David Brabham relaunches Brabham brand with $1.8 million race car in Australia
RACING royalty David Brabham has revealed his companies’ newest race car will mark the return of car manufacturing in Australia.
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RACING Royalty David Brabham has revealed his companies’ newest race car — a $1.8 million dollar V8 that will mark the return of car manufacturing in Australia.
At an event at Australia House in London on Wednesday evening, Brabham Automotive revealed their new “BT62”- a track only V8 which will be manufactured in a factory in South Australia.
The vehicle is a tribute to Mr Brabham’s father racing legend Sir Jack Brabham who originally founded the brand.
The new car marks a return to manufacturing for Brabham- a famous Australian brand which had ceased production in 1992.
The new vehicle will also be the only car currently manufactured in Australia when production starts following the closure of Holden’s once prosperous factory in 2017.
Mr Brabham told News Corp they had tried to keep the relaunch as secretive as possible as he wanted the new car to speak for itself.
“We wanted to show people what we’ve done rather than tell them,” Mr Brabham told News Corp.
“The move back to Australia is an important one, we see ourselves as Anglo-Australian brand and my father’s Australian roots are very important to us.”
He said he believed the car would be the next “legendary” race vehicle.
There will be a limited production run with just 70 of the cars are being produced as part of a tribute to the 70th anniversary of Sir Jack’s career.
Sir Jack started racing midget cars in 1948.
It is predicted the manufacturing run will go for 12-18 months.
The price for the car starts at $1.8 million plus locals taxes.
A triple world champion, Sir Jack was the only person in history to ever win a Formula One World Championship in a car he had constructed in 1966.
Sir Jack passed away in 2014 aged 88.
Mr Brabham told News Corp his father had been “incredibly humble”.
“He had time for everyone and never saw himself as above anyone else,” he said.
South Australian Agent General Bill Muirhead was at the event and told News Corp he thought the fact the car was the only vehicle being manufactured in Australia was hugely important.
He said he thought car manufacturing could have a comeback in South Australia.
“I think we could see it come back in a different form as we see people exploring things like carbon free and electric cars,” Mr Muirhead said.
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