 Nelson Piquet driving the BT52 at the 2013Goodwood Festival of Speed. | |||||||||
| Category | Formula One | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constructor | Brabham | ||||||||
| Designers | Gordon Murray (Technical Director) David North (Chief Designer) Paul Rosche(Chief Engine Designer (BMW)) | ||||||||
| Predecessor | BT50 | ||||||||
| Successor | BT53 | ||||||||
| Technical specifications[1][2][3] | |||||||||
| Chassis | Carbon fibremonocoque with rear subframe | ||||||||
| Suspension (front) | Double wishbones, push-rod operated coil springs over dampers | ||||||||
| Suspension (rear) | Double wishbones, push-rod operated coil springs over dampers | ||||||||
| Axle track | BT52: Front: 1,778 mm (70.0 in) Rear: 1,657 mm (65.2 in) BT52B: Front: 1,753 mm (69.0 in) Rear: 1,651 mm (65.0 in) | ||||||||
| Wheelbase | BT52: 2,860 mm (113 in) BT52B: 2,845 mm (112.0 in) | ||||||||
| Engine | BMW M12/13, 1,499 cc (91.5 cu in),Straight 4,turbo,mid-engine,longitudinally mounted | ||||||||
| Transmission | Brabham/Hewland 5/6-speedmanual Weismann Differential | ||||||||
| Weight | 540 kg (1,190 lb) | ||||||||
| Fuel | Castrol | ||||||||
| Tyres | Michelin | ||||||||
| Competition history | |||||||||
| Notable entrants | Fila SportBrabhamBMW | ||||||||
| Notable drivers | 5. Nelson Piquet6.  Riccardo Patrese | ||||||||
| Debut | 1983 Brazilian Grand Prix | ||||||||
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| Constructors' Championships | 0 | ||||||||
| Drivers' Championships | 1 (1983,Nelson Piquet) | ||||||||
TheBrabham BT52 was aFormula One car designed for theBrabham team by longtime Brabham designerGordon Murray for the1983 season. The car ran onMichelin tyres and was powered by theBMW M12/13 four-cylinderturbocharged engine, which in 1983 produced a maximum power of approximately 850 bhp (630 kW) in qualifying trim, detuned to around 650 bhp (480 kW) for the proper races. Its drivers were1981 World ChampionNelson Piquet andRiccardo Patrese.[4]
After theground effect cars were banned at the end of the previous season, the FIA mandated that all F1 cars be designed with flat undersides for safety reasons. With just six weeks until the opening race inBrazil, this left Brabham with three fully built BT51s ready to go that were now useless, so Murray started from scratch and he designed the BT52. The previously crucial sidepods were now generating lift rather than suction and so the BT52 had short, angular sidepods to keep lift at a minimum. Murray also took a gamble and moved approximately 70% of the car's weight to the rear in an effort to obtain more traction. The car featured a distinctive dart-shaped profile and oversized rear wing in an effort to claw back as much downforce as possible, while the monocoque was built from aluminium and carbon fibre composite to keep weight as low as possible. The 1983 season saw refuelling stops reintroduced after successful experiments in1982 so the BT52's fuel system was designed with this in mind and had a small fuel tank positioned high up behind the driver.[5]
The car was easy to drive and Piquet used it to good effect that season. Fighting withAlain Prost in theRenault andRené Arnoux ofFerrari, it seemed he would lose out on the title after a run of mid season bad luck. After German companyWintershall developed a special batch of fuel and further development to the car was done, he became the first driver to win the world championship with a turbo engine after winning three races, Brazil (Round 1),Italy (Round 13) andEuropean (Round 14), and scoring consistently with three 2nd and two 3rd places. Patrese on the other hand seemed to corner the market on Brabham's bad luck and while often as quick or quicker than Piquet (including leading theSan Marino Grand Prix before crashing out with only six laps remaining, and grabbing pole atMonza) he didn't score a point until his third place finish in Round 10 at theGerman Grand Prix. His only other points finish being his win at the season endingSouth African Grand Prix atKyalami.[6]
With Piquet winning his second World Drivers' Championship with 59 points, and Patrese finishing ninth on 13 points, Brabham finished third in the Constructors' Championship with 72 points, 7 behind second placed Renault and 17 behind winners Ferrari. The BT52 was updated after theCanadian Grand Prix to theBT52B and proceeded to win three of the remaining seven races of the season. The two variants of the chassis can easily be distinguished as the colour scheme was also reversed at the same time. A further update came later in the season when Brabham adopted the Ferrari style winglets on the rear wing in order to generate more downforce. The BT52 was replaced for the1984 Formula One season by theBrabham BT53.[7]
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(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Pts | WCC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Fila SportBrabhamBMW | BMW M12/13 S4tc | BRA | USW | FRA | SMR | MON | BEL | DET | CAN | GBR | GER | AUT | NED | ITA | EUR | RSA | 72 | 3rd | ||
| BT52 | Nelson Piquet | 1 | Ret | 2 | Ret | 2 | 4 | 4 | Ret | ||||||||||||
| BT52B | 2 | 13† | 3 | Ret | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||||||||
| BT52 | Riccardo Patrese | Ret | 10 | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | ||||||||||||
| BT52B | Ret | 3 | Ret | 9 | Ret | 7 | 1 |
† Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.
| Awards | ||
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| Preceded by | Autosport Racing Car Of The Year 1983 | Succeeded by |
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