Brabham BT55 - Aftermath

Aftermath

Murray has since summarised the reasons for the car's failure: "...I was much too ambitious in how much we lowered it. The rather tall BMW had to lie down so far it produced a heavily offset crank needing a special gearbox and drivetrain, and what I did wrong was to try to do it in the time available.

Secondly, the engine never worked properly in the lay down position. The exhaust and turbo system was a nightmare and it had incurable oil surge and drain problems in corners. One way it was OK, but not the other.

The weight distribution gave dynamic centre of gravity movements that messed up the traction.

And then Bernie who is totally non-technical and had always left that side completely to me, started to get involved on the technical side. We had had 16 years with never a cross word until then, and things were changing with his deeper and deeper involvement in . Then McLaren made approaches to me and I just felt it was the end of the road at Brabham."

Murray left the team at the end of the year to join rivals McLaren. His 1988 car, the McLaren MP4/4 is usually said to have been based on the BT55 concept, although McLaren team manager Jo Ramirez has downplayed Murray's involvement in the design of the MP4/4. The lying down driver position has again become the standard in Formula One since 1988.

Brabham regrouped with the much more conventional BT56, but had to re-use the tilted over BMW engine and a new, 5" shorter, Weismann 6 speed gearbox as the German manufacturer, already reducing its involvement in Formula One, had sold the supply of conventional engines to Megatron for use by other teams. BMW pulled out of Formula One altogether at the end of 1987, and the Brabham team missed the 1988 season.