BRM was founded in 1945 by Raymond Mays and Peter Berthon. Mays had made his reputation before the war building hillclimb and road racing cars under the ERA brand, and his wartime access to technical documents from Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union fired an ambition to construct an all-British grand prix car that could restore national prestige in top-level motor racing. The project was financed through a trust fund drawing on contributions from British industry, though the arrangement proved unwieldy and several backers withdrew as results failed to materialise.
The first car, the Type 15, was powered by an extraordinarily ambitious 1.5-litre supercharged V16 engine. The V16 produced exceptional peak power but delivered it across a very narrow rev range, making the car treacherous to drive and prone to wheelspin. The engine did not fire for the first time until June 1949, and while Reg Parnell won the Formula One and Formula Libre events at Goodwood in September 1950 — the first races the V16 actually started — the car never recaptured that form. Persistent unreliability caused widespread embarrassment, and the team's problems remained unsolved when new engine regulations ended the supercharged formula's relevance.
Alfred Owen of the Rubery Owen manufacturing group gradually absorbed BRM's debts and eventually took full control, with the team officially entering cars under the name Owen Racing Organisation between 1954 and 1970.
BRM's next car, the Type 25, used a 2.5-litre four-cylinder atmospheric engine but suffered from late development and poor initial reliability. It did not record a victory until the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix, by which time the rear-engined Cooper had already begun reshaping Formula One. BRM responded with the P48, a rear-engined car using major P25 components, and by the start of the new 1.5-litre formula in 1961 was close to competitive.
The decisive change came with a V8 engine designed by Peter Berthon and Aubrey Woods and the elevation of engineer Tony Rudd — who had been with the team since 1950 — to chief development engineer. Rudd imposed technical discipline that had been lacking and addressed fundamental reliability problems. In 1962 Graham Hill drove the P57 to the World Drivers' Championship, and BRM simultaneously won the Constructors' title. That year also saw Jackie Stewart sign to partner Hill in 1965; Stewart took his first grand prix victory at Monza in his debut season.
For the new 3-litre formula introduced in 1966, BRM produced the H16, an engine that paired two flat-eight units one above the other with interconnected crankshafts. The concept was innovative but the engine was heavy, unreliable and difficult to build accurately. The sole world championship victory for the H16 came in 1966 at Watkins Glen, when Jim Clark drove a Lotus fitted with the engine to victory. BRM earned the nickname "British Racing Misery" during this period.
The H16 was replaced by a V12 designed by Geoff Johnson, which eventually powered BRM into another productive phase. Pedro Rodriguez won the 1970 Belgian Grand Prix in the P153, and in 1971 both Jo Siffert and Peter Gethin added victories. The tragic deaths of both Siffert and Rodriguez before the 1972 season forced a complete restructuring. Jean-Pierre Beltoise delivered BRM's last World Championship victory at the rain-soaked 1972 Monaco Grand Prix in what became one of the most celebrated drives of the era.
The team's early cars ran in British Racing Green, with the Owen Organisation later adding orange nose bands as a corporate identifier. BRM became the first Formula One team to be sponsored by Marlboro cigarettes, adopting the familiar red and white colour scheme from the 1972 Monaco Grand Prix onwards — that race also being the first world championship win for a Marlboro-sponsored car. Marlboro departed for McLaren after 1973.
After Alfred Owen ended the Owen Organisation's support, the team continued under Louis Stanley as Stanley-BRM until 1977. Results were poor and the ambitious P207 never lived up to its promise. The team finally folded after the 1977 season, ending a run of 197 championship Grands Prix. The BRM name was briefly revived for various unrelated projects in later decades, and in its 70th anniversary year the Owen family commissioned the construction of three new V16 P15 cars using original engine components. The original BRM remains at the centre of motorsport heritage in Lincolnshire, with trophies and memorabilia preserved at the Bourne Civic Society Heritage Centre.