Brabham BT55 BMW Turbo F1 Olivetti GP Monaco 1986

Model comes with a premium acrylic display cover

Tragedy of a miracle car

After six years at Lotus, Elio de Angelis felt at a disadvantage compared to newcomer Ayrton Senna and signed for Brabham in 1986. With the new Brabham BT55 chief designer Gordon Murray had developed a revolutionary car. The major sponsoring of Olivetti made it possible to invest almost £7 million into the new ultra-flat design. BMW’s genius Paul Rosche had to radically re-design the four-cylinder turbo so that the engine could be installed at an angle of 72 degrees in the super low chassis. Before the start of the 1986 season, the BT55 was regarded as groundbreaking and Brabham as the secret favourite for the title.

However, the miracle car soon showed traction problems during pre-season testing and the cooling of engine and gearbox was also a cause for concern. At the season opener in Brazil, de Angelis finished eighth, three laps down. The next three races ended with blown engines, including the Monaco GP. From Monaco, the team went straight to Le Castellet for testing. When part of the rear wing broke at high speed on 13 May 1986, the Brabham rolled over several times, landed upside down and caught fire. It was a tragedy that the almost unhurt Italian could not be rescued due to a lack of safety precautions at the French track.