Brabham BT62 production underway

The first three Brabham BT62 supercars will be delivered in the first quarter of next year.

David Brabham says the cars are currently in production at Brabham Automotive’s factory in Adelaide and will be ready for their owners in the early months of 2020.

Brabham admits there have been delays in the BT62 production plan but revealed exclusively at the Goodwood Festival of Speed that he is now moving ahead with extra spending and plans to ramp-up production through next year.

“We’ve got builds happening now. We’ll have three cars,” Brabham confirmed exclusively to carsales.com.au at the FoS on the weekend.

“Yes, we’ve had some delays. But that has mostly been down to suppliers, and some of the effects of Brexit.

“But that is mostly behind us and now we’re investing in the factory.”

Brabham was part of a three-member team at Goodwood that included his business partner Dan Marks, who heads up the Fusion Capital company which has been responsible for much of the investment in the retired racer’s plan to create a uniquely Australian supercar brand.

It was Marks who first confirmed the latest BT62 plans on the final day of the Festival, as he stood proudly inside a custom-built Brabham facility alongside a new car with raw carbon bodywork while wearing one of the Brabham Automotive baseball caps that are selling strongly.

“We are building our first three customer cars. They will be ready soon,” said Marks, the commercial director at Brabham Automotive.

While he was touting the BT62 to potential buyers, Brabham was sprinting the car up the famous hillclimb at the home of the Duke of Richmond for the second time.

Just like in 2018, the car was running in the historic green-and-gold colours that Sir Jack used on his Formula 1 cars in the 1960s and that the car wore when Luke Youlden drove it to a record-setting 1:58.67 second lap at Bathurst in February.

“I’m driving the car again,” smiled Brabham. “I’m taking passenger rides and a few journalists have driven it in the UK for stories.”

He bubbled — at least for a Brabham — as he reported the latest reaction to the BT62.

“It’s been crazy. Even better than last year. People are raving about the car,” he said.

Giant press quotes were plastered on Brabham’s promotional material, including “mind scrambling performance” from Evo and “such a great car” from veteran British motoring journalist Andrew Frankel.

Brabham Automotive originally expected to deliver its first BT62 to an owner in Germany next month but, despite the delay, Brabham says customers are happy to wait and have welcomed the introduction of a road-car package that turns the $1.8 million speed machine into more than just a track-day special.

Even so, Brabham is still keeping quiet about final details on the car and company.

“We’ll have more to say soon. We’re planning some sort of an official opening at the factory in Adelaide,” he said.

So, what about the colours of the customer cars, as Brabham has 35 ‘celebration’ liveries available from its planned built of 70 BT62s, each reflecting the competition colours of one of Brabham’s grand prix victories?

“I’m not telling you,” Brabham smiled.