HWM — Hersham and Walton Motors — was founded by John Heath and George Abecassis, operating out of a former Vickers aircraft facility near Walton-on-Thames. The 1951 car used a 2.0-litre four-cylinder Alta engine, a British unit known for its independent suspension layout that handled well despite modest power output. The combination gave HWM competitive results against better-funded European rivals that the cars had no business matching on paper.
Moss joined HWM as his first professional engagement, racing for nearly two years in the early 1950s. In the HWM he posted third-place finishes at Reims and Bari, set fastest lap at Rome, and led the Naples Grand Prix before being forced off the road. These results — extracted from an underfunded privateer package — established Moss's reputation as a talent capable of producing results beyond expectation, the quality that would later bring him to [[mercedes-benz-w196|Mercedes-Benz]] and [[vanwall-grand-prix|Vanwall]].
HWM competed primarily in Formula 2 from 1950 to 1952 with remarkable results for a small constructor. The 1951 season was the team's strongest Formula 2 campaign, racing against works machinery with a car that cost a fraction of the opposition. The car entered the Formula 1 World Championship over 14 races from 1951 to 1954, scoring 2 championship points — a modest tally that understates the difficulty of competing against the Alfa Romeo 159s and early Ferrari 375s with a small British budget.
An earlier achievement established the HWM programme's significance before the 1951 car raced: Johnny Claes scored the first postwar win by a British car in a race titled as a Grand Prix when he took the 1950 Belgian Grand Prix des Frontières in an HWM.
Beyond Moss, the HWM programme developed a remarkable generation of drivers: Duncan Hamilton, [[peter-collins|Peter Collins]], Harry Schell, Lance Macklin, Paul Frère, and Johnny Claes all raced for the team. The cars functioned as a pathway for talent that would go on to define the next decade of Formula 1.
John Heath died during the 1956 Mille Miglia. George Abecassis declined to continue the works programme without him, and it wound down in 1957. The business itself survived as an Aston Martin dealership — a continuation that eventually became the world's oldest Aston Martin outlet. The HWM 51 stands as the car that proved a small British constructor, with the right driver and a well-sorted chassis, could embarrass the establishment.
[[stirling-moss|Stirling Moss]] — made his professional debut in the HWM works team
[[vanwall-grand-prix|Vanwall]] — the British constructor that later carried the torch Moss helped ignite
[[peter-collins|Peter Collins]] — among the HWM-developed drivers who moved to top teams
[[alta-car-and-engineering|Alta Car and Engineering]] — supplied the four-cylinder engine
[[mercedes-benz-w196|Mercedes-Benz W196]] — the works car Moss moved to after his HWM years