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| BRM |
"British Racing Motors"
The roots of BRM go back to the early 1930s, when Raymond Mays and Peter Berthon founded English Racing Automobiles, a concern which sought commercial backing for its racing ventures...
Mays and Berthon left ERA in 1939, but the same idea underpinned their new project: to attract sponsors and fund a British Grand Prix car capable of taking on the world's finest. British Racing Motors was born. To comply with the Grand Prix regulations of the day, the car was fitted with a V-16 1.5-litre supercharged engine. Launched in December 1949, the BRM was hailed as a world-beater — which made the subsequent fall from grace the more dramatic. The teething troubles were endless, but under pressure from the backers, Mays was forced to enter the car for the 1950 International trophy meeting at Silverstone. It was an unmitigated disaster, Raymond Sommer being left on the grid with a broken driveshaft.
"Figure of fun"
BRM became a figure of fun, something Reg Parnell's fifth place in the 1951 British GP couldn't reverse. Retirements made that result somewhat flattering. The final straw came with a change in the Grand Prix formula, which rendered the car effectively obsolete. In 1952 a sorry chapter was closed when the BRM Trust was sold to industrialist Sir Alfred Owen for a knockdown price. Over the next six years rival British marques Cooper, Connaught, HWM — and particularly Vanwall — all outperformed BRM in championship races. Harry Schell and Jean Behra both got on the podium at Zandvoort in 1958, easily BRM's best day thus far, and a year later on the same circuit, Jo Bonnier gave the marque its maiden success. The 1960s were BRM's heyday, particularly the 1.5-litre era which ran from 1961 to 1965. There was a championship double in 1962, with BRM finishing runner-up in the Constructors race for the following three seasons too. The team began the 1962 campaign still looking for a second victory, and under severe pressure from Owen to deliver. Graham Hill had amassed just 7 points from the previous two championships, but the development of a new mid-engined V-8 unit promised much.
"Four wins for Hill"
Hill scored three victories and two second-places with the best five scores to count. Even so, he went to Kyalami in December knowing that a Jim Clark victory could still rob him of the title. That proved academic as the Lotus fell by the wayside and Hill took his fourth win of the year. In 1964, another final race shoot-out, Hill went to Mexico City leading Ferrari's John Surtees by 5 points, and Clark by 9. Hill was cruising in third when he tangled with Surtees' team-mate, Lorenzo Bandini. Clark's engine gave out, and Bandini allowed Surtees through to take second place and the 6 points he needed to snatch the crown for Ferrari.
"Debut for Stewart"
BRM gave Jackie Stewart his first taste of F1 in 1965. The Scot won at Monza, and Hill added two more wins to the BRM tally, but Clark ended the year with a perfect score from his best six races. The introduction of the 3-litre formula in 1966 marked the beginning of a long slow decline for BRM. There were four more wins for the stable in the early 1970s. One of those fell to Jo Siffert in Austria in 1971, helping him to a share of fourth place in the championship. That would be the best return in the post-Hill era, and BRM made its swansong appearance six years later, at Kyalami.