To understand the P30, its predecessor must be understood. The BRM Type 15 was conceived in the late 1940s as Britain's answer to the dominant Italian and German Grand Prix cars of the prewar era. Funded through contributions from more than three hundred British companies including Rolls-Royce, Girling, Lucas, and Vandervell, the project was led by Raymond Mays and engineer Peter Berthon. Their ambition was to build a car powered by a supercharged 1.5-litre 135-degree V16 engine that would produce 500 bhp at 12,000 rpm — considerably more than any contemporary rival.
The centrifugal superchargers, developed by Rolls-Royce using technology derived from the Merlin aero engine, produced enormous peak power but a very narrow effective power band, making the car demanding to drive. The chassis was a conventional ladder design with Auto Union-derived trailing arm front suspension and Mercedes-inspired de Dion rear geometry. Disc brakes were fitted to the car as early as late 1951, making BRM one of the first Formula One constructors to adopt the technology.
Development was painfully slow. The car did not run until December 1949, and its much-publicised debut at the 1950 International Trophy at Silverstone ended in humiliation when Raymond Sommer's car lurched a few inches from the start line before a driveshaft failure stopped it completely. Loud booing and thrown pennies from the crowd followed. The project cost an estimated £200,000 — at least twenty times more than any rival car of the period.
Subsequent seasons brought occasional promise. Reg Parnell won twice at Goodwood in 1950 in wet conditions that masked overheating problems. World Champion Juan Manuel Fangio and Froilán González drove the car in 1952 non-championship events, finishing on the podium at Albi before mechanical problems intervened. Stirling Moss, who was also given seat time, later described the Type 15 as "without doubt the worst car I ever raced — it was a disgrace." By the end of 1952, many of BRM's original backers had abandoned the project, and Alfred Owen purchased the team.
Under Owen's ownership the programme was stabilised, and for 1954 a significantly revised version of the Type 15 was produced. The P30 — the designation used for the Mark II cars — was substantially lighter than the original, shedding over 200 lb (91 kg) through chassis modifications and a much smaller fuel tank appropriate for the shorter sprint-format non-championship races the car would contest. The wheelbase was also shortened. Two P30 chassis were built; one was constructed using the salvaged remains of a Type 15 that had crashed at Albi.
The V16 engine was retained essentially unchanged in specification, continuing to produce its distinctive sound that had always made the car a crowd favourite wherever it appeared.
The P30 was raced in 1954 by Ken Wharton and Ron Flockhart. The results were strikingly better than anything the project had previously achieved: Wharton and Flockhart won five of the first six races they entered together. Various mechanical problems and driving errors prevented the pair from adding substantially to that tally across the remainder of the season, but the P30 had demonstrated that the V16 concept could produce competitive racing machinery when reliable.
In 1955, the P30's final season, Peter Collins took two race victories and Flockhart collected two second-place finishes. By then, however, BRM's attention had shifted to developing a new car compliant with the 2.5-litre unsupercharged Formula One regulations that had come into force in 1954, and the V16 chapter was brought to a close.
Two P30 chassis were produced, and both have survived. One is on public display at the Donington Grand Prix Exhibition alongside a Type 15 and a cutaway V16 engine. The other P30 was formerly owned by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason before passing into the collection of Bernie Ecclestone. The National Motor Museum at Beaulieu holds a Type 15 in its original light green paint scheme.
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