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). As this is the best Gordon Murray race car he has ever designed.





End of blog for now, new post soon. Bye.