Shortly after putting the Brabham BT62 on pole position for Race One of the final round of the Dunlop Endurance Championship run by Britcar at Brand Hatch, David Brabham, founder of Brabham Automotive and son of triple Formula One world champion Sir Jack Brabham, spoke with EnduranceandGt editor Andy Lloyd about the racing debut of his company’s car and his thoughts on the future for the B62
David, you are the first Brabham to drive a Brabham at Brands Hatch since 1970. How does that make you feel?
“It’s pretty special to be fair. Brands is one of those tracks which has been part of the Brabham family for a very long time with Jack’s success here, winning the Grand Prix (in 1966). He nearly won in 1970 as you talked about. He was following Jochen Rindt, got past Rindt and drove away and then ran out of fuel and coasted to the line as Rindt went past him. Hopefully that won’t happen to us! Yes, it’s a pretty special moment for me.”
How has your preparation been for the car leading up to this weekend?
“Well, we’ve done quite a lot of running with the car over the last couple of years. We’ve been developing it, putting mileage on it and we’ve put customers in there to drive it so there’s been quite a lot of work in the background. We haven’t just turned up with a new car and gone racing. This is obviously the first time for the car in a racing environment so it offers great learning lessons for us. We’re going to have one of these cars in the Dunlop Endurance Championship next year and so this is really good information that we can help make that a success.”
So you’re committed to the Dunlop Endurance Championship for 2020?
“What I am saying is that there is a car going to be there.”
I was at Birmingham when you were announcing your plans and you explained that the customer-racing programme was an important part of your business model. How is that progressing for you?
“Good. Like I said, we’re going to have a car in the championship next year and part of the driver development programme is all part of the package when people buy a car. So yes, the customer side of it is really important for us. We want expand and grow more customers who want to go racing.”
You said in Birmingham that your intention was for a WEC entry in 2021/22. Are you on schedule for that?
“We set out timelines which were definitely ambitious. 2021 or 2022 I have to say is where we’re aiming to get. It’s a big programme and we’re not 100% sure whether or not we should be going for the Hypercar class or GTE. Originally we said GTE but the rules have kind of opened up with the opportunity but that’s a big project. We’ve only just started as an automotive group so we need to build the business. We’ve got a lot of plans and we’re working towards them. This weekend is the start of that journey in terms of racing progamme.”
The lights go out for Race One of the Dunlop Endurance Championship run by Britcar ‘Into The Night’ double-header at 17:10 on November 9.
