Brabham Automotive has revealed a road legal version of its bona fide track machine, the BT62R, which gets a suite of modifications to make its atmospheric V8-powered, carbonfibre-based supercar ideal for a trip to the shops. The bespoke model retains its 700hp motor and a long list of aerodynamic features, but all have been re-tuned for road use, amounting to something the brand claims “maintains the incredible dynamics of a race car”, only with a very slightly broadened remit.
Track cars being given road makeovers are nothing new – Lanzante famously converted the P1 GTR for street use, for example – but Brabham’s in-house conversion affirms the brand’s commitment to take the BT62 racing at Le Mans, for which GTE homologation is necessary. It also means the insanity PH experienced on circuit last year can be experienced in public, with the changes to make the BT62R roadworthy being surprisingly minimal, at least in terms of their impact on its potential.
Let’s start with the engine. You’ll hopefully be familiar with the soundtrack of that 5.4-litre V8 because it is glorious, the unique-spec flat-plane crank Ford block producing its peak at 7,400rpm where the pitch is more late-nineties IndyCar than supercar. In roadgoing guise Brabham’s had to lower the volume with a new exhaust, and the mapping’s been altered to make the car happier at low speeds. But other than that it’s the same 492lb ft of torque giving unit, coupled to a six-speed sequential gearbox that drives the rear wheels.
To help smooth out the shifts on the road, the BT62R gains a traditional clutch, so the driver can manually hold the plates apart and prevent the inevitably jerkiness of low-rev sequential shifts. This is a tried and tested setup in things like touring cars – PH’s 2019 Mini Challenge race car, for example, required use of its clutch pedal for off-circuit shifts – and it meant that Brabham could leave the six-speed transmission otherwise unaltered.
The car itself is still built around Brabham’s tubular metallic architecture and the body retains its carbonfibre panels, although they’ve been slightly altered at certain points for the road. Most obvious is the BT62R’s single-plane rear wing, different front splitter design and smaller (by a tiny bit) rear diffuser. Still, there’s absolutely no mistaking this car for anything other than that mad machine from Adelaide that weighs under a tonne and does 200mph in track form. Something tells us not to expect drastic change in the road-going car’s stats.
Certainly Brabham says the modifications still provide race car-like lateral performance. The suspension setup, predictably, has been adjusted so it can also handle uneven surfaces, with an adjustable system capable of lifting the car from 70mm to 130mm at the press of a button via the new digital control panel. The panel’s accompanied by a new digital instrument cluster that can be switched between road and track modes, helping to underwirte Brabham’s claims that this is two cars in one. In its most extreme setting, it’s said to be fully capable of the hardest track work; a set of Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport tyres, made from a motorsport-derived, high-friction compound, are there to deal with the high-speed stuff, without the terrifying cold characteristics of a proper racing boot.
Brabham’s other changes include more comfortable road seats, aircon and a heated windscreen, with a sound system and speakers on the BT62R options list. Buyers can also choose to have their car finished in Signature or Celebration Series trim. The former lets buyers choose their own livery for the car, while the latter is limited to 35 units, the number of F1 wins racked up by the Brabham team. Each Celebration Series wears a bespoke livery to celebrate those victories, with 18 carat gold logos and badges and a bespoke carbon interior, as well.
Additionally, BT62R buyers can option in a Track Pack, which adds the track-spec rear wing, splitter and diffuser to their delivery so they can be fitted to the road car when it’s to be taken on circuit. That’s a best-of-both-worlds option we’d expect most Brabham buyers to take up. Of course, this will be old news to anyone on the order list; production is already rolling, with first deliveries due in the coming weeks. Not. Jealous. At all.
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