Into history Formula 1 recorded as “vacuum cleaner”Namely, it was a race car Brabham BT46B. Chief designer Gordon Murraywho sees himself as revolutionary, is still very proud of its concept. Years 1979 he wanted to stop lotus dominance od Colin Chapman, whereby the so-called Ground effect carried out in his own way. “Designers in the 70s were divided into two streams. Whether you were for evolution or revolution. Everyone who bet on evolution has made very solid and good race cars. They just watched what other people were doing," so Murray in the Formula 1 podcast "Beyond the Grid".
He added himself to another group: “The revolutionary side, like Chapman and I, thought differently: ‘I don’t like what others are doing. Let's go through the rules again and see where we can get an unfair advantage '." British he kept asking himself, “How can we make a race car even better, even faster, not just for a shade?”With this motto, he also went to 1978 season. "This story begins with an urgent need, as Lotus discovered the Ground-Effect in 1977 with so-called ‘Wing-Cars’."
Murray he was under pressure as he himself wanted to carry it out Ground effect. But the backside V12 Alpha is too wide and too large in dimensions. “In 1978, I saw us behind all the race cars, not just behind the Lotus. So I had to reach or exceed their vacuum level in another way."It simply came to our notice then more precisely looked at the policy. “I found a hole in the policy and from that came ‘Fun-Car’." Murray explain that it is BT46B acted very primitive. “It was simply a vacuum cleaner that had external blades and an 18-inch fan at the rear. With this, the car sucked to the ground.“Following the example of the American athlete Chaparral 2J je Murray really installed in the back of the car fan.
That's it sucked air from under the car and let it out in the back. With that, the car was literally glued to the asphalt. Murray is still convinced today: “This car could also race on the ceiling.”His approach was allowed to race on Sweden in 1978. "This was Article 3.7 of the technical regulations,”He recalls British. "There it was quite simply written: If one part has a primarily aerodynamic effect, then that part must remain stationary on the chassis." Murray is the word "primarily”Interpreted as being more than 50 percent air sucked through a horizontally placed refrigerator.
Fan he had therefore priority functionto cool the car. “And less than 50 percent pressed the car to the ground. Because of this, they had to let us race.And on the track Anderstorp followed by a surprise: Niki Lauda is in Brabham won the victory. “They had to completely change the way they raced. Even Niki took quite some time to get used to this car,”He remembers Murray. “Because the speed in corners in third or fourth gear was about 50 km / h higher than in a normal car."
And as is still the custom today, it was fast then as well spread the displeasure of rivals. "It's a damn good sucker. It throws all the bullshit and dust in your face with great speed,”Is, for example, bentyl Mario Andretti from the team Lotus. Team boss Brabham, none other than Bernie Ecclestone, had to due to pressure from the side FOCA bow and is a race car only after one race retreated to the garage. He was later declared illegal, which is why to this day the only car model, which is at the only performance in the championship Formula 1 achieved victory.
