BT49 UNCOVERED

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

Under the skin of the BT49, with extra Giorgio Piola illustrations

CONCEPT

Made at short notice after the Brabham and Alfa Romeo relationship took a turn for the worse, the BT49 featured a fair chunk of the BT48, including the suspension components. To facilitate that, Brabham retrofitted the same gearbox casing to the Ford Cosworth DFV to retain the mounting points for the rear wishbones.

With the narrower DFV engine, the BT49’S sidepods and underside were more conducive to a ground effect-producing pair of venturi tunnels, which were incredibly effective when perfected by Gordon Murray’s design team. The floor geometry produced masses of suction, meaning Brabham could disregard running a front wing at most races.

As with many innovations the slew of ground effect entering F1 was popularised by Lotus – but it was then leapfrogged by teams that elected to perfect the concept rather than move onto the next big idea.

INNOVATION

The initial specification of the BT49 wasn’t massively innovative, but served to move Brabham on from its problematic 1979 package. The car’s versatility gave the team plenty of latitude to work with for what was an adaptable and reliable package.

Hydropneumatic suspension for 1981 proved controversial on both sides. FISA had clarified the rule over ride heights, but many teams employed simple drop-down switches to circumvent the regulations. Although the air springs were not without their foibles, Brabham put great effort into making a working system, while other teams could manually raise the car before scrutineering.

Carbon brakes were the BT49’S other big innovation, as they promised increased stopping power without the fade suffered by steel brakes. Although the use of composite materials was in its infancy, carbon brakes quickly became the norm.

EVOLUTION

For 1982 another rules change reshuffled the ground effect formula – the ground clearance rule was deleted, meaning the hydropneumatics could be decommissioned. The BT50 was also produced to take BMW’S new four-pot turbo engine, but it was unreliable at the start of its life.

There was also a 580kg weight limit to adhere to, and Brabham sought to take advantage by adding a water tank to the BT49 under the claim that it was used to cool the brakes. In truth, the water was drained out, then topped up after the race to pass scrutineering. Piquet won the Brazilian GP on track, but was disqualified - and water tanks used as ballast were banned.

The BT49 still managed one more win – Riccardo Patrese was victorious in the madcap 1982 race at Monaco, and two races later the car was put out to pasture as the difficulties with the BMW engine were sorted.