Season | Series | Event |
1983 | F1WC | |
Driver | No. | Entrant |
Nelson Piquet | 5 | Fila Sport |
Scale | Manufacturer | Collection |
1:43 | IXO | Altaya 100 Ans de Sport Automobile |
Cat. No. | Quality | Rarity |
No. 18 | ![]() | ![]() |
Three-time World Champion Nelson Piquet won his second title in 1983 driving this Brabham BT52. The car was designed by Gordon Murray and powered by turbocharged BMW M12/13 engine capable to produce 800 bhp in qualifying mode and 640 bhp in race regime. FIA has banned the ground effect at the end of the previous season for safety reasons and F1 teams have to be adapted very quickly to new regulation stipulating flat underside of the car. Wide sidepods of the ground effect cars now were impossible and even dangerous generating lift rather than downforce, so the most characteristic feature of BT52 were short angular sidepods to keep lift at a minimum. This construction with other important design features such as low weight monocoque made from aluminium and carbon fibre composite, and moving 70% of the car weight to the rear made this dart-shaped car very effective and easy to drive vehicle. Piquet won first round of the Championship in Brazil and scored several podium finishes in the first half of the season. The BT52 was updated to the BT52B specification after Canadian Grand Prix, and Nelson added two more victories (at Italian Grand Prix and European Grand Prix in Brands Hatch) to his account. BT52 and BT52B can be easily distinguished as the color scheme was reversed for the B version. The scale model from IXO is the part of “100 ans de sport automobile” collection distributed by Altaya Editiones.