1962 BRM P578

I took this photograph at the Donington Park Museum in October 1989 showing the the car that brought BRM its only World Drivers' and Constructors' Championships.

It's the 1962 BRM P578 which Graham Hill drove in the 1962 and 1963 seasons, although the 'stack-pipe' exhaust system was quickly revised as the pipes had a tendency to drop off quite frequently. The Great Racing Cars of the Donington Collection says this about the car:

'The ‘Stack-Pipe’

BRM’s Championship winner

Sir Alfred Owen made it clear to BRM’s personnel that 1962 was to be their make-or-break season. They had won their first, and so far only, Grand Prix victory at Zandvoort in 1959, and now the expensive new 1½ litre V8 engine had to prove itself successful. It did, and Graham Hill won his first Grand Prix at Zandvoort, went on to win again in the German, Italian and South African rounds, and ended the season as World Champion Driver. British Racing Motors won the World Constructors’ Championship; honour was satisfied, and the concern survived. BRM’s prototype P56 V8-engined car appeared in practice for the 1961 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, where it impressed as one of the sleekest and smallest Formula 1 cars of its time. The engine was a 90-degree twin-overhead camshaft V8 with Lucas fuel injection, designed by Chief Engineer Tony Rudd, and initially it offered about 188bhp at 10,500rpm. The prototype P56 car introduced a neat and light multi-tubular spaceframe chassis with strikingly handsome bodywork, and the type began the 1962 season with individual megaphone exhausts swept-up from each cylinder bank. These won it the name of the ‘Stack-Pipe BRM’, and Hill won the first heat of the Brussels GP with it, then went on to win at Goodwood and then in an epic near dead-heat with Jim Clark’s Lotus-Climax at Silverstone. The stack-pipe exhausts regularly came adrift, and were replaced by a complex low-level system at Spa. Hill fought a season-long battle with Clark, and his American team-mate Richie Ginther drove ably to take third place in Germany and second to Hill in BRM’s great day at Monza. BRM V8 engines sold well to private customers, and the P56s raced on through 1963 when Hill won the Monaco and United States GPs and Ginther excelled once more. The pair chased Clark home in the World Championship table. By that time, people had stopped laughing at BRM!'

The car was generally known as the P578 to differentiate the 8-cylinder car from the previous season's 4-cylinder P57, but because it had a P56 engine the car itself was known as such by BRM. Behind the P578 is the Donington Museum's 1954 BRM P30, V16 Mk2 No2, alternatively known as V16/05. After the demise of the 4½ litre/1½ litre supercharged Formula One at the end of the 1951 season the Mk1 and Mk2 BRM's were raced in Formula Libre events until 1955, after which the BRM team concentrated on the new Formula One 2½ litre BRM P25.

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.

1962 BRM P578

This is a photograph I took in the paddock at Aintree on practice day for the British Grand Prix in July 1962.

It's the 1962 BRM P578 that Graham Hill drove in the race and is chassis P578/1 with the upright 'stack pipe' exhausts. He qualified in fifth place on the grid with Jim Clark in the Lotus 25 in pole position. In the race Jim Clark led from start to finish and Graham Hill ended up in fourth place, thanks in part to mechanical problems suffered by the Lotus 24 of Innes Ireland who had qualified ahead of Graham Hill. The BRM had been introduced in 1961 as the P57 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 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.

1962 BRM P578

I took this photograph at the Donington Park Museum in March 1996 showing the rear end of the car that brought BRM its only World Drivers' and Constructors' Championships.

It's the 1962 BRM P578 which Graham Hill drove in the 1962 and 1963 seasons, although the 'stack-pipe' exhaust system was quickly revised as the pipes had a tendency to drop off quite frequently. The Great Racing Cars of the Donington Collection says this about the car:

'The ‘Stack-Pipe’

BRM’s Championship winner

Sir Alfred Owen made it clear to BRM’s personnel that 1962 was to be their make-or-break season. They had won their first, and so far only, Grand Prix victory at Zandvoort in 1959, and now the expensive new 1½ litre V8 engine had to prove itself successful. It did, and Graham Hill won his first Grand Prix at Zandvoort, went on to win again in the German, Italian and South African rounds, and ended the season as World Champion Driver. British Racing Motors won the World Constructors’ Championship; honour was satisfied, and the concern survived. BRM’s prototype P56 V8-engined car appeared in practice for the 1961 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, where it impressed as one of the sleekest and smallest Formula 1 cars of its time. The engine was a 90-degree twin-overhead camshaft V8 with Lucas fuel injection, designed by Chief Engineer Tony Rudd, and initially it offered about 188bhp at 10,500rpm. The prototype P56 car introduced a neat and light multi-tubular spaceframe chassis with strikingly handsome bodywork, and the type began the 1962 season with individual megaphone exhausts swept-up from each cylinder bank. These won it the name of the ‘Stack-Pipe BRM’, and Hill won the first heat of the Brussels GP with it, then went on to win at Goodwood and then in an epic near dead-heat with Jim Clark’s Lotus-Climax at Silverstone. The stack-pipe exhausts regularly came adrift, and were replaced by a complex low-level system at Spa. Hill fought a season-long battle with Clark, and his American team-mate Richie Ginther drove ably to take third place in Germany and second to Hill in BRM’s great day at Monza. BRM V8 engines sold well to private customers, and the P56s raced on through 1963 when Hill won the Monaco and United States GPs and Ginther excelled once more. The pair chased Clark home in the World Championship table. By that time, people had stopped laughing at BRM!'

The car was generally known as the P578 to differentiate the 8-cylinder car from the previous season's 4-cylinder P57, but because it had a P56 engine the car itself was known as such by BRM. 

1962 BRM P578

This car, which I photographed at the Donington Park museum in September 2014, had been in the Donington Collection since its early days.

It's a 1962 BRM P578, though strangely the display board says 'P56', and the 1974 book about the Donington Collection also calls it by that name. The forerunner of this car was the 1961 BRM P57 which had a 4-cylinder inline 1,496cc Coventry Climax FPF engine, and when the 1962 car was introduced it had a 1,498cc V8 BRM P56 engine and was called the BRM P578 in acknowledgment of the V8 engine. I don't ever recall the car itself being called a BRM P56. The BRM drivers for the 1962 season were Graham Hill and Richie Ginther who had contrasting fortunes. Graham Hill won four of the nine races and that with two second places gave him the World Drivers' Championship, which was helped by his nearest rival Jim Clark having a series of retirements despite winning three races. Richie Ginther was also plagued with retirements, and his only points scoring finishes were a second and a third to leave him in eighth place in the Championship. The 'stack-pipe' exhausts seen on this car were eventually abandoned as they tended to fall off one-by-one.

1962 BRM P578

I took this picture at the approach to Waterway Corner at Aintree during practice for the British Grand Prix in July 1962.

It's Graham Hill in the BRM P578 practice car - in the race he drove the 1962 BRM P578, chassis P578/1 with the upright 'stack pipe' exhausts, in which he qualified in fifth place on the grid with Jim Clark in the Lotus 25 in pole position. In the race Jim Clark led from start to finish and Graham Hill ended up in fourth place, thanks in part to mechanical problems suffered by the Lotus 24 of Innes Ireland who had qualified ahead of Graham Hill. The BRM had been introduced in 1961 as the P57 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 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.

BRM P57

I took this photograph of a car approaching Waterway Corner during practice for the British Grand Prix in July 1962.

It's Graham Hill in the 1962 BRM P57 with which he qualified in fifth position on the grid, and ended the race in fourth place almost 2 minutes behind the winner Jim Clark in his Lotus 25. The 1962 BRM P57 was originally designated the P578 on account of the 1,498cc V8 engine replacing the previous season's straight-4 Coventry Climax FPF unit. This car is chassis #P578/1 which Graham Hill drove for most of that season, winning four of the Grands Prix and the World Drivers' Championship.

On 7 August 2013 I Showed photographs of this car, and team mate Richie Ginther's, in the paddock during that practice session.

BRM P57

Here are a couple of photographs I took during practice for the Aintree 200 race in April 1962.

They're both of the BRM P57 that Graham Hill drove in the race. The original 1961 version of the P57 had a 4-cylinder 1½ litre Coventry Climax engine as a stopgap until BRM's new V8 unit was available and that model - as pictured here - was originally designated as a P578. The chassis number of this car is 5781.

Graham Hill qualified in second place on the grid, but retired after 45 laps of the 50 lap race with a broken piston. In July of that year Graham Hill came back to Aintree with the same car and finished in fourth place in the British Grand Prix, ending the season as World Champion. On 7 August 2013 I showed some photographs of both BRM cars at that race.