ERA was founded in November 1933 by three men with complementary skills: Humphrey Cook, who provided the financial backing from his family's London drapery business; Raymond Mays, an experienced racing driver who became the team's principal pilot; and Peter Berthon, responsible for the overall engineering direction. The operation was established in Bourne, Lincolnshire, next to Eastgate House — the family home of Raymond Mays.
With the cost of full Grand Prix racing well beyond their means, the founders targeted the voiturette class — 1500cc supercharged — which was the Formula 2 equivalent of the era. The chassis was designed by Reid Railton, who had also penned the Bluebird land speed record cars for Malcolm Campbell, and was constructed by Thomson & Taylor at Brooklands. The bodywork was hand-fashioned by the panel-beating brothers George and Jack Gray.
The engine was based on the well-proven Riley six-cylinder unit, but substantially modified. A stronger forged crankshaft with a large centre Hyatt roller bearing was fitted, and an entirely new aluminium cylinder head was designed. Supercharging was handled by a bespoke unit designed by Murray Jamieson. The ERA engine was engineered around three capacities: 1488cc for the 1500cc class, 1088cc for the 1100cc class, and expandable to 1980cc for the 2000cc class. Running on methanol, it produced around 180–200 bhp in 1500cc form and in excess of 250–275 bhp in the 2-litre configuration.
The first ERA — chassis R1A — was unveiled to the press at Brooklands on 22 May 1934. After initial handling problems were resolved, ERA quickly established a winning formula. By the end of 1934, ERAs had scored notable victories against far more established marques.
The A-Type was followed by the B-Type from 1935, minimally revised but offered in the same three engine sizes. Thirteen B-Type ERAs were produced. Among the most celebrated entries was the trio of Siamese princes Chula Chakrabongse and Bira Birabongse, whose ERAs — named "Hanuman," "Romulus," and "Remus" — operated out of The White Mouse Garage in Hammersmith. Prince Bira became one of ERA's most gifted drivers, and the White Mouse team's bright blue cars became iconic fixtures of European voiturette events throughout the late 1930s.
In 1935, at a major race at the Nurburgring, ERAs took first, third, fourth, and fifth places, a result that demonstrated just how completely they had mastered the voiturette category. With drivers of the calibre of Dick Seaman in the team, ERA dominated the class through the remainder of the decade.
The C-Type emerged in 1937 with revised suspension: hydraulic dampers on the rear and a completely new front setup replacing elliptic leaf springs with trailing arms, transverse torsion bars, and hydraulic dampers. The E-Type was developed just before the Second World War but was not fully realised in racing terms, with only one car actually competing before the outbreak of hostilities ended European motorsport.
The war brought ERA's original operation to a halt. The Bourne site was sold to a bus operator, and Mays and Berthon moved on to the British Racing Motors project. ERA restarted in Dunstable in 1947 under new ownership when Leslie Johnson acquired the company and the unraced E-Type GP2. Johnson raced the car through 1948 to 1950 with mixed results — showing pace in practice for the 1948 British Grand Prix before a driveshaft failure ended his race.
The postwar G-Type was a more ambitious project, its fundamental design laid down by Robert Eberan-Eberhorst — who had replaced Ferdinand Porsche at Auto Union and designed the Type D Grand Prix car. The G-Type ran in the 1952 World Championship (the first season under Formula Two rules), with Stirling Moss at the wheel. The engine proved unreliable, and Moss himself was unsparing in his assessment: "It was, above all, a project which made an awful lot of fuss about doing very little." Johnson eventually sold the project to Bristol.
The vast majority of prewar ERAs survive to this day and continue to compete in historic events, their provenance fully documented. They are particularly associated with the Shelsley Walsh hillclimb, where Raymond Mays won the first two British Hill Climb Championships in 1947 and 1948, and where an ERA has long held the hill record for a prewar car. A permanent exhibition about Mays and the ERA project is maintained at Bourne Civic Society's heritage centre. The ERA trademark is currently owned by Tiger Racing.