1978 Brabham BT46B

This is a photograph I took at the Donington Park Museum in October 1989 of a controversial Grand Prix car that only competed in one race in this configuration.

It's the 1978 Brabham BT46B, powered by a 2,995cc Alfa Romeo flat-12 engine. This was a Brabham BT46 modified by Gordon Murray in order to counter the dominant Lotus 78, the underside of the body of which was designed to allow the flow of air to 'suck' the car closer to the ground and allow higher cornering speeds. Gordon Murray's answer to this was the enormous fan at the rear of the car, ostensibly to cool the engine but which also had the effect of drawing the air from beneath the car more quickly thus increasing the ground effect. The car only competed in one race in this form, the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix where Nike Lauda won convincingly, helped in no small part in the latter stages of the race when a back-marker dropped oil on the track which proved less of a problem for the Fan Car (as it was dubbed) than for the other competitors. There was lots of controversy about the car as movable aerodynamic devices were not allowed, but FISA accepted that the main purpose of the fan was to cool the engine - which was known to have overheating problems - and the race result was allowed to stand. The Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA) was founded that year and Bernie Ecclestone, then owner of Brabham, became Chief Executive of the organisation. Fearing he would lose the support of the other constructors he agreed that the BT46B would not compete in any future races. 

The concept of ground effects is more fully explained in this article.