Brabham BT62 expected to turn heads in South Island Endurance Series

This year’s South Island Endurance Series is set to boast one of the most elaborate grids of GT3 and GT race machines.

One of the more fascinating cars is the Brabham BT62, steered by brothers Dwayne and Matt Carter.

The track-focused hypercar built by Brabham Automotive out of Australia has a heavily modified Ford Coyote V8 and a six-speed Holinger sequential gearbox.

It weighs next to nothing, courtesy of carbon fibre body panels, and has an imposing rear wing.

Brabham has confirmed they intend to take the car to Le Mans next year.

Only a handful of BT62s have hit the race track so far, all in Europe.

It means when the Carter brothers get behind the wheel for the first race at Ruapuna, it will be the first time a BT62 is raced in the Southern Hemisphere.

The only problem is that the car the Carter’s are racing is still in Adelaide.

“Well, we haven’t got the car yet, so hopefully it arrives soon,” Dwayne Carter told Velocity News.

“It is still in Adelaide, where they are built, at the moment.

“We were planning on testing the car on August 21 at Ruapuna, and the guys at Brabham still reckon they can get the car over here before then.

“So, we may have to airfreight it to get it over here.

“The good thing is that when they were going to container it, before the container was cancelled, the car was 95 per cent finished. Hopefully it is 100 per cent done when it gets here.”

The BT62 is a fast race car.

According to Brabham, the car generates up to 1600kgs of downforce at 300kph and has a power-to-weight ratio of 653 hp per tonne.

Yet, Carter has little idea what to expect when the time comes to drive the car.

“I haven’t got a clue,” he said.

“There is a sim model of the car somewhere out there that I am trying to get a hold of but, yeah, no idea at the moment.

“I spoke to Luke Youlden, who has driven the car in some demo laps at Bathurst, and he said the car is an absolute weapon.

“It is 970kgs and 700 horsepower. So, it will be a lot of fun.

“David Brabham, who has driven the car, said it is somewhere between a GT3 and an LMP2 car.

“So, we’ll just be winging it a bit.”

Carter is excited to see how the BT62 handles against some top-tier GT3 cars.

Unfortunately, defending three-hour South Island champions The Heart of Racing are not competing in this year’s series.

However, confirmed entries in the include three Nissan GTRs, two McLarens, a Lamborghini Reiter RE-X and a pair of Audi R8s.

A Porsche 997 GT3R, 991 GT3R and MARC II Mustang are also confirmed so far.

“It is going to be awesome…we can’t wait,” Carter said.

The Carter brothers will be running a green and gold colour scheme on the BT62, which were the same colours the Brabham team won its first Formula 1 Grand Prix with in 1964.

The first round of the South Island Endurance Series is at Ruapuna on September 4.

_{Main Image: Simon Hildrew}