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I was eight years old when the BT52 made a winning debut in the 1983 Brazilian Grand Prix. My mum still has a load of my old school exercise books from that period and, on the inside front covers, margins and elsewhere, there are doodles of arrow-shaped racing cars in blue-and-white livery.
Since the BT52 workshop manual has come out I've been amazed by the number of people who've told me it was their favourite racing car. There's something about it that just taps into people's (especially schoolboys') perception of what a racing car should look like.
Of course, there's far more to the BT52 than its looks. The Brabham team of 1983 was a small one even by the standards of the time, but it employed some of the brightest, most resourceful and ingenious people in the paddock. It was through their pioneering of tyre warmers, mid-race refuelling and quick-change engines and gearboxes that they could slay the giants of Ferrari and Renault.
