1962 BRM P578

The 50th anniversary of the founding of the BRM team was celebrated at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1999 with a display of BRM cars, some of which took part in a series of track demonstrations. This is a photograph I took inside a marquee in the paddock where the cars were displayed.

This is the BRM P578 that was driven by Graham Hill and Richie Ginther in the 1962 season. The BRM P57 was introduced in 1961 with a 4-cylinder inline 1,496cc Coventry Climax FPF engine as BRM's new V8 1½ litre engine was still on the drawing board at the start of the season. By 1962 the P56 BRM 1,498cc V8 engine was available and the car was re-designated as the P578 in acknowledgement of the V8 unit. Jim Clark with his Lotus 25 was the man to beat that season, but although he won three of the races he was plagued by retirements in another four and Graham Hill won the Drivers' World Championship with four victories and four other points-scoring places. BRM also won the Constructors' World Championship. The car originally had 'stack-pipe' exhausts but these were eventually abandoned as they tended to fall off one-by-one.