The potent Brabham BT62 has set a new lap record at Australia’s famous Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales.
The circuit is home to Australia’s most famous endurance race, the Bathurst 1000, which is held annually in October as part of the Supercars Championship. Moreover, the Mount Panorama Circuit also hosts the Bathurst 12 Hour endurance race.
As part of the ongoing testing regime for the track-only BT62, Brabham took to the circuit for a series of exhibition laps with Supercars racer Luke Youlden behind the wheel. Incredibly, the car managed to set a new outright lap record, with a time of just 1:58.69.
To put that time into perspective, the previous lap record was held by Christopher Mies who set a 1:59.291 lap at last year’s Challenge Bathurst in an Audi R8 Ultra GT3 race car. He was the first person to dip under the 2-minute barrier. Australia’s V8-powered Supercars generally sit around the 2 minute 5 second mark during qualifying for the Bathurst 1000.
What makes the Brabham BT62’s time particularly impressive is that the vehicle comes from a company that’s new to the world of high-performance production vehicles.
Powering the BT62 is a mid-mounted, naturally-aspirated 5.4-liter V8 pumping out 700 hp and 492 lb-ft (666 Nm) of torque. This engine is paired to a six-speed sequential transmission with paddle shifters that sends power to the rear wheels.
While the BT62 is powerful, its engine isn’t its biggest weapon. That would be the combination of an exceptionally low overall weight (just 972 kg / 2142 lbs) and the fact that it produces in excess of 1200 kg (2645 lbs) of downforce. Which explains how it managed to beat that R8 GT3 racer.