Brabham BT55
It was a five day marathon. Well, I’m unemployed now, so I’m ready to take up my hobby to the fullest.
I finally decided to make not only racing steering wheels, but the whole car. Of course, I chose almost the most boxy car in the history of Formula 1. Why complicate my life more, right?
Meet the Brabham BT55, “The Flounder”, one of the lowest Formula 1 cars designed by Gordon Murray. Its height is 855mm. The BMW engine was canted over at 72° to make the back of the car as low as possible, and smooth the air flow to the rear wing. Unfortunately, although the BT55 developed up to 30% more downforce than its immediate predecessor, somewhere along the line it also picked up an excessive amount of drag. Added to the problem of lost power due to poor oil circulation in an angled engine, the whole car was a disaster.
It caused another disaster - one of the best racers of his generation, Elio De Angelis, died behind the wheel.
It was not the best car, not the fastest, and certainly not reliable. But it laid the foundation for the best car of all time, the McLaren MP4/4.
WIPs and BTS:
A few words about creation. It all started with the search for blueprints. And I didn’t find them. Almost nothing, this is not a well-known car, unlike its successor MP4/4. Finally, I found a couple of drawings, according to which I began to assemble the body.
The interior had to be recreated from separate partial photographs and a short YouTube video, where some fan managed to look inside one of the cars. I am very grateful to him.
I drew the tachometer and turbine pressure indicator by hand.
The rear suspension and gearbox had to be created almost at random and from a cardboard model of one of the fans. It’s funny, but then I came across a clear photo of the back of the car, where everything was visible. It turned out very similar.
I also did the brakes and pedals. I like to do little things that no one will see, but they are there.
Texturing was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in 3D. I had to manually draw textures, look for sponsor logos and assemble them in place. There is one historical mistake connected with this - I used the new “Emporio Armani” logo. The old one looks a little different, with a different “E”. At one point, I found that I missed the stripes along the blue. Again, I painted them by hand.
And yet, you need not only the car. We need a character, a racer. Car number seven, driven by Ricardo Patrese. And I honestly tried to model his face (at least, his helmet), but I realized that I would spend too much time on it, I would burn out and publish it unfinished. So yes, it’s a woman. Her face is my current sculpting project. Hairstyle - on the first try
Body - alas, I took it from the Internet, I was already too tired. Thank Ares, armature was included.
Finally, I wanted to work a little with the environment. I had almost no strength, but I spent half a day experimenting with particles. I wanted to rain and the rain came. Reworked the textures to the wet, new wet tyres, made beautiful wet asphalt… And burned out. Tired. And here I am.
I’m glad to see new members of the collab. I’m sure this week’s collab will be especially strong. Good luck and have fun.
And I’ll give myself a couple of days off. I will go to the sea and remember these crazy five days as my best artwork.
