Brabham BT48

Last updated

Brabham BT48
Category Formula One
Constructor Brabham
Designer(s) Gordon Murray (Technical Director)
David North (Chief Designer)
Carlo Chiti (Chief Engine Designer (Alfa Romeo))
Predecessor BT46
Successor BT49
Technical specifications [1]
Chassis Aluminium monocoque
Axle track Front: 1,731 mm (68.1 in)
Rear: 1,625 mm (64.0 in)
Wheelbase 2,743 mm (108.0 in)
Engine Alfa Romeo, 2,991 cc (182.5 cu in), 60° V12, NA, mid-engine, longitudinally mounted
Transmission Hewland / Alfa Romeo 5/6-speed manual
Fuel Agip
Competition history
Notable entrants Parmalat Racing Brabham
Notable drivers5. Flag of Austria.svg Niki Lauda
6. Flag of Brazil.svg Nelson Piquet
Debut 1979 Argentine Grand Prix
RacesWins Poles F/Laps
13000
Constructors' Championships0
Drivers' Championships0

The Brabham BT48 was a Formula One racing car designed by Gordon Murray and raced by the Brabham team. The car, powered by a 12-cylinder Alfa Romeo engine, competed in the 1979 Formula One season. The intended plan was to run the BT47 but the FIA outlawed it because it had a Chaparral 2J-type box rear end with twin variable geometry fans on the rear to maximize ground effect, so Murray designed the BT48 instead.

Contents

Racing history

The BT48 made its debut at the 1979 Argentine Grand Prix with Niki Lauda driving. Teammate Nelson Piquet qualified the older Brabham BT46 in 20th place. Lauda qualified the BT46 in 23rd place but drove the BT48 in the race when he retired with fuel system failure. Piquet was involved in a huge first lap pile-up and was injured; he did not take the restart. [2] [3]

At Brazil, Brabham had another BT48 ready for home favorite Piquet. The Austrian qualified 12th and the Brazilian 22nd. Lauda retired with a broken gearbox and the Brazilian retired at his home race after colliding with Clay Regazzoni. [4] At the South African Grand Prix, Lauda qualified fourth and Piquet 12th. The Austrian finished sixth and the Brazilian seventh. [5] At the United States Grand Prix West, Lauda qualified 11th and Piquet 12th, The Austrian retired when Patrick Tambay's McLaren hit him and the Brazilian finished eighth. [6]

At the Spanish Grand Prix Lauda qualified sixth and Piquet seventh. The Austrian retired with a water leak and the Brazilian retired with broken injection. [7] At Belgium, Piquet qualified third and Lauda 13th, but both retired with engine failure. [8] The Monaco Grand Prix saw Lauda qualify fourth and Piquet 18th. The Austrian retired with an accident, and the Brazilian retired with transmission failure. [9] At France, Piquet qualified fourth and Lauda sixth. The Brazilian retired with an accident and the Austrian retired when he spun. [10] At the British Grand Prix, Piquet qualified third and Lauda fifth. The Brazilian retired when he spun and the Austrian retired when his brakes failed. [11] At Germany, Piquet qualified fourth and Lauda seventh, but both retired with engine failure. [12] The Austrian Grand Prix saw Lauda qualify fourth and Piquet seventh, but both retired with engine failure, disappointing the Austrian fans at Lauda's home race. [13]

At the Dutch Grand Prix, Lauda qualified ninth and Piquet 11th. The Austrian withdrew on Lap four and the Brazilian finished fourth. [14] The Italian Grand Prix saw Piquet qualify eighth and Lauda ninth. The Brazilian retired with an accident and the Austrian Finished fourth. [15] At the Canadian Grand Prix, after a second season marred by retirements and poor pace, Lauda informed Brabham that he wished to retire immediately, as he had no more desire to "drive around in circles". Lauda, who in the meantime had founded Lauda Air, a charter airline, returned to Austria to run the company full-time. The BT48 was replaced by the Brabham BT49 with a Ford engine for the final two races of 1979.

Although reasonably quick and competitive, the BT48 was a very unreliable car with a very unreliable engine, due to the fact that the Carlo Chiti-designed Alfa V12 engine was very new and had predictable teething troubles. Unreliability was something of an unfortunate hallmark of some of Gordon Murray's Brabham F1 cars. While he won the non-championship Dino Ferrari Grand Prix at the Imola circuit near Bologna, Lauda only finished 2 races he competed in before he announced his retirement in Montreal; and Piquet finished 4 races. A number of these retirements were due to engine failure.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

YearEntrantEngineDrivers123456789101112131415PointsWCC
1979 Parmalat Racing Brabham Alfa Romeo V12 ARG BRA RSA USW ESP BEL MON FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USE 78th
Niki Lauda RetRet6RetRetRetRetRetRetRetRetRet4
Nelson Piquet Ret78RetRetRetRetRet12Ret4Ret
Source: [16]

Non-Championship results

(key) (Results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

YearEntrantEngineDrivers12
1979 Parmalat Racing Brabham Alfa Romeo V12 ROC DIN
Niki Lauda 51
Nelson Piquet 2

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1978 British Grand Prix</span> Motor car race

The 1978 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Brands Hatch on 16 July 1978. It was the tenth race of the 1978 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1978 International Cup for F1 Constructors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1979 British Grand Prix</span> Motor car race

The 1979 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Silverstone on 14 July 1979. It was the ninth race of the 1979 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1979 International Cup for F1 Constructors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1979 Italian Grand Prix</span> Motor car race

The 1979 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 9 September 1979 at Monza. It was the thirteenth race of the 1979 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1979 International Cup for F1 Constructors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1981 Italian Grand Prix</span> Motor car race

The 1981 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on 13 September 1981. It was the thirteenth race of the 1981 Formula One World Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1982 Austrian Grand Prix</span> Motor car race

The 1982 Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Österreichring on 15 August 1982. It was the thirteenth race of the 1982 Formula One World Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1983 South African Grand Prix</span> Motor car race

The 1983 South African Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Kyalami on 15 October 1983. It was the fifteenth and final race of the 1983 Formula One season. The 77 lap race was won by Riccardo Patrese driving for Brabham. This would be Patrese's last win for nearly seven years until he won for Williams at the 1990 San Marino Grand Prix.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1984 Brazilian Grand Prix</span> 1st round of the 1984 Formula One Championship

The 1984 Brazilian Grand Prix, officially known as the XIII Grande Prêmio Brasil de Fórmula 1 was a Formula One motor race held on 25 March 1984 in Rio de Janeiro. The race was contested over 61 laps of Jacarepaguá Circuit and was the first race of the 1984 Formula One World Championship. This race was the 13th edition of the Brazilian Grand Prix, the ninth time that the Jacarepaguá Circuit race held a Grand Prix, and marked the debut of Ayrton Senna in Formula One.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1984 South African Grand Prix</span> Motor car race

The 1984 South African Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Kyalami on 7 April 1984. It was race 2 of 16 in the 1984 Formula One World Championship. The 75-lap race was won by Niki Lauda, driving a McLaren-TAG, with teammate Alain Prost second and Derek Warwick third in a Renault.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1984 Austrian Grand Prix</span> Motor car race

The 1984 Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Österreichring on 19 August 1984. It was the twelfth race of the 1984 Formula One World Championship, and the 400th Grand Prix held as part of the World Championship since it began in 1950.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1984 Italian Grand Prix</span> Motor car race

The 1984 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on 9 September 1984. It was the fourteenth race of the 1984 Formula One World Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1983 Formula One World Championship</span> 37th season of FIA Formula One motor racing

The 1983 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 37th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1983 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1983 Formula One World Championship for Manufacturers, which were contested concurrently over a fifteen-race series that commenced on 13 March and ended on 15 October.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1979 Formula One season</span> 33rd season of FIA Formula One motor racing

The 1979 Formula One season was the 33rd season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1979 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1979 International Cup for F1 Constructors which were contested concurrently over a fifteen-round series which commenced on 21 January 1979, and ended on 7 October. The season also included three non-championship Formula One races.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BRM P160</span>

The BRM P160 was a Formula One racing car designed by Tony Southgate for the British Racing Motors team, which raced in the 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1974 Formula One seasons. It was powered by a 3.0-litre V12 engine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brabham BT50</span> Formula One racing car

The Brabham BT50 was a Formula One racing car designed by Gordon Murray and powered by a turbo BMW engine. It was raced by the Brabham team, owned by Bernie Ecclestone, during the 1982 Formula One season. Driven by Nelson Piquet and Riccardo Patrese, it made its debut at the South African Grand Prix before being withdrawn for further development of its engine while the team reverted to the previous year's car, the Brabham BT49. On the reintroduction of the BT50, Piquet finished fifth in the Belgian Grand Prix. A few races later he drove it to a win in the Canadian Grand Prix. Later in the year it achieved three more finishes in the points for the team. During the second half of the season, Brabham implemented the strategy of mid-race refueling. This allowed Piquet and Patrese to start the races relatively light and use their reduced weight to gain track position over their competitors before stopping to refuel. The poor reliability of the BT50 meant that they had only a few opportunities to demonstrate the strategy in practice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Williams FW</span> Formula One motor racing car

The Williams FW was a Formula One car used by Frank Williams Racing Cars during the 1973, 1974 and 1975 seasons. It was designed by John Clarke.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fittipaldi FD</span>

The Fittipaldi FD was a series of Formula One chassis designed by Richard Divila and used by Fittipaldi Automotive in the 1975, 1976 and 1977 seasons. The initial chassis was designated Fittipaldi FD01 and there were three minor developments designated, Fittipaldi FD02, Fittipaldi FD03 and Fittipaldi FD04 respectively. FD series cars competed in 37 races making 43 individual entries in total. The chassis achieved a best finish of fourth place at both the 1977 Argentine and Brazilian Grands Prix driven on each occasion by former World Champion and joint team-owner Emerson Fittipaldi. It scored a total of 11 World Championship points.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surtees TS9</span>

The Surtees TS9 was a Formula One car used by Surtees during the 1971, 1972 and 1973 Formula One seasons. It was designed by John Surtees and Peter Connew.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surtees TS14</span> Formula One car

The Surtees TS14 was a Formula One car used by Surtees during the 1972 and 1973 Formula One seasons. It was designed by John Surtees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surtees TS19</span>

The Surtees TS19 was a Formula One (F1) car used by Surtees during the 1976, 1977 and 1978 F1 seasons. It was designed by John Surtees and Ken Sears.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brabham BT34</span> Formula One racing car

The Brabham BT34 was a Formula One racing car designed by Ron Tauranac, and used by Brabham during part of the 1971 and 1972 Formula One seasons.

References

  1. ↑ "STATS F1 • Brabham BT48". Statsf1.com. Retrieved 10 September 2010.
  2. ↑ Henry, Alan (February 1979). "The Argentine Grand Prix: Ligier landmark". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 29. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  3. ↑ "Grand Prix results, Argentine GP 1979". grandprix.com. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  4. ↑ "Grand Prix results, Brazilian GP 1979". grandprix.com. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  5. ↑ "Grand Prix results, South African GP 1979". grandprix.com. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  6. ↑ "Grand Prix results, United States GP West 1979". grandprix.com. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  7. ↑ "Grand Prix results, Spanish GP 1979". grandprix.com. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  8. ↑ "Grand Prix results, Belgian GP 1979". grandprix.com. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  9. ↑ "Grand Prix results, Monaco GP 1979". grandprix.com. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  10. ↑ "Grand Prix results, French GP 1979". grandprix.com. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  11. ↑ "Grand Prix results, British GP 1979". grandprix.com. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  12. ↑ "Grand Prix results, German GP 1979". grandprix.com. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  13. ↑ "Grand Prix results, Austrian GP 1979". grandprix.com. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  14. ↑ "Grand Prix results, Dutch GP 1979". grandprix.com. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  15. ↑ "Grand Prix results, Italian GP 1979". grandprix.com. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  16. ↑ Small, Steve (1994). The Guinness Complete Grand Prix Who's Who. Guinness. pp. 223 and 293. ISBN   0851127029.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.