Brabham Racing resurrected as BMW tuner

marcos_eirik

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Brabham BMW M3 Unveiled at Essen Motor Show

bmw-m3-by-brabham-racing-at-2008-essen-motor-show_1.jpg


Brabham Racing from Germany is making its return to the upper ground, after going underground back in 1992. ?Underground' means bankrupt for our purposes. At Essen, Brabham aims to show the world that it's still alive and well, kicking even, starting with this combative-looking M3 which is dubbed BT 92, '92 referencing that fateful year.

Not much has come our way in the sense of performance or engine details, safe to say that Brabham's Formula One experience, long in the tooth as it is, has come to assist it in tuning this car.

Do we detect a bit of BMW fanaticism here? Does Brabham want to take the fish straight out of Alpina and AC Schnitzer's mouths? It's ok we reckon, there's room for one more to join the tuning pack.
Source
 
Certainly doesn't hurt that it sounds like "Brabus", for those not aware of its racing heritage. Still, always good to have an old name around in one form or another.
 
I like the rollup to the rear wheel arches, not something I've seen before.

Even though the company sounds like Jason Statham bought Brabus. :lol:
 
Put it onto some stock M3 wheels (but darken them up) and it would be perfect.
http://img376.imageshack.**/img376/8457/exteriorwheelsmy3.jpg
 
I like it. Rear spoiler would make the profile perfect.
 
I think it looks very good, and I usually hate modified cars. The front end may be a little overdone but it's not bad compared to other M3's
 
Apparently they also made a BT70 and a BT60 but I can't find any pictures, although that might be one of them stuck on the wall.
As a side note, did anyone else notice that the first article called them German?
 
I bet that the new Brabham racing troop has nothing in common with the old Brabham except a bought name.
 
www.autobild.de makes more sense, they call it (correctly?) an Australian Company.
From the start they were Australian, founded by Jack Brabham. Later on, Brabham, also known as Motor Racing Developments (MRD) were based in Britain, like most F1 entrants used to be. During these days the team owner was Bernie Ecclestone and the chief designer and technical director was none other than Gordon Murray. Turned out to be efficient, except they were often impaired by bad engines. First there was the Alfa Romeo flat-12, which was heavy and cumbersome, and didn't allow venturi tunnels. Then they had the BMW Turbo engine (M-12/13), which usually just blew up.

Anyway, during their affiliation with BMW (1982-1987) Brabham (MRD) was a British company.
 
That bodykit looks, and I thought I'd never say thig about a German company modifying a German car, amazing.
 
Meh, wheel arches make the wheels look too small, prefer the stock quad exhaust tips, prefer the stock side skirts, don't like the epicanthic folds or the new bonnet bulge (makes the car look like it's been punched and now has a broken nose and a couple of shiners) and I'd need to see some strong technical justification before I'd accept the asymmetric front intakes. Better than AC Schnitzer's attempt, though.
 
and I'd need to see some strong technical justification before I'd accept the asymmetric front intakes.

I don't see any assymetry. do you mean on the kidneys?
 
I don't see any assymetry. do you mean on the kidneys?

The driver's side (where the cold air intake is) seems to have a downward extension of the body work:

DriverSideBrabhamM3.jpg


The passenger side doesn't seem to have this downward extension:

PassengerSideBrabhamM3.jpg


Maybe it is just an illusion, but it looks weird to me. :blink:
 
The driver's side (where the cold air intake is) seems to have a downward extension of the body work:

DriverSideBrabhamM3.jpg


The passenger side doesn't seem to have this downward extension:

PassengerSideBrabhamM3.jpg


Maybe it is just an illusion, but it looks weird to me. :blink:

I see what you're getting at, but it's an illusion:

http://img184.imageshack.**/img184/1376/brabhambt921ee6.jpg
 
^ Cheers, I'm glad it's an illusion. Thanks for clearing that up. :blush:
 
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