The Brabham BT17 was a one-off sports prototype race car, designed by British-Australian engineer

Ron Tauranac Ronald Sidney Tauranac (13 January 1925 – 17 July 2020) was a British-Australian engineer and racing car designer, who with Formula One driver Jack Brabham founded the Brabham constructor and racing team in 1962. Following Brabham's retireme ...

, and developed and built by British manufacturer, constructor, and

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

racing team,

Brabham Brabham () is the common name for Motor Racing Developments Ltd., a British racing car manufacturer and Formula One racing team. Founded in 1960 by Australian driver Jack Brabham and British-Australian designer Ron Tauranac, the team won four ...

. It was built to

Group 7 Group 7 may refer to: * G7, an international group of finance minister *Group 7 element, chemical element classification *Halogens (alternative name) *Group 7 Rugby League, rugby league competition in New South Wales, Australia *Group 7 (racing) G ...

racing specifications, in 1966, and was the only Group 7 sports car built by Brabham. Only one single model was produced. It only contested three

sports car races Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

, scoring no wins, podiums, pole positions, or points finishes. It was also notably the last sports car to bear the ''Brabham'' name for 52 years, until the

Brabham BT62 The Brabham BT62 is a mid-engine track-day car produced by Australian car manufacturer Brabham Automotive. It was introduced in 2018 with deliveries expected to start at the end of that year. A planned production of only 70 cars is intended, in ...

was introduced, in 2018. It was initially powered by a

Repco Repco is an Australian automotive engineering/retailer company. Its name is an abbreviation of Replacement Parts Company and was for many years known for reconditioning engines and for specialized manufacturing, for which they gained a high ...

V8 engine A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and us ...

, however, due to reliability problems with the original engine, the engine was swapped with a smaller Repco ''620''

, producing , and drove the rear wheels via a

Hewland Hewland is a British engineering company, founded in 1957 by Mike Hewland, which specialises in racing-car gearboxes. Hewland currently employ 130 people at their Maidenhead facility and have diversified into a variety of markets being particul ...

5-speed

manual transmission A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission (mechanics), transmission ...

References

{{Brabham Sports racing cars Brabham racing cars Sports prototypes