The Brabham-BMW BT52 was the first turbocharged F1 car used to win a drivers championship in the history of Formula 1. The honours went to Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet (who had previously won the title in a Ford-Cosworth powered Brabham BT49 in 1981) who after a slow start racked up several wins from mid-season on to beat Alain Prost to the title (who had led the points standings early on in the season in his turbocharged Renault). The "BT" in the name of this car stood for Brabham-Tauranac, the surnames of the two founders of the Brabham company back in 1961.
The 1.5 litre turbocharged four cylinder engine developed by BMW for Brabham had an engine block which was almost identical to the block used in the roadgoing BMW 2002 (albeit in 2 litre form). For F1, BMW developed new cylinder heads and added a large turbocharger which in it's ultimate form produced up to 1500bhp (1000bhp per litre!). When giving 1500bhp the engine only lasted a few laps, so this state of tune was used only for qualifying laps. For the race a different engine would be installed, still giving an incredible 1100bhp on average. In 1983 the engine gave approximately 640bhp in race trim and up to 750bhp for qualifying. In both cases far more power than the non-turbocharged Ford-Cosworth engined opposition could muster.
The new BMW engine was first used by Brabham in 1982, in a modified BT49 chassis (known as a BT50). Early turbocharged F1 engines made the cars very difficult to drive due to the all or nothing nature of their power delivery (described as like a "light switch" by many drivers!). BMW insisted Brabham use the new turbo engine from the start of the 1982 season, but Piquet found it extremely difficult to drive and spun off the track into retirement in the season opening South African GP. For the next two races he switched back to the Ford powered BT49D, and actually won the Brazilian GP in it. However, he was later disqualified thanks to the controversial use of "water cooled brakes". The water carried was seen as ballast which was disposed of as the race went on resulting in a car which was under the minimum permitted weight at the end of the race, hence the reason for his disqualification.
BMW insisted Brabham use the turbocharged engine and so Piquet switched back to the newer BT50. The car was initially disappointing, and Piquet even failed to qualify for the US grand prix in Detroit. But the car unexpectedly came good in the Canadian GP and Piquet scored the first win for the BMW turbo engine. The remainder of the season saw a 2nd and a 4th place race finish, but otherwise Piquet suffered a series of retirements many of which were engine related.
The BT52 for 1983 was the first Brabham designed from the outset for the BMW turbo engine. Designed by Gordon Murray (who later went on to design several highly successful F1 cars for McLaren and also designed the incredible McLaren F1 road car), the BT52 had an unusual "arrow-head" layout with a thin needle like nose and a wide rear section, highlighted by the absence of side pods. After 1982, ground effect aerodynamics were outlawed in the sport hence the large side pods seen on earlier cars were now not needed. The lower chassis was made from an aluminium honeycomb material, while the upper bodywork was made from carbon fibre. The car also had a marked rear weight bias which was intentional to improve traction. Apparently it was not an easy car to drive, but when it worked well it was very competitive. Piquet won three races in the car car, enough when combined with his other results to win the drivers championship, while his team-mate Ricardo Patrese won the final race of the year in South Africa.
Brabham did not win the drivers championship in 1983 however, that honours going to Ferrari for the second year in a row. Brabham scored a total of 72 points to take third place in the championship behind Ferrari and Renault.
Minichamps released this 1:18th of the BT52 in 2001, along with a model of the car driven by Ricardo Patrese. It has a number of weak areas such as the rear engine cover being made of plastic instead of diecast metal, which would not be so bad except it isn't a great fit. It has a reasonably detailed BMW turbo engine which is a big improvement on many of Minichamps other F1 cars which have sealed bodywork and no engine detail.
As all my models are in storage awaiting a house move (as of August 2006) I'm not able to examine this model properly to give it a fair rating below, but once my models are out of storage I will add a proper ratings scale to this review.
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