The Brabham BT42
The Brabham BT42 was the first Formula 1 cars designed by Gordon Murray and it was also the first one with the triangular shape that was also seen on the BT44 and the BT46.
The finest moment for a BT42 came at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona 1973 when Reutemann was leading before he got a driveshaftfailure. Reutemann scored 16 points and two podium finishes with the BT42, but no wins...
The version I would like to build is the one that was driven by Rolf Stommelen during the German Grand Prix in 1973. Stommelen replaced Andrea de Adamich who had suffered a broken ancle in a pile-up at the British Grand Prix a few weeks before. For Stommelen it was a come-back after the terrible season he had in 1972 with the German Eifelland Team.
He qualified the car on the 16th position and finished the race in 11th spot.
The whole race can be watched here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhI7ah4nKwQ
The kit of the BT42 was made by Orange House and contains parts made of various materials:
According to the instruction I should be able to build this car in 4 different versions:
German Grand Prix: Carlos Reutemann and Wilson Fittipaldi
US Grand Prix: John Watson and Carlos Reutemann
The version of Stommelen is missing in the instruction, because the airbox of his car had a different style in comparisson to his teammates.
I thought I would have to scratch a new one, but when I checked the kit for the first time, to my big surprise the Stommelen airbox was included! I suppose Orange House accidently took an early airbox into the kit instead of the airbox for the US Grand Prix, which turned out to be a big advantage for me!
But they also did another mistake which became a disadvantage:
There are two different rearwing supports in the kit. One for the 73 and one for the 74 version. So I have to scratch a second 73 rearwing support:
I am currently cleaning and adjusting the elements for the engine and the gearbox. As soon as I have a few good things to show you I will write the next post.
Steffen
