Mention the Brabham name to any motorsport fan and any number of iconic achievements spring to mind, from
Sir Jack Brabham's
as-yet unsurpassed triumph of winning both the 1966 Formula 1 drivers' and constructors' world championships in a car bearing his own name, to the BT46B fan car that gave F1 designer Gordon Murray a real opportunity to showcase his powers of innovation on the world stage. Then there's the Braham BT52 - the Parmalat liveried, 850hp, 540kg rocket sled that makes a case for being one of the best looking F1 cars ever.
But Brabham in modern times has been a non-entity. After a period under Bernie's control in the 70s and 80s, a tumultuous financial relationship with the name's Japanese custodians over the modern era meant one of the classic constructors was all but lost. Lotus and Lola take note...
Now, however, in 2014 Brabham the marque is back under Brabham the family's control. And it has grand plans.
As man and machines Brabham name rightly celebrated
David, son of founder Sir Jack, announced recently the reformation of
Project Brabham
with a cutting-edge business model that will give us PHers cracking insight into how the team is run and as much information as an octane-addled brain can process.
Formula E, this is how you do fan involvement.
Brabs announced that the family will return to racing next season, with Project Brabham targetting a three-year LMP2 programme in the World Endurance Championship. Initially it'll return as a team, with ex-F1 driver and Le Mans winner David leading the charge. The big news will come in year four, however, as Brabham aims to step up to LMP1 as a full-on constructor. Formula E and Formula 1 have not been ruled out for the future.
The crowd is the king
Crowd sourcing is the latest in thing. No longer just a buzzword for Shoreditch types with artfully unkempt beards, too-short trousers and fancy specs it's a means of funding a full motorsport programme.
Privateer LMP1 constructor Perrinn was one of the first to plump for the crowd-sourced, crowd-funded development route. It's fair to say it's not quite taken off how the team might have hoped. Not so for Brabham.
David Brabham will spearhead driver line-up
Just three and a half days after it was launched, Project Brabham was half-way to achieving its £250,000 crowd-funded target, showing the support the name still has despite years in the doldrums. And when it says it's in it for the fans, it genuinely is.
Fan favourite
Involving followers is the way forward. With F1 TV audiences dwindling and the series seemingly intent on alienating punters, Brabham, in my opinion, is genuinely doing something interesting. This is not an advert for the project - it doesn't need it - just my two cents on why this is the right way to go.
Depending on the colour of your credit card, there are a number of different investment options. From as little as £1 you can become a 'Supporter' receiving regular updates on the project. The £75 Brabham-Driver Access, £100 Brabham-Engineer Access, £125 Full Access, £500 Founder and £10,000 VIP packages let you choose how much you want to spend and what you want out of it.
Pay your way; peg involvement to interest and funds
Driver is aimed at up and coming racers with online training on car set-up; even advice on nutrition and sports psychology. Bacon butties unlikely to feature highly, sadly. Engineer will deliver a number of e-learning modules for budding motorsport engineers (saying the words "strategy" and "for sure" a lot?), as well as involving the crowd that's handed over their hard-earned in the team's development.
These packages fall under the Brabham-Digital and Brabham-Fan umbrellas, giving stakeholders - us - two methods to get something back.
The former is the online portal where the team will share behind the scenes info on everything from briefings to the lunch menu in the canteen. Probably. The latter will give supporters a chance to actually contribute towards decisions on how the team should be run.
Crowdsourcing? Contrived? Nah...
The nuances of the model, to me, are fascinating. Money might change hands in this way in series like Formula E - and although I'm something of an all-electric convert since Beijing and before - I still can't help but feel aspects such as FanBoost pay lip service to enthusiasts rather than actually truly putting them at the heart of motorsport.
Jack did it his way; new scheme honours that
Hence Brabham's views: "Looking at the normal racing model was not exciting or sustainable enough for me to rebuild the team from scratch. To bring Brabham back we have to do things differently."
Fundamentally, sponsors make racing, and the sponsors only invest if the TV coverage is there. The TV companies only buy the rights to a series if the TV audience is there. So how I see it, we're the ones who fund global motorsport anyway. That Brabham is going straight to the source of the dosh, cutting out the massive group of middlemen who all want to take their million-pound cut, is nothing short of genius.
Brabham's always been associated with innovation in motorsport, it just so happens that this first step of its future now its back under family control is for off-track reasons.