BRM was founded just after the Second World War by Raymond Mays, who had built hillclimb and road racing cars under the ERA brand before the war, and Peter Berthon. Mays sought to build an all-British grand prix car as a national prestige project, channelling financial and industrial backing from the British motor industry through a trust fund. The arrangement proved unwieldy, and as backers withdrew, control passed to Alfred Owen of the Rubery Owen group of companies. Between 1954 and 1970 the team entered under the official name of the Owen Racing Organisation.
BRM's first engine was an ambitious 1.5-litre supercharged V16. Rolls-Royce was contracted to produce centrifugal superchargers, but the design did not fire until June 1949. The V16 was outstandingly powerful across a very narrow rev range, and its sudden delivery of power caused constant wheelspin on the narrow tyres of the period, making the car very difficult to drive. The Type 15 won the first two events it actually started — Formula Libre and Formula One races at Goodwood in September 1950, driven by Reg Parnell — but was never so successful again. The engine remained unreliable and the project embarrassed the team through a string of failures until a new engine formula rendered it obsolete.
BRM's 2.5-litre four-cylinder P25 arrived late and required extensive development. The team had to begin the 2.5-litre formula using a customer Maserati 250F. The P25 did not win until the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix. Tony Rudd, seconded from Rolls-Royce during the V16 period, was progressively promoted and by early 1962 had been given full executive authority over the team; Raymond Mays and Peter Berthon were sidelined. Rudd was the first professional engineer to exercise full technical control, and longstanding reliability problems rapidly diminished under his leadership.
The BRM P56 V8, designed by Peter Berthon and Aubrey Woods for the 1.5-litre formula introduced in 1961, proved competitive against the Ferrari Dino V6 and Coventry Climax V8. Graham Hill and Dan Gurney had gone on strike in 1960, threatening to refuse to drive until the team's management was reorganised. With Rudd in control and the new V8 competitive, BRM won the World Drivers' Championship with Hill in 1962 using the P57. Jackie Stewart joined in 1965 and won his first grand prix at Monza in his debut season. The BRM V8 was sold to privateers and appeared in several other chassis during the 1.5-litre formula, including in BRP machines.
For the 3-litre formula introduced in 1966, BRM built the H16 — essentially two flat-eight engines stacked one above the other with geared crankshafts. The concept was attractive because it shared design elements with the successful V8, but the resulting engine was heavy and unreliable, earning BRM the nickname "British Racing Misery." The sole H16 world championship victory came when Jim Clark won the 1966 United States Grand Prix in a Lotus 43 fitted with a BRM H16 unit. BRM replaced the H16 with a V12 designed by Geoff Johnson, which was first raced by McLaren in the McLaren M5A. The early V12 years were lean, though Pedro Rodriguez won the 1970 Belgian Grand Prix in the P153, and further victories followed for Jo Siffert and Peter Gethin in 1971. BRM's last world championship victory came when Jean-Pierre Beltoise drove through the rain-soaked 1972 Monaco Grand Prix in the P160.
The Owen Organisation ended its support after 1974, and the team continued on a reduced basis as Stanley-BRM under Louis Stanley until 1977. Old P201 chassis were used initially, and the hoped-for revival with the P207 failed entirely. When the team finally folded, some assets passed to John Jordan, who backed the construction of P230 cars for the national Aurora AFX Formula One Championship.
BRM became involved in the Rover gas-turbine project, with the Rover-BRM car running at Le Mans in 1963 and 1965. The team also worked with Donald Campbell's Bluebird-Proteus CN7. The Owen Organisation expected BRM to generate income through engine sales; the V8 in particular appeared in Lotus chassis and in cars from smaller constructors. BRM was also contracted by Chrysler (UK) to develop a sixteen-valve head for the Hillman Avenger engine, though the project was unsuccessful.
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