STIRLING MOSS DESCRIBED IT AS THE WORST RACING car he ever drove and it killed the first version of Formula 1. But the BRM Type 15 still has a special place in motorsport history, one that is being underlined by the unworldly scream of its supercharged V16 once again turning heads at the world’s racetracks.
Thanks to the Owen family, which has owned BRM since 1952, the newly built chassis IV made its race debut at September’s Goodwood Revival and the crowd-pleasing V16 is set to compete at selected events in the years to come. That’s if, or when, leading historic preparer and builder Hall & Hall can get on top of a few issues – a phrase which has a familiar ring…;
The brainchild of Raymond Mays and Peter Berthon – who had tasted success before World War II with their English Racing Motors project – British Racing Motors had a famously difficult start. The patriotic Mays had persuaded many British companies and business leaders, initially and importantly Oliver Lucas of Joseph Lucas Ltd and Alfred Owen of the Rubery Owen engineering company, to support the endeavour with funding and parts, but it proved a logistical nightmare. Material shortages and delays in post-war Britain meant the car wasn’t ready for the newly instigated world championship in May 1950, five years after Mays’ ‘White Paper’ had kicked things off. Instead, the crowd at the British Grand Prix – which included King George VI – had to be content with Mays essaying a handful of demonstration laps.
Publicity around Britain’s first proper F1 project was massive in the specialist press and beyond,
