It's been 23 years since the big wigs of Formula One last took interest in Adelaide, but some well-known names were watching keenly this week as the legacy of Sir Jack Brabham was reborn.

Jean Todt, head of world motorsport's governing body the FIA, joined former F1 world champions Jackie Stewart and Damon Hill via video to welcome the unveiling of the latest Brabham racing car in Adelaide.

"It's magnificent to see the Brabham name back in the spotlight with the launch of Brabham Automotive and its first project, the BT62," Todt said in a pre-recorded message.

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Hill, whose father Graham was also world champion, lauded the Brabham tradition of producing exciting vehicles.

"It's a winning brand, a winning name, a name that is very much fondly remembered here in the Hill household as well," he said.

It was a sentiment echoed by Stewart.

"Sir Jack Brabham won the world championship, as everyone knows, in a car of his own making [in 1966]," he said.

"That had never happened in the history of the sport and I don't think it will ever happen again, so it's great to think the name of Brabham Automotive is coming back to life in the creation of the BT62."

The Australian Grand Prix was last held in Adelaide in 1995, the year after Brabham's son David raced his final season in Formula One with the Simtek team.

He has now returned to Adelaide to launch the international headquarters for Brabham Automotive, a collaboration with Fusion Capital, which will start by building 70 new racetrack-only BT62s at a facility near the former Holden factory.

Designed and built in Adelaide, two of the cars are finished and will each cost $1.8 million to buy.

A 1990 promotion for the Australian Grand Prix, which was held in Adelaide from 1985 to 1995. ( Flickr: FotoSleuth )

Cars to reflect 35 Brabham grand prix wins

The first BT62 was unveiled at Australia House in London earlier this month, when the fully fitted out machine had to be turned on its side to get through the building's 100-year-old doorway.

Its livery was designed to celebrate Sir Jack's 1966 French Grand Prix victory at Reims in his BT19, which he manufactured himself after being designed by business partner Ron Tauranac.

The Brabham team boasts 35 grand prix wins under various drivers, with Sir Jack himself, or "Black Jack" as he was known, becoming an instant legend for winning the championship in his own car — the only racer to have ever done so.

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He also won the world championship in 1959 and 1960 and founded the Brabham label with Tauranac in 1962.

Together they went on to become the biggest manufacturer of customer racing cars in the world during the 1960s.

"The first 35 [BT62s] are a celebration of each Formula One victory [by the Brabham team], so each are very bespoke and unique, while the next 35 are a signature series with a little bit more freedom on the liveries," David Brabham said.

Sir Jack was knighted in 1978 and died in 2014.

That same year David announced he had won a seven-year legal battle to retrieve the Brabham name from a German organisation and was looking for ways to get it "back onto the global stage".

"I was introduced to the Fusion group here in Adelaide and we met up and I had a look at their advanced manufacturing capabilities, their vision ... and it just seemed to click," David said.

"Fast forward just over two years, you've got the Brabham BT62 out there and it's making a lot of fantastic noise around the world."

The first Brabham BT62 launched at Australia House celebrated Sir Jack's 1966 French Grand Prix victory. ( Supplied: Brabham Automotive Company )

Founding legend looking to the 'future'

Tauranac apologised for being unable to attend the Australian launch but also sent a video message applauding the new venture.

"Together, our team won many world championships and always maintained a strong connection with Australia," he said.

"It's good to remember that we were one of the biggest racing car manufacturers in the '60s and '70s.

"It's a joy to see the BT brand being honoured ... You built the model of the future and let's see how it handles."

David has been tearing around The Bend racing track at Tailem Bend over the past two weeks, both testing the car and the new track, which was announced as an official partner of Brabham Automotive.

He said the car's top speed was about 300 kilometres per hour, but like all race cars its performance was based on handling and how it "gets around the track".

The BT62 will cost buyers a cool $1.8 million each. ( ABC Radio Adelaide: Malcolm Sutton )

The Bend managing director Dr Sam Shahin said it was a "genuine honour to be associated with such an iconic Australian name".

"The test driver for the car is David Brabham himself, and for him to say publicly, as all drivers who have experienced this facility have been saying over the past few months, that this is a serious world-class facility, is just wonderful to hear and see."

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