British Racing Motors (BRM) was a British Formula One motor racing team. Founded in 1945 and based in the market town of Bourne in Lincolnshire, it participated from 1951 to 1977, competing in 197 grands prix and winning seventeen. BRM won the constructors' title in 1962 when its driver Graham Hill became world champion. In 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1971, BRM came second in the constructors' competition.

BRM was founded just after the Second World War by Raymond Mays, who had built several hillclimb and road racing cars under the ERA brand before the war, and Peter Berthon, a long-time associate. Mays' pre-war successes (and access to pre-war Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union design documents) inspired him to build an all-British grand prix car for the post-war era as a national prestige project, with financial and industrial backing from the British motor industry and its suppliers channelled through a trust fund.

This proved to be an unwieldy way of organising and financing the project, and as some of the backers withdrew, disappointed with the team's slow progress and early results, it fell to one of the partners in the trust, Alfred Owen of the Rubery Owen group of companies. Owen, whose group primarily manufactured car parts, took over the team in its entirety. Between 1954 and 1970 the team entered its works F1 cars under the official name of the Owen Racing Organisation. Berthon and Mays continued to run the team on Rubery Owen's behalf into the 1960s, before it was handed over to Louis Stanley, the husband of Sir Alfred's sister Jean Owen.

A factory was set up in Spalding Road, Bourne, Lincolnshire, behind Eastgate House, Mays' family home, in a building called 'The Maltings' (the adjacent former ERA works, vacated in 1939). Several people involved with ERA returned to the firm to work for BRM, including Harry Mundy and Eric Richter. The team also had access to a test facility at Folkingham aerodrome.

british racing motors V16

The British Racing Motors V16 is a supercharged 1.5-litre  V-16 cylinder racing engine built by British Racing Motors (BRM) for competing in Formula One motor racing in the immediate aftermath of World War II. Designed in 1947 and raced until 1954–55, it produced 600 bhp at 12.000 rpm, although test figures from Rolls-Royce suggested that the engine would be able to be run at up to 14.000rpm.

The very complex engine was exceptionally powerful for the time, but it initially proved a disappointment, possessing poor reliability so that cars either did not start or failed to finish races. In the 1952 Formula One season, after BRM withdrew their V16 engined cars before a race in Turin while attempting to enlist Juan Manuel Fangio, leaving only Ferrari as the main contestants with no effective competition, the racing organisers abandoned the Formula One series and ran the remaining year's races as Formula Two.

The engine was designed by a team consisting of Peter Berthon, Harry Mundy, Eric Richter, and Frank May. It was conceived as basically two 750cc V8 engines back-to-back with cam drives and gears in the centre of the engine.

type 15

The BRM Type 15 was a Formula One racing car of the early 1950s, and the first car produced by British Racing Motors. The car was fitted with a revolutionary and highly complex supercharged 1.5-litre British Racing Motors V16 which produced considerably more power than any of its contemporaries.

The distinctive noise of the car made it a favourite with crowds wherever it appeared, but the initial unreliability of the car, its inability to live up to the hype that the project's leading figures had created around it, and the change to Formula Two regulations in 1952 meant the project never achieved the hoped-for level of success on the Grand Prix stage; the car's complexities meant it had a longer development time than its competitors and was not properly competitive until 1953 (3 years after it first raced), where it saw success at non-championship events.

Designers Berthon and Eric Richter were expecting 500 bhp and at least 12,000rpm from their new British Racing Motors V16 engine, which was a 1.5-litre 135° V16 designed to meet the 1947 "Formula A" or "Formula 1" regulations that would go on to become the formula for the Drivers' World Championship in 1950. A V8 configuration had also been considered but it has been suggested that the V16 was chosen in part to bolster the car's image when approaching potential sponsors

p30

For 1954 an updated version of the Type 15 was produced which weighed over 91 kg less than the original car and featured a shorter wheelbase and a much smaller fuel tank, since the car was no longer taking part in long races. Wharton raced the old car in two races in New Zealand but could do no better than two third places because of car problems. The two new P30s, as the Mk.2 cars came to be known, appeared in thirteen races at ten different meetings in the year, driven by Wharton and Ron Flockhart. Between them they won five of the first six races, but various spins and problems prevented them from adding to their tally. By now though the team was working to get back into Formula One and 1955 was the car's last year of racing. From six races Peter Collins took two wins and Flockhart picked up two second places.

A total of four Type 15s were produced, one of which was written off by a collision during the Glover Trophy and salvaged for spares, while another car that crashed at Albi was used as the basis for one of the two P30s produced. One Type 15 is on display at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, the other is on display as part of the Donington Grand Prix Exhibition in its original light green paint scheme alongside a P30 and a cutaway V16 engine. The fourth surviving car, another P30, is in the ownership of Bernie Ecclestone, having previously been owned by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason. The cars can sometimes be seen in action at the various historic racing events such as the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

type 25

The BRM P25 was a Formula One racing car raced from 1956 to 1960 and the second car produced by the British Racing Motors consortium. After the failure of the complex BRM V16, the P25's design emphasized simplicity. The car was fitted with a 2.5-litre straight-4 engine, producing some 275 horsepower. The P25 would be the foundation of BRM's successes in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

The P25 began racing in non-championship events in September 1955. The car's horsepower proved to be its strong suit, but its handling and reliability problems were quickly revealed.

The engine was mounted to a simple ladder frame steel chassis, with a centre tub monocoque section. The P25 used Lockheed disc brakes at the front wheels, which would later be replaced by Dunlop discs. Uniquely, a single brake disc was fitted to the gearbox at the rear.

p61 (mkII)

The BRM P261 was introduced for the 1964 Formula One season, and its design was an evolution of Tony Rudd's one-off BRM P61 car of 1963. The P261 had a relatively long racing career; variants of the car were still being entered for Formula One World Championship Grands Prix as late as 1968. During the course of their front-line career, BRM P261s won six World Championship races, in the hands of works drivers Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart, and finished second in both the Drivers' and Constructors' Championship standings in 1964 and 1965. 

 The BRM P261 was British Racing Motors's first fully monocoque chassis.

The 1965 Formula One engine was rated at 210 bhp  at 11.000 rpm, but was upgraded at Monza to 220 bhp at 11.750 rpm. In its Formula One form the engine had a capacity of 1498 cc, but for the early 1966 Tasman Series races this was increased to 1916 cc.

In an attempt to keep the P261 competitive into 1968, the fifth chassis was fitted with the new, 3-litre V12 BRM engine, but without success.

p83

1966-1967

The BRM P83 was a Formula One racing car designed by Tony Rudd and Geoff Johnson and built by British Racing Motors for the new engine regulations of 1966. It used a highly unorthodox H16 engine which caused problems throughout the car's racing life, and despite the best efforts of Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart took BRM from championship contenders to also-rans, leading it to be regarded alongside the BRM Type 15 as another embarrassing failure for the British marque caused by overcomplicated engineering.

BRM decided to hedge their bets by developing their existing 16 valve 1.5 litre V8 into a 32 valve 3 litre H16 (effectively two flat 8s one on top of the other and geared together) while also developing a new 48 valve 3 litre V12 in partnership with Harry Weslake and opt for whichever turned out to be the better powerplant.

The initial 32 valve engine produced 395 horsepower at 10.250 RPM, with a later 64 valve variant raising this to 420 hp at 10.500 RPM. While these constituted reasonable figures compared to the Ferrari, Honda and Weslake V12s and the Cosworth V8 of 1967, the H16 had an extremely narrow power band and was by some distance the heaviest engine on the grid, starting out weighing 555 lb when introduced in 1966 with the final lightweight version lowering this to 398 lb.

p153

The BRM P153 was a Formula One racing car designed by Tony Southgate for the British Racing Motors team, which raced in the 1970, 1971 and 1972 Formula One seasons. It was powered by a 3.0-litre V12 engine. Its best result was victory at the 1970 Belgian Grand Prix, where Pedro Rodríguez beat the second-placed March of Chris Amon by just 1.1 seconds. The model was first shown in BRM's traditional British racing green, but by the time it appeared on the race tracks it was in the colours of the team's sponsor, Yardley of London.

In contrast to the other British teams, amongst whom the Cosworth DFV V8 had become nearly ubiquitous, BRM chose a different route for the P153's engine. In accordance with their long-standing practice of building both chassis and engine, they installed their existing 3.0-litre, 48-valve V12 engine, that produced approximately 425 bhp, with a redline of 11.500 RPM. Magneti Marelli supplied their Dinoplex ignition system, and Lucas provided mechanical fuel injection.

p201

The BRM P201 is a Formula One racing car built by British Racing Motors and designed by Mike Pilbeam, which raced in the 1974 and 1975 seasons and in P201B specification in 1976 and 1977. The P201 featured a triangular monocoque, hip-level radiators, outboard front springs and inboard brakes. It used a 3.0-litre V12 engine and competed in 26 races, making 36 individual entries in total. Its best finish was second place for Jean-Pierre Beltoise at the 1974 South African Grand Prix, on the car's debut.

The BRM P201, upgraded to P201B specification, made only one appearance in each of the 1976 and 1977 seasons.^[28] At the 1976 Brazilian Grand Prix, British driver Ian Ashley qualified chassis P201/04 in 21st place and retired on lap three, with oil pump failure.^[29] BRM did not enter any further races in 1976 and after a non-appearance at the next race, in South Africa, the team was reported to have closed.

However, the team entered nine races in 1977, with the un-competitive BRM P207 qualifying only once. In addition, Australian Larry Perkins drove P201/04 at the South African Grand Prix, qualifying 22nd and finishing 15th, five laps behind winner Niki Lauda and three laps behind the rest of the field.

Of the five P201s built, four survive, and three have appeared in historic racing.

p207

The BRM P207 was a Formula One racing car, designed by Len Terry and constructed by British Racing Motors, which raced in the 1977 Formula One season. It was powered by a 3.0-litre V12 engine, with a claimed output of 488bhp. London-based Swiss watchmakers Rotary Watches provided sponsorship money. The car failed to score any points during the season. The team made a total of nine entries during the season, but only qualified in one instance, at the 1977 Brazilian Grand Prix. Driven by Larry Perkins, the car retired on lap one due to overheating. Its qualifying time was six seconds slower than that of the second-to-last starter. One British journalist in Brazil exclaimed that he was ashamed of being British. The car failed to appear at the season opening Argentine Grand Prix because it was too wide to fit in the hold of the aircraft that was going to transport it to South America.

The P207 was also BRM's last entry in the Formula One World Championship.

p230

1979

and finally.....

BRM raced again as part of a project by John Mangoletsi for a Group C sports car known as the P351 with the backing of the Owen family to use the BRM name. Unfortunately the car was short lived and unsuccessful. In 1997 Keith Wiggins and Pacific Racing would resurrect the car as the BRM P301, using the BRM name only because it was technically a BRM built chassis but had no other connection to British Racing Motors. Heavily modified into an open cockpit sportscar, the car was equally unsuccessful.