The Brabham BT45 was a Formula One car designed by South African engineer Gordon Murray for the 1976 Formula One season. In upgraded BT45B and BT45C form, it also competed in the and seasons.
The car was the first Brabham to use Alfa Romeo type 115-12 flat 12-cylinder engine with 5000NaN0 and 3400NaN0 of torque. It was equipped with a Hewland six-speed transmission. It used the front air intakes of the previous Brabham, but by regulation no longer has the air brooms behind the cockpit and has side panels with larger air intakes to feed the engine and more radiant surfaces. The frame was an aluminium monocoque, while the braking system was constituted by ventilated disc brakes produced by Girling. The front suspension consisted of double wishbones with pull-rods, coil springs and stabilizer bars, while the rear used coil springs and stabilizer bars.For the season, pending the development of BT46, a C version of the BT45 was created. This model was equipped with a revised radiator.
The BT45 had its first start at the 1976 Brazilian Grand Prix in the hands of Carlos Pace and Carlos Reutemann. They suffered reliability problems, especially the engine. During the first season, the best results were three-fourth places.
In Pace finished second in the first race and led for thirteen laps in South Africa with the BT45B, and died a few days later in a plane crash. His teammate, John Watson, drove to the pole at the Monaco Grand Prix but was passed on the first lap by Jody Scheckter's Wolf, after that he spent more than half of the race in second position, before retiring with gearbox problems. He then took second place in France, and Stuck gained two podiums, in Germany and Austria. Its results allowed the German to finish 11th overall in the Championship.
The BT45C competed in two Grands Prix in, before the arrival of the BT46. With this latest release, Niki Lauda achieved two podiums. Jackie Stewart tested an early BT45C (chassis number 8) in 1978 and returned an overall favourable impression of the car as well as the team, with the smooth, torquey Alfa Romeo flat-twelve and the Brabham gearbox coming in for particular praise. The chassis was not yet fully sorted and Stewart disliked the cable-operated clutch; but the Brabham was still the fastest car he ran in a series of tests at Paul Ricard.[1]
(key) (results in bold indicate pole position, results in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Engine | Chassis | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Points | WCC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Martini Racing | Alfa Romeo F12 | BT45 | BRA | RSA | USW | ESP | BEL | MON | SWE | FRA | GBR | GER | AUT | NED | ITA | CAN | USE | JPN | 9 | 9th | |||
| Carlos Pace | 10 | Ret | 9 | 6 | Ret | 9 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 4 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 7 | Ret | Ret | ||||||||
| Carlos Reutemann | 12 | Ret | Ret | 4 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 11 | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | ||||||||||||
| Rolf Stommelen | 6 | Ret | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Larry Perkins | 17 | Ret | Ret | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1977 | Martini Racing | Alfa Romeo F12 | BT45B | ARG | BRA | RSA | USW | ESP | MON | BEL | SWE | FRA | GBR | GER | AUT | NED | ITA | USE | CAN | JPN | 27 | 5th | ||
| John Watson | Ret | Ret | 6 | DSQ | Ret | Ret | Ret | 5 | 2 | Ret | Ret | 8 | Ret | Ret | 12 | Ret | Ret | |||||||
| Carlos Pace | 2 | Ret | 13 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Hans-Joachim Stuck | Ret | 6 | Ret | 6 | 10 | Ret | 5 | 3 | 3 | 7 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 7 | ||||||||||
| Giorgio Francia | DNQ | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1978 | Parmalat Racing Team | Alfa Romeo F12 | BT45C | ARG | BRA | RSA | USW | MON | BEL | ESP | SWE | FRA | GBR | GER | AUT | NED | ITA | USE | CAN | 53 | 3rd | |||
| Niki Lauda | 2 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| John Watson | Ret | 8 |
This total includes points scored using the Brabham BT46.