“It’s been a minute”, Ricardo Patrese must have been thinking, or something to that effect, as he slid into his old place of work at the 80th Members’ Meeting presented by Audrain Motorsport. And by a minute, we must clarify we mean 40 years, given it’s been as long since the F1 legend last drove the incredible Brabham BT52.
Two Brabham BT52s let loose at the 80th Members' Meeting
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Possibly the most instantly-recognisable F1 car ever, this dart-like device was his weapon of war when battling for victory at Kyalami back in 1983. Patrese would walk away from the South African GP victorious, having battled Andrea de Cesaris in his Alfa Romeo, teammate Nelson Piquet (out of whom the BT52 would eventually make a champion), Derek Warwick, Keke Rosberg and more.
It was a relatively convincing victory too, with a nine-second lead on de Cesaris as he crossed the line. We wonder if the memories came flooding back, as he began to tentatively extend the BT52 around Goodwood at the 80th Members’ Meeting presented by Audrain Motorsport.
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Alongside him was Le Mans winner David Brabham, matching the man and the team his father first founded and one of its greatest cars, from the Bernie era and beyond. With a bit more experience of the track, David managed to extend his BT52 a little more and get the turbo singing. Both were doing a bang-up job of converting their fuel into a pyrotechnic display.
What neither quite did, was get close to the legend that links the BT52 and the Goodwood Motor Circuit forever: the fact it unofficially holds a lap record, having set a “sub-minute” time in testing in period.
The 80th Members’ Meeting presented by Audrain Motorsport is live now! You can watch every second of the action right here on GRR.
Photography by Joe Harding and Jochen van Cawenberge.
