1958 BRM P25

The Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998 celebrated the 50th anniversary of racing at the Silverstone circuit with a display of cars representing each of the years from 1948 to 1997, and this is the car that represented 1957.

It's the 1958 BRM P25 of Steve O’Rourke and is a car that was said to be the fastest of the 1954-1960 Formula 1 era, partly due to the oversquare (102.87 mm bore x 74.93 mm stroke) 2,491cc engine allowing for larger valves to be fitted. The car was plagued with reliability problems, however, and the only Grand Prix win was Jo Bonnier's victory in the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix. Behind it is the Ferrari 500TRC of Modi Enav which represented 1958.

1950's Grand Prix Cars

I took this photograph at Luffield corner during the HGPCA Pre ’60 GP Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 1996.

Leading is Brian McCaw’s 1958 BRM P25 closely followed by what appears to be a Connaught B-Type. To the right is the Lotus 16 of either Philip Walker or Jeremy Agace and the red car on the left seems to be the Maserati 250F of Ludovic Lindsay.

1958 BRM P25

This was one of the competitors in the Magneti Marelli UK Race for Pre-1961 Grand Prix Cars at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

It's the 1958 BRM P25 of John Harper and is a car that was said to be the fastest of the 1954-1960 Formula 1 era, partly due to the oversquare (102.87 mm bore x 74.93 mm stroke) 2,491cc engine allowing for larger valves to be fitted. The car was plagued with reliability problems, however, and the only Grand Prix win was Jo Bonnier's victory in the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix.

BRM 50th Anniversary 1999

The 50th Anniversary of the BRM was marked at the Coys International  Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1999 by a display of many of the cars, some of which took part in track parades.

This is a photograph I took during one of these parades when I was stuck in the middle of the Silverstone paddock overlooking the Abbey curve. Not a terribly good photograph, but the pale green BRM V16 was being driven by Argentinian driver José Froilán González who drove the V16 car in a few non-Championship races in 1952 and 1953.The car in front of the BRM V16 looks to be the 1968 BRM P133 which was driven in the display by Reine Wisell, whilst the BRM P25 at the rear seems to have Tony Brooks at the wheel.

1958 BRM P25

This car competed in the Twelve Lap Race for Pre 1959 Front Engined Racing Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies Meeting at Oulton Park in June 1993.

It was entered and driven by the Hon. Amschel Rothschild and although universally known as the BRM P25 I've found this information in a Bonhams description of the car when it came up for auction in 2007:

'BRM’s in-period Project 25 classification covered the engine design alone, the spaceframe chassis structure comprising Project 27. While this Lot offers the eighth of the team’s 2½-litre 4-cylinder Type 25s to be built, this car was the third to use the `1958 spaceframe Project 27 chassis in place of an original semi-monocoque design which had been used for the preceding five cars. Those semi-monocoque BRM Type 25s built from 1955 to 1957 are recorded within the team archive as cars ‘251’ to ‘255’. The subsequent six pure spaceframe cars built 1958-1959 were then referred to as ‘256’ to ‘2511’, even though their Project 27 chassis frames were numbered in sequence ‘27/1’ to ‘27/6’. Hence, this car was referred to in contemporary BRM team records – which survive today – as ‘258’, while its specific chassis frame stamping reads – again perfectly correctly – ‘27/3’.

1958 BRM P57

This car competed in the HGPCA Pre '60 GP Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 1996.

It's Bruce McCaw's 1958 BRM P25, chassis P25/7, and was driven in the race by Robin Hall. BRM’s in-period Project 25 classification covered the engine design alone, the spaceframe chassis structure comprising Project 27. This car is the seventh of the team’s 2,491cc 4-cylinder Type 25s to be built and was the second to use the `1958 spaceframe Project 27 chassis in place of an original semi-monocoque design which had been used for the preceding five cars. Those semi-monocoque BRM Type 25s built from 1955 to 1957 are recorded within the team archive as cars ‘251’ to ‘255’. The subsequent six pure spaceframe cars built 1958-1959 were then referred to as ‘256’ to ‘2511’, even though their Project 27 chassis frames were numbered in sequence ‘27/1’ to ‘27/6’. The P25 was said to be the fastest of the 1954-1960 Formula 1 era, partly due to the oversquare (102.87 mm bore x 74.93 mm stroke) engine allowing for larger valves to be fitted. The car was plagued with reliability problems, however, and the only Grand Prix win was Jo Bonnier's victory in the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix in chassis 258.

1959 BRM P25

I took this photograph on a visit to the Donington Park Museum in March 1996.

It's a 1959 BRM P25 and is finished in the colours of the British Racing Partnership who had one of the cars on loan in the 1959 season. BRM - British Racing Motors - was founded in the late 1940s to produce a car capable of challenging the dominant foreign racing teams, mainly Italian, in the major Grand Prix races. The first cars, the 1½ litre V16 supercharged P15 and P30, promised much but delivered little, only beginning to run well when the 1½ litre supercharged/4½ litre unsupercharged Formula was dying out through lack of competition. The P25, built for the new 2½ litre Formula fared little better and was just beginning to become competitive when the rear-engined Cooper started to dominate the sport. The engine of the P25, designed by Stuart Tresilian, was 'oversquare', with a very large bore in relation to its stroke to accommodate the massive inlet valves. These, with the large ports and carburettors, enabled very high rpm to be achieved - some 9,000 rpm - producing 248bhp. The car made its debut in 1955, but it was 1959 before it gained its first major victory, a win by Jo Bonnier in the Dutch Grand Prix. In an attempt to compete with the rear-engined Coopers, BRM quickly designed a rear-engined car, the P48, which was essentially a P25 with the engine at the back instead of the front. The P25's were cannibalised to provide parts for this new car which made its debut in late 1959 but it was unable to bring success to the team, and it was 1962 before they finally had a winner with the P578 which brought the World Drivers' Championship to Graham Hill. The Donington Park workshops rebuilt three of the 1959 P25 cars from original bits and pieces including the pale green car above, chassis 2510, which was driven for the British Racing Partnership by Stirling Moss, but is perhaps best known for its accident in the German Grand Prix at Avus when brake failure caused Hans Herrmann to crash in spectacular fashion. The large picture on the wall behind the BRM shows a 1936 Alfa Romeo 8C-35, probably the one once owned by Dennis Poore that was for a time part of the Donington Collection.

1959 BRM P25

This car competed in the Flockhart Trophy Race for pre-1961 Front-Engined Racing Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011.

It's Anthony Ditheridge's 1959 BRM P25, although the programme of the event shows it as number 140. BRM’s in-period Project 25 classification covered the engine design alone, the spaceframe chassis structure comprising Project 27. This car is he ninth of the team’s 2½-litre 4-cylinder Type 25s to be built and was the fourth to use the `1958 spaceframe Project 27 chassis in place of an original semi-monocoque design which had been used for the preceding five cars. Those semi-monocoque BRM Type 25s built from 1955 to 1957 are recorded within the team archive as cars ‘251’ to ‘255’. The subsequent six pure spaceframe cars built 1958-1959 were then referred to as ‘256’ to ‘2511’, even though their Project 27 chassis frames were numbered in sequence ‘27/1’ to ‘27/6’. Hence, this car was referred to in contemporary BRM team records – which survive today – as ‘259’, while its specific chassis frame stamping reads – again perfectly correctly – ‘27/4’. The P25 was said to be the fastest of the 1954-1960 Formula 1 era, partly due to the oversquare (102.87 mm bore x 74.93 mm stroke) engine allowing for larger valves to be fitted. The car was plagued with reliability problems, however, and the only Grand Prix win was Jo Bonnier's victory in the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix in chassis 258.

The car behind the BRM is the 1956 Willment Climax of Barry Cannell which took part in the 1950s Sports Racing Cars race, and has a 4-cylinder inline 1,963cc Climax FPF engine.

1957 BRM P25

I took this photograph in the paddock at Aintree during practice for the British Grand Prix in July 1957.

It's the 1957 BRM P25 that was driven in the race by Les Leston who qualified in twelfth place on the grid, but retired with an engine failure after 44 laps of the 90 laps race. The BRM P25 was said to be the fastest of the 1954-1960 Formula 1 era, partly due to the oversquare (102.87 mm bore x 74.93 mm stroke) 2,491cc engine allowing for larger valves to be fitted. The car was plagued with reliability problems, however, and the only Grand Prix win was Jo Bonnier's victory in the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix.

1958 BRM P25

Two BRM P25's were entered in the Historic Car Championship race at the Aston Martin Owners' Club's meeting at Oulton Park in September 1986, and this one was entered and driven by the Hon. Amschel Rothschild.

Although universally known as the BRM P25, I've found this information in a Bonhams description of the car when it came up for auction in 2007:

BRM’s in-period Project 25 classification covered the engine design alone, the spaceframe chassis structure comprising Project 27. While this Lot offers the eighth of the team’s 2½-litre 4-cylinder Type 25s to be built, this car was the third to use the `1958 spaceframe Project 27 chassis in place of an original semi-monocoque design which had been used for the preceding five cars. Those semi-monocoque BRM Type 25s built from 1955 to 1957 are recorded within the team archive as cars ‘251’ to ‘255’. The subsequent six pure spaceframe cars built 1958-1959 were then referred to as ‘256’ to ‘2511’, even though their Project 27 chassis frames were numbered in sequence ‘27/1’ to ‘27/6’. Hence, this car was referred to in contemporary BRM team records – which survive today – as ‘258’, while its specific chassis frame stamping reads – again perfectly correctly – ‘27/3’.

The P25 was said to be the fastest of the 1954-1960 Formula 1 era, partly due to the oversquare (102.87 mm bore x 74.93 mm stroke) engine allowing for larger valves to be fitted. The car was plagued with reliability problems, however, and the only Grand Prix win was Jo Bonnier's victory in the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix in this car, chassis 258.

Here's the car rounding Lodge Corner during the race.

1959 BRM P25

This car was in the Donington Park Museum for many years, and I took this photograph on a visit to the museum in May 1989.

It's a 1959 BRM P25 and is finished in the colours of the British Racing Partnership who had one of the cars on loan in the 1959 season. BRM - British Racing Motors - was founded in the late 1940s to produce a car capable of challenging the dominant foreign racing teams, mainly Italian, in the major Grand Prix races. The first cars, the 1½ litre V16 supercharged P15 and P30, promised much but delivered little, only beginning to run well when the 1½ litre supercharged/4½ litre unsupercharged Formula was dying out through lack of competition. The P25, built for the new 2½ litre Formula fared little better and was just beginning to become competitive when the rear-engined Cooper started to dominate the sport. The engine of the P25, designed by Stuart Tresilian, was 'oversquare', with a very large bore in relation to its stroke to accommodate the massive inlet valves. These with the large ports and carburettors enabled very high rpm to be achieved - some 9,000 rpm - producing 248bhp. The car made its debut in 1955, but it was 1959 before it gained its first major victory, a win by Jo Bonnier in the Dutch Grand Prix. In an attempt to compete with the rear-engined Coopers, BRM quickly designed a rear-engined car, the P48, which was essentially a P25 with the engine at the back instead of the front. The P25's were cannibalised to provide parts for this new car which made its debut in late 1959 but it was unable to bring success to the team, and it was 1962 before they finally had a winner with the P578 which brought the World Drivers Championship to Graham Hill. The Donington Park workshops rebuilt three of the 1959 P25 cars from original bits and pieces including the pale green car above, chassis 2510, which was driven for the British Racing Partnership by Stirling Moss, but is perhaps best known for its accident in the German Grand Prix at Avus when brake failure caused Hans Herrmann to crash in spectacular fashion - as seen in the photograph to the left behind the car above.

1958 BRM P25

This is one of two BRM P25's that competed in the Historic Car Championship race at the Aston Martin Owners' Club's meeting at Oulton Park in September 1986.

It's the 1958 BRM P25 of the Hon. Amschel Rothschild and is chassis #P258, the car which Joakim Bonnier drove in the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix to give BRM their first win in a World Championship race, and the only one by a P25.

The BRM P25 has a 4-cylinder inline 2,491cc engine, and here it's being given a careful examination before its race.

Here's the car at Lodge Corner during the race.

On 4 June 2014 I showed photographs of the other BRM P25 at this meeting, John Harper's car.

BRM P25

This car took part in the HGPCA Pre '65 Grand Prix Car Race at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It's the 1959 BRM P25 of Dave Gilmour being pushed from the scrutineering bay in the paddock. The P25 had a 2,491cc 4-cylinder inline engine and was the first BRM to win a World Championship race, Joakim Bonnier finishing in first place in the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.

I've shown photographs of the BRM P25 four times previously, most recently on 7 June 2017.

BRM

The Owen Racing Organisation entered three BRM P25s for the British Grand Prix at Aintree in July 1959, to be driven by Harry Schell, Jo Bonnier and Ron Flockhart, and a further P25 was entered by the British Racing Partnership team for Stirling Moss to drive.

This is Ron Flockhart's car, chassis number 2511, pictured in the paddock on the Friday practice day. Ron Flockhart qualified in eleventh place on the grid, but retired from the race after 53 of the 75 laps.

BRM P25

Here are two cars that competed in the Cheshire Building Society Allcomers Race at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987.

This is the 1958 BRM P25 of John Harper, chassis number P25/9.

Here's a view of the car without the rear bodywork showing the single rear disc brake on the transmission which often failed on the early P25s.

This is the second 1958 BRM P25 which took part in the race, that of The Hon. Amschel Rothschild.

Here's The Hon. Amschel Rothschild at Lodge Corner during the race. This car is the one that won the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix in the hands of Joakim Bonnier, BRM's first World Championship victory, and is chassis number P25/8.

Jean Behra

Here's a photograph take during practice for the BARC 200 race at Aintree in April 1958.

It's French racing driver Jean Behra who qualified his BRM P25 in pole position, but retired from the race with brake problems.

BRM P25

This is a photograph taken in the paddock during practice for the BARC 200 race at Aintree in April 1958.

It's the BRM P25 of Jean Behra, who started in pole position but retired on lap 28 of the 67 lap race with brake problems. The race was won by Stirling Moss in Rob Walker's Cooper-Climax T45.

BRM P25

The Historic Car Races meeting organised by the Aston Martin Owners Club at Oulton Park in September 1986 included a race labelled as Round 3 of the Historic Car Championship. One car which took part in the race was this 1958 BRM P25.

I assume it's John Harper's car, because the programme of the meeting actually shows that car number 27 in this race was John Harper's 1960 Cooper Climax, but I know that John Harper did also drive a BRM P25.

The P25 was the car with which Joakim Bonnier achieved  BRM's first Grand Prix victory, in the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix.

Two photographs of the car at Lodge Corner during the race.