Brabham BT63 GT2 Concept breaks cover

Australia’s homegrown hypercar, the Brabham BT62, is being groomed for a new motorsport attack against some of the world’s quickest road cars.

Although sales of the Adelaide-built BT62 have been very slow, the car has been morphed into the $650,000 BT63 GT2 Concept to race in a new European championship that has already drawn support from Audi, Lamborghini, Porsche and KTM.

David Brabham, the youngest son of Sir Jack who helped establish Brabham Automotive in Adelaide, eventually hopes the BT62 – in some form – will race at Le Mans.

The company is also working on an all-new road-going model, still secret, that should break cover before the end of the year.

Although the new GT2 contender has a different model code, its basics are identical to the V8-powered BT62R road car that cracked the outright lap record at Bathurst in the hands of carsales’ Luke Youlden and has been racing in Britain with three wins from four starts.

"There will be various things about the car that will be different. It’s using the same basic engine, chassis and body, but the engine will be retuned to GT2 specification," Brabham Automotive spokesman Steven Wade told carsales.

"It will be quite a different car to drive. It will be quicker in top speed because it has less aero, even though the power will be down a little bit, and it will carry more weight so it will be slower around the corners."

The targets for the car include around 450kW of power and a weight between 1250 and 1300kg.

The new GT2 category has been developed by SRO Motorsport, directed by Stephane Ratel, as a more affordable category alongside the GT3 class that is booming worldwide and provides the basis for the successful Bathurst 12-Hour race in Australia.

The BT63 GT2 will race for the first time in October at the Paul Ricard circuit in France, with David Brabham watching, before racing the full European series in 2022. The team and drivers have not been revealed.

While the GT2 Concept – which is only being called a concept until it is homologated for racing – is the latest project at Brabham, the company is pushing ahead with construction of both road and racing BT62s.

"We have delivered cars. But we don’t talk numbers," says Wade.

"Cars are under production at the moment and one [road car] should be delivered very soon. There will be one racing in New Zealand very soon, possibly even two."

Although Wade will not give any hints, he admits there is something else under development.

"There is a vehicle coming that is being purely designed as a road car. The BT63 GT2 Concept is purely for racing."