Senna, Moss and the Brabham BT52

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.

The manual was a tough assignment, but one that I loved, and I hope this is apparent throughout.

Andrew van de Burgt

STIRLING MOSS

A full 21 years after his horrific crash at Goodwood brought a premature end to his Formula 1 career, Stirling Moss was invited to drive a Brabham BT52 at Brands Hatch on the shorter Indy version of the track.

"Stirling worked closely with us on our end-of-season videos," recalls Herbie Blash, then Brabham team manager. "We produced everything at the Brabham factory and then Stirling would come along and add a commentary for us.

"He's obviously a great friend of Bernie's as they go back to when they first started racing. I can't remember whether it was Bernie or me who asked Stirling if he would like to try the car. It wasn't a big publicity stunt at all. It was lovely to see and it was lovely for Stirling to test what was in those days such an up-to-date, modern race car."

Moss arrived at the track with his blue Dunlop overalls, Herbert Johnson crash hat and goggles.

"The Brabham boys were a bit taken aback," says Moss in his book Stirling Moss: My Racing Life, co-written with Simon Taylor, "but I told them that was how I'd always dressed to drive a racing car and I wasn't about to change now. I had special dispensation from the FIA, which meant I could run with my open-face helmet and still wear silk overalls, not the big, clumsy things they were wearing then. Only Sir Jack Brabham and I were allowed to do that."

After a series of tracking laps behind a camera car, Moss was let loose in the flame-spitting racer.

"Until you really tried to approach the limit the car was quite easy to drive with the huge grip from those big slicks. But the power was simply unbelievable: when the turbo came in at around 8000rpm it made the whole car feel like it was going into orbit.

"I was enjoying myself so much that I stayed out a long time, and after 40 laps I spun at what we used to call Kidney Bend. But I carried on, and in all I did 60 laps, getting down to a best of 46.6 seconds.

"They told me Nigel Mansell had done a test there a few weeks before and done a 41.1 seconds, so I reckoned that 5.5 seconds off the pace wasn't too bad in a completely strange type of car against somebody who drove one all the time.

"It was quite an eye-opening experience as it obviously had much more power than anything I was used to. The experience really did impress me immensely."

Three other drivers were present for testing that day and comparison with their times is interesting: Pierluigi Martini set the pace with a lap of 41.75s, while Davy Jones and Ivan Capelli both recorded best times of 43.7s.

Capelli recalls being impressed by the level of commitment Moss showed: "He was really pushing in the car, not just cruising for the footage - he was really testing the car. He was in his fifties at the time but he was at full throttle when he could.

"I was amazed by the fact that he was really pushing, but, no, he wasn't quicker than me! But you could see that he was taking it seriously and enjoying it."

AYRTON SENNA

When Riccardo Patrese decided to go to Alfa Romeo, having apparently asked for more money than Bernie Ecclestone was prepared to offer, the search was on for a new number two for 1984.

At Paul Ricard at the end of 1983 there was another batch of young hopefuls who were given their opportunity. Foremost among them was the new British Formula 3 champion, Ayrton Senna, who had made his Formula 1 test debut for Williams a few months earlier, and had recently also tried the Toleman.

On a cold Monday morning, Piquet went out first to set up the car and establish a benchmark time. The new world champion recorded a lap of 1m05.9s, according to the Autosport report of the test. Despite a spin, Senna then recorded a best lap of 1m07.9s, which was equalled by Pierluigi Martini, who was having his second run in the car, his first having been at Brands Hatch.

Senna's time in the car impressed everybody at Brabham, but any hopes the team had of acquiring his services were thwarted when Piquet spoke to Calisto Tanzi, CEO of Parmalat, and told him that he would go elsewhere if Senna was taken on.

At the Paul Ricard test Piquet then turned to a modified version of the BT52B in which he set a new 'flat-bottom' lap record in 1m02.6s.

Martini was a little more prepared for it than the other young hopefuls under assessment at Paul Ricard.

"The car was good," remembers Martini. "There was a lot of understeer because the rear downforce was huge with the turbo engine, but in the fast corners it was very well balanced.

"At the time Senna had just won the British Formula 3 Championship and I was winning the European Formula 3 Championship, so we considered ourselves to be rivals - although later on the relationship changed and we became good friends.

"He was very reserved and focused at that test, and quite distant - this is the only thing I remember really. The following day we headed to Macau for the Formula 3 Grand Prix: he won the race and I retired quite early in a tangle with Martin Brundle."

THE F1 DRIVER SENNA 'DEFEATED'

Another up-and-coming driver present at Paul Ricard was Colombian driver Roberto Guerrero, who was able to slot in the opportunity ahead of his drive against Senna for Eddie Jordan's team in the Macau Grand Prix the following weekend.

Guerrero was familiar with Cosworth DFV power since he had raced in Formula 1 during 1982 for Ensign and 1983 for Theodore, where he never managed to trouble the score sheets but nevertheless showed up well against team-mate Johnny Cecotto, and he did qualify an impressive 11th at Detroit.

"I had never really driven a turbocharged car before - and talk about a turbo car!" he exclaims. "The turbo lag was so unbelievably bad that I still have no idea how Nelson Piquet was able to drive the car. It was hard enough to drive at a place like Paul Ricard, so I can't imagine what it must have been like at Monaco or Detroit.

"I kept on bringing the car in, saying, 'There's something wrong! There's no way that this is normal.' I remember on the back straightaway how it would kick you up the behind. It was just unbelievable how fast it went. You would put your foot on the gas and count 1-2-3 and then, boom, 800bhp all of a sudden. Wow!"

Guerrero's best time was 1m08.6s. He then flew with Senna to Macau, where he qualified on the front row next to the Brazilian and went on to finish behind him in the race.

The new Brabham book details the iconic BT52's lifespan in extreme detail

"The test obviously wasn't very successful for me," Guerrero admits. "I didn't do super well as I clearly thought there was something wrong with that car. The funny thing is that both Senna and myself were leaving that evening for the Formula 3 race in Macau, so it was a bit of a rush to do the test and then run to the airport and get to Macau for official practice, which started the next day.

"I was already a Formula 1 driver and I was put together with these little Formula 3 guys. Senna qualified on pole and I was second, and he won the race and I was second - and I remember being kind of mad that a Formula 3 driver beat me. But as it happened I'm not so mad any more as he ended up being one of the most talented drivers ever. It was pretty cool."

Brabham's number-two seat for 1984 was eventually awarded to the Fabi brothers, Teo and Corrado.

Teodorico Fabi was a star of European Formula Ford before enjoying success in Formula 3 and Formula 2. This led to a Formula 1 debut with Toleman in 1982, but it was his stunning rookie performances in CART that brought him to the attention of Brabham.

He spent 1983 racing in the US in Champ Cars, where he had proved to be an impressive rookie for the Forsythe team, finishing second in the championship and taking four wins.

As a result, for 1984 he ran a dual campaign in both Formula 1 and Champ Car. When there was a clash between the two, Corrado, who had raced for Osella in Formula 1 during 1983, would step in.