Brabham BT44

History

When Bernie Ecclestone bought Brabham, he promoted the young South African Gordon Murray to chief designer; the BT44 was Murray's first fully realized statement. Its triangular monocoque cross-section stiffened the tub while shrinking frontal area, pullrod-style rising-rate suspension kept the platform controlled, and an early experiment with a front air dam and underbody sealing anticipated ground-effect thinking years before Lotus formalized it.

Carlos Reutemann took three wins in 1974 (South Africa, Austria, the United States), and the BT44B of 1975 — in Martini white — added victories with Reutemann in Germany and Carlos Pace's emotional home win at Interlagos, carrying Brabham to second in the constructors' championship. The car's combination of pace and mechanical sympathy made it a privateer favourite too: the RAM and other customer operations ran BT44s competitively into 1976.

With Cosworth DFV power and Hewland transmissions, the BT44 sits in historic racing's sweet spot: parts are the period-F1 standard kit, the chassis is documented tub by tub, and the model is a fixture at Monaco Historique and Masters grids — where its era-defining elegance still draws the photographers first.

Palmarès

Five championship Grand Prix wins (three in 1974, two in 1975), second in the 1975 constructors' championship, multiple poles and fastest laps, and Pace's 1975 Brazilian GP — the victory that later named Interlagos' circuit after him. In historic racing, BT44s have won Masters Historic F1 titles repeatedly.