The Brabham BT56 was a

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, ...

car designed by John Baldwin and

Sergio Rinland Sergio Rinland (born 17 March 1952) is an Argentine engineer best known for his work in Formula One. He is currently owner and managing director of the automotive engineering and management consulting company Astauto Ltd. Career Born in Buenos ...

and raced by the

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 ...

team in the

1987 Formula One season The 1987 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 41st season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1987 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1987 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contes ...

. It was driven by

Andrea de Cesaris Andrea de Cesaris (31 May 19595 October 2014) was an Italian racing driver. He started 208 Formula One Grands Prix but never won. As a result, he holds the record for the most races started without a race victory. A string of accidents early in ...

Riccardo Patrese Riccardo Gabriele Patrese (born 17 April 1954) is an Italian former racing driver, who raced in Formula One from to . He became the first Formula One driver to achieve 200 Grand Prix starts when he appeared at the 1990 British Grand Prix, an ...

and

Stefano Modena Stefano Modena (born 12 May 1963) is a former racing driver from Italy. He participated in 81 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on November 15, 1987. He achieved 2 podiums, and scored a total of 17 championship points. Career Modena was born in ...

; both de Cesaris and Patrese scored a 3rd place driving the BT56.

Design

After a disappointing season with the BT55, the team reverted to a more conventional design in 1987. Long time Brabham designer

Gordon Murray Ian Gordon Murray (born 18 June 1946 in Durban, Union of South Africa), is a South African-born British designer of Formula One racing cars and the McLaren F1 road car. He is the founder and CEO of Gordon Murray Automotive. Early life Born t ...

had moved to

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...

leaving the BT56 as the first Brabham car not designed by Murray since the Ralph Bellamy designed

Brabham BT37 The Brabham BT37 was a Formula One racing car designed by Ralph Bellamy for the Brabham team to use in the 1972 Formula One season. It was relatively unsuccessful compared to Brabham's earlier and later cars such as the BT19 or the BT44. In ...

that raced in the and seasons. The car was powered by the

straight 4 A straight-four engine (also called an inline-four) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The vast majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout (with the e ...

turbocharged In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...

BMW engine and raced on Goodyear tyres. Brabham finished 8th in the 1987 Constructors' Championship with 10 points scored. This was the last Formula One Car until to use BMW engines, not counting the

Megatron Megatron is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the ''Transformers'' media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. Megatron is the cruel and tyrannical leader of the Decepticons, ...

-badged engines used by Arrows in . This was the last Brabham to use a turbocharged engine. It was also the last Brabham designed while longtime owner

Bernie Ecclestone Bernard Charles Ecclestone (born 28 October 1930) is an English business magnate. He is the former chief executive of the Formula One Group, which manages Formula One motor racing and controls the commercial rights to the sport, and part-owns ...

ran the team: he sold the team for

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

5 million to Swiss businessman

Walter Brun Walter Brun (born 20 October 1942) is a Swiss former racing driver and founder of Brun Motorsport. He also co-founded the Formula One team EuroBrun with Giampaolo Pavanello. Racing record 24 Hours of Le Mans results Complete British Saloon C ...

at the end of 1988 after buying it in 1972 for US$120,000 from the team's co-founder

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 ...

Racing history

The BT56 was not a very competitive car; although it was quicker than some others (Patrese ran as high as second before retiring at the San Marino Grand Prix that year) it was nowhere near as competitive as the Williams,

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

Lotus Lotus may refer to: Plants *Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly: ** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae **Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...

cars that year. It was also a very unreliable car; they had 7 finishes combined out of 16 races. Patrese had a third place in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, although earlier in the season he had been unlucky to lose second place at the

San Marino Grand Prix The San Marino Grand Prix () was a Formula One championship race which was run at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in the town of Imola, near the Apennine mountains in Italy, between 1981 and 2006. It was named after nearby San ...

with alternator failure. De Cesaris only finished one race, a third place at

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. Although he had a bad reputation for crashing, most of his retirements were due to mechanical failures. Some suspected that this was down to his questionable temperament and his harsh treatment of the car. Brabham finished 8th in the 1987 Constructors' Championship with 10 points scored. Brabham would skip Formula One for the season, and would return in with the

naturally aspirated Naturally may refer to: ;Albums * ''Naturally!'', an album by Nat Adderley * ''Naturally'' (Houston Person album) * ''Naturally'' (J. J. Cale album) * ''Naturally'' (John Pizzarelli album) * ''Naturally'' (Sharon Jones album) * ''Naturally'' ...

Judd V8 powered

Brabham BT58 The Brabham BT58 was a Formula One racing car designed by John Baldwin and Sergio Rinland for the Brabham team which raced in the season. The teams cars were driven by Italian Stefano Modena and the 1988 World Sportscar Champion, the returnin ...

Complete Formula One results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

)

References

{{Brabham, BT56 Brabham Formula One cars 1987 Formula One season cars