British Racing Motors

 
Team Principles Raymond Mays GBR (1949-51)
Alfred Owen
GBR (1952-70)
Jean Owen-Stanley
GBR (1971-74)
Louis Stanley
GBR (1975-77)
Designers Peter Berthon GBR (1955-69)
Tony Southgate
GBR (1970-72)
Mike Pilbeam GBR (1973-76)
Len Terry GBR (1968, 1977)

BRM History & Team Record

After World War Two Raymond Mays of pre-war ERA, started a racing co-operative to help put Britain back to the forefront of world motor sport. Due to the huge shortages and high price of raw materials, it took until the end of 1949 for the supercharged BRM P15 to appear.  The cars appeared in non-championship events during 1950 before attempting to compete in the British and Italian GPs in 1951.  Reg Parnell finished 5th at Silverstone for the teams very first World Championship point, but neither car took the start at Monza following gearbox problems during practice.

For 1952 the FIA switched to 2-litre non-supercharged engines and BRM was forced to compete in only non-championship races, leading to the sale of the team to Alfred Owen in late 1952. In the hands of talent like Juan-Manuel Fangio, Jose-Frolian Gonzalez, Stirling Moss and others, the cars (and personnel)  began to develop over a period of years and the decision to build a new car for the F1 World Championship was taken. The front-engined P25 was powered by a simple, four cylinder engine displacing 2.5-litres and the "Owen Racing Organization" made its debut at the 1956 Monaco GP, though they did not start the race. Three cars were entered for the British GP but none finished, then in 1957 the team attempted three GP (Monaco, France & Britain) but did not finish any of them.

The breakthrough came in 1958 when the team entered two cars for Harry Schell and Jean Behra, together with additional entries for Jo Bonnier, Maurice Trintignant and Ron Flockhart at certain races. The highlight of the season was second and third-place finishes in the Dutch GP at Zandvoort and the team finished the year in fourth place in the Constructor's Championship. Holland was to be the place for celebration the following year when Jo Bonnier won the race from pole position, with what was to be the only win for a front-engined BRM. Also during 1959, the private Rob Walker Racing team ran a BRM for Stirling Moss with some success, but it was the arrival of a young man named Graham Hill to the works team that truly started them on the road to victory.

Year Chassis Engine Tyre Drivers Start Win Pole F Lap Pts Pos
1951 P15 BRM P15 V16 (1.5L) - Parnell
Walker / Richardson

1

0

0

0

1

-

1956 P25 BRM P256 F4 (2.5L) - Hawthorn
Brooks
Flockhart (British GP only)

1

0

0

0

-

-

1957 P25 BRM P257 F4 (2.5L) - Salvadori / MacKay-Fraser / Fairman
Flockhart / Leston

3

0

0

0

-

-

1958 P25 BRM P258 F4 (2.5L) - Schell
Behra
Flockhart / Trintignant / Bonnier

9

0

0

0

18

4th

1959 P25 BRM P259 F4 (2.5L)
BRM P258 F4 (2.5L)
DU Flockhart / Herrmann
Schell
Bonnier

7

1

1

0

18

3rd

Photos coming soon!

Though the team started 1960 with the aging P25, the second race of the season saw the introduction of the mid-engined P48 chassis, still powered by the P25 engine. Mechanical problems plagued the car and the team could manage just one podium finish all season (third place for Hill at Zandvoort). No suitable engine was available for the 1961 Championship when the rules changed to 1.5-litre engines, so the P48 was adapted to use Coventry Climax power. The combination was fairly reliable but not particularly fast, though the season ended on a high note when Tony Brooks took third place in the US GP at Watkins Glen.

American Richie Ginther partnered Graham Hill for the 1962 season which saw the introduction of BRM's own 1.5-litre V8 engine. The car was fast from the start with Hill winning the opening Dutch GP on his way to the four wins, one pole and three other podiums from nine races that gave him and the team both World Championships. Though Jim Clark in the Lotus-Climax dominated the 1963 season, Hill picked up two wins and two poles as the team worked on the introduction of the semi-monocoque design P61. The BRM V8 was also very popular with privateer teams and was bolted into various other chassis during the season, as well as the customer P57's of Scuderia Centro Sud.

A full-monocoque development of the P61 was ready for the 1964 season, dubbed P261 and powered by the venerable V8. In the hands of the familiar pairing, Hill and Ginther, it took another pair of wins (Monaco and USA) to finish very closely behind John Surtees and Ferrari in both Championships. Ginther moved to Honda for the 1965 season and Hill was partnered by an up and coming Scot by the name of Jackie Stewart. The pairing was impressive but they were beaten to both Championships once again by Jim Clark and the Lotus-Climax combination.

The engine rules changed once again for 1966 and a brand new engine design would be required - one that the Lotus team signed up to also use. During the previous year it had been decided to develop an H16 - simply put, two flat eights on top of one another with a common crankshafts - providing a compact engine with a low center of gravity. Meanwhile, BRM founder Peter Berthon was working with Harry Weslake to develop a competing 3.0-litre V12, later to be used in Dan Gurney's Eagle chassis.  The team were forced to run the old V8 re-bored to 1.9/2.0-litres in the first races of the year and although Stewart won the first race of the season at Monaco, the car was simply not fast enough on true road courses. The H16 powered P83 made its debut in Italy but did not finish any of the three GPs it took part in, though Clark took the Lotus 43-BRM H16 to victory at Watkins Glen.

Graham Hill departed for Lotus in the off-season and Stewart was paired with Briton Mike Spence. They struggled on with the H16 car, but reverted to the old V8 powered P261 on several occasions as mechanical problems (caused by massive vibrations) plagued the complicated 16 cylinder design. A second place in Belgium was the best Stewart could manage and he left to join Matra at the end of the year, replaced by Mexican Pedro Rodriguez.

The H16 was discarded in 1968 (it ran at just the first race in the back of Mike Spence's P115) in favor of a newly designed V12. Rodriguez was partnered with Spence in South Africa, then Richard Attwood for several races and finally American Bobby Unser, in a variety of chassis designs - none of which were particularly successful. Two second-places (Attwood at Monaco and Rodriguez at Spa) were the best finishes for the team which ended up fifth in the championship. Although the V12 engine was standard, the team again used various derivations of the P13x chassis during a disastrous 1969 season which saw the team's cars cross the finish line just five times.  

Year Chassis Engine Tyre Drivers Start Win Pole F Lap Pts Pos
1960 P48
P25
BRM P259 F4 (2.5L)
BRM P258 F4 (2.5L)
DU Bonnier
G Hill
Gurney

8

0

0

1

8

4th

1961 P48/57 Climax F4 (1.5L) DU Brooks
G Hill

8

0

0

1

7

5th

1962 P56
P48/57
BRM P56 V8 (1.5L) DU G Hill
Ginther

9

4

1

3

42

1st

1963 P61
P56
BRM P56 V8 (1.5L) DU G Hill
Ginther

10

2

2

0

36

2nd

1964 P261 BRM P56 V8 (1.5L) DU G Hill
Ginther

10

2

1

1

42

2nd

1965 P261 BRM P56 V8 (1.5L) DU G Hill
Stewart

10

3

4

3

45

2nd

1966 P83
P261
BRM P75 H16
BRM P561 V8 (1.9L)
BRM P56-2 V8 (2.0L)
DU G Hill
Stewart

9

1

0

0

22

4th

1967 P115
P83
P261
BRM P75 H16
BRM P56-3 V8 (2.1L)
GY Stewart
Spence

11

0

0

0

17

6th

1968 P138
P133
P126
P115
BRM P101 V12
BRM P75 H16
GY P.Rodriguez
Spence / Attwood / B.Unser

12

0

0

2

28

5th

1969 P139
P138
P133
BRM P142 V12
BRM P101 V12
DU Surtees
Oliver
Brack (Canada) / Eaton (USA & Mexico)

11

0

0

0

7

=5th

Photos coming soon!

The team introduced the Tony Southgate designed P153 for 1970 but what was more dramatic was the introduction of team sponsorship, with the cars appearing in the colours of their sponsor, Yardley Cosmetics from the Spanish GP. John Surtees had left to start his own team, so Jackie Oliver was partnered by likeable Mexican Pedro Rodriguez who returned to the team after a short stint at Ferrari and combined the BRM drive with a flourishing sports car program. Canadian George Eaton again ran in select races also. During the 1970 season, Sir Alfred Owen transferred much of the control of his company, Rubery Owen and the team to his sister, Jean. Though the new car had many DNF's due to reliability issues, it showed promise with Rodriguez taking a win at the Belgian GP and a second-place at Watkins Glen.

1971 was a season of highs and great lows - the reliability issues were mainly a thing of the past and the P160 chassis was very competitive. The team began the season running three cars for Rodriguez, veteran Jo Siffert and rookie Howden Ganley. After a second-place finish at the Dutch GP, Rodriguez looked to be on a roll but sadly was killed before mid-season during a Interserie sportscar race in Germany. This triggered a merry-go-round of drivers alongside regulars Siffert and Ganley. There was success, as Siffert won in Austria and Peter Gethin won the Italian GP making the team the "best of the rest" - behind the all-conquering Tyrrell's in the Constructor's Championship. But the season ended tragically when Siffert was killed in a horrific, fiery crash at the non-points scoring Race of Champions at Brands Hatch.

The demise of the team was due in no small part to the financial and logistical strain of the 1972 season. The team (like many others) had for many years run additional cars at the North American races for "guest drivers" - who usually paid large sums for the privilege. Under an agreement with Phillip Morris Tobacco, BRM ran up to 5 Marlboro sponsored cars in each race, utilizing 9 different drivers (and 5 different chassis!). The mechanics found it increasingly hard to keep the cars in one piece as the season went on and the year ended with just 14 points (9 of which came from Jean-Pierre Beltoise win in the heavy rain at Monaco) and a dismal 7th place finish. It was to prove to be the marque's last win in F1.

The 1973 season saw a smaller, three car program in place with Beltoise, Ferrari refugee Clay Regazzoni and promising young Austrian, Niki Lauda. Despite taking pole position at the first race, the year was one of many retirements and none of the drivers even made it onto the podium. The following year, 1974, was much the same. Regazzoni had returned to Ferrari and taken Lauda with him, the only bright spot being Beltoise's second-place in South Africa at the wheel of the new P201. Sir Alfred Owen passed away during the year and with the withdrawal of the Rubery Owen support, BRM went into liquidation.

Louis Stanley, husband of Jean Owen resurrected the team in time for the 1975 season and entered a single P201 under the "Stanley-BRM" banner. Briton Mike Wilds squeezed the car onto the back of the grid at the first two races (and retired from both) before being replaced by Bob Evans, who did no better. The team did not qualify at Monaco and skipped the British and German GP's before returning for the next two rounds, but skipped the season ending trip to the USA. The shoestring budget got Ian Ashley and three year old P201 chassis on to the grid for the 1976 season opening race in Brazil but after 21 laps the car dropped out and was not seen again that year.

The rest of 1976 was spent regrouping, raising money and building a new car and a revised version of the venerable V12 engine to run a full season in 1977. In the end, the Len Terry designed P207 was overweight, underdeveloped and just plain slow. After skipping the opening race the team debuted in Brazil with Australian Larry Perkins in the cockpit but was six seconds slower than any other car in qualifying, lasting only one race lap before retiring. Perkins did manage to finish the next race in South Africa in the old P201B - all be it five laps down - but it was to be the last appearance by a BRM in Formula One. Over the next eight European races, Conny Andersson, Guy Edwards and Teddy Pilette all tried unsuccessfully to qualify the car and the team shut down before the final three overseas races.

Year Chassis Engine Tyre Drivers Start Win Pole F Lap Pts Pos
1970 P153
P139
BRM P142 V12 DU P.Rodriguez
Oliver
Eaton (8 races)

13

1

0

0

23

6th

1971 P160
P153
BRM P142-60 V12 FI P.Rodriguez  (5 races) / Elford  (1 race)  /  
 Eaton  (1 race) /  Cannon  (1 race)
Marko  (4 races)
Siffert
Ganley
Gethin  (4 races)

11

2

1

1

36

2nd

1972 P180
P160C
P160B
P153B
P153
BRM P142-60 V12 FI Beltoise
Ganley
Gethin
Wisell
Marko
Soler-Roig / Schuppan / Brack / Redman

12

1

0

1

14

7th

1973 P160E
P160D
P160C
BRM P142-60 V12 FI Regazzoni / Gethin  (1 race)
Beltoise
Lauda

15

0

1

0

12

7th

1974 P201
P160E
BRM P142-60 V12 FI 14 Beltoise
15 Pescarolo / Amon (2 races)
37 Migault  (10 races)

15

0

0

0

10

7th

1975 P201 BRM P142-60 V12 GY 14 Wilds (2 races) / Evans

10

0

0

0

0

-

1976 P201B BRM P142-60 V12 GY 14 Ashley

1

0

0

0

0

-

1977 P207
P201B
BRM P202 V12 GY 14 Perkins
35 Andersson / Edwards / Pilette

2

0

0

0

0

-

        TOTALS 197 17 11 12 xxx  

Photos coming soon!

TITLES
1971 Constructor's Runner-up
1965 Constructor's Runner-up
1964 Constructor's Runner-up
1962 Driver's Champion
(Graham Hill)
1962 Constructor's Champion


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