The Brabham BT44 was a Formula One racing car designed by Gordon Murray, Brabham's chief designer. An update of the partially successful BT42 of 1973, the BT44 was a simple design with a standard Ford DFV/Hewland gearbox combination, but was very clean aerodynamically. Murray had an eye for clean lines, and the BT44 was particularly graceful. He was also a forward thinker, and tinkered with side skirts and airdams on the car, a precursor to ground effects aerodynamics. Sponsorship came from Martini. The 1974 season was successful for Brabham. Carlos Reutemann took 3 wins with the car, partnered by Carlos Pace who was able to string a series of promising results together. Brabham finished at a fighting fifth place in the Constructor's Championship after a closely fought season. The BT44 was modified to ‘B’ specification for 1975, and Pace won his first and only Grand Prix at his home event in Brazil, while Reutemann won at the Nürburgring. A series of other strong finishes helped Reutemann to finish third in the drivers' championship in 1975, whilst Brabham equalled his feat in the constructors' championship. Whilst the BT44 was a good car, it couldn't match the McLaren M23 or the Ferrari 312T. The BT44 was replaced by the Alfa Romeo powered BT45 for 1976 which proved to be a serious step back for the team. The BT44Bs were sold to RAM Racing, who ran them for a variety of drivers in the 1976 World Championship, including Loris Kessel, Emilio de Villota, Patrick Nève, Jac Nellemann, Damien Magee, Lella Lombardi and Bob Evans, none of whom had much success. After the Brazilian GP in 1976, Max Mosely (the ‘M’ of ‘March’) managed to re-sign former March hero Ronnie Peterson from the then struggling Lotus team and it was Lella Lombardi who had to make way. Robin Herd (the ‘H’ of ‘March’) inserted Peterson into Lella’s old car and expected him to immediately be on the same pace as Brambilla. He wasn’t. In fact, Peterson complained of precisely the same handling characteristics that Lombardi had complained about. Peterson suffered three lacklustre races in the car at Kyalami, Long Beach and Jarama. Then whilst running mid pack at Zolder he was sent off the track by a broken Brabham which severely damaged the March. A new monocoque was needed and immediately Peterson put the rebuilt car third on the grid at the Monaco GP. March mechanics were sent to investigate the old monocoque, the ex Lombardi now Peterson, and found that it had a broken rear bulkhead. This then explained the poor handling that both drivers had experienced. The accident at Zolder had indirectly saved Peterson’s career, but too late for Lombardi unfortunately. Petersons 761, now called 761/3-2 to denote the second monocoque, appeared in Peterson’s Swedish colours of yellow and blue at Monte Carlo for the Monaco GP. It picked up support from the Monaco Fine Arts Gallery for the race. It was now the quickest of the 761s and was running in second place in the race before Peterson spun off on someone else’s oil. The car with Peterson behind the wheel went on to wear the red, white and blue of First National City and for his home race at Anderstorp before returning to the iconic yellow and blue.
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