1961 BRM P57

I took this photograph in the paddock at the Aintree 200 meeting in April 1961.

It's the 1961 BRM P57 that was driven to third place in the race by Graham Hill. 1961 was the first year of the 1½ litre Formula that replaced the 2½ litre limit that had lasted from 1954 to 1960. BRM, like the other British teams had started preparations for the new Formula too late and had been caught on the back foot by the Ferrari team who had got their new Ferrari 156 with its 1½ litre V8 engine up and running by the first race of the season at Monaco. Both BRM and Coventry Climax had new V8 engines on the drawing board but the Coventry Climax engine wasn't ready till the second half of the 1961 season, and the BRM not until 1962. In 1961 the BRM team used a 4-cylinder inline 1,496cc Coventry Climax FPF engine.