1959 Cooper Borgward

This is a photograph that I took at the British Empire Trophy meeting at Oulton Park in April 1959.

It’s the 1959 Cooper Borgward of the British Racing Partnership which was driven in the Formula 2 race at the meeting by George Wicken. The car number 2 in the background is the 1959 Lotus 15 of Team Lotus that was driven in the up to 1,500cc sports car race by Alan Stacey.

1959 Cooper T51

This is one of the competitors in the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association Pre '65 Grand Prix Car Race at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It's the 1959 Cooper T51 of Martin Stretton, and is in the colours of the British Racing Partnership/Yeoman Credit Racing Team of 1959-1960. It is one of two cars that were raced by the British Racing Partnership in 1959, mainly in Formula 2 races with a 1½ litre Borgward engine, then by the Yeoman Credit team in both Formula 1 and some Formula 2 races in the 1960 season with 2½ litre and 1½ litre Coventry Climax engines. Martin Stretton's car has the 2,495cc Coventry Climax engine.

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.

Cooper T51 and ERA Delage

These unlikely looking competitors took part in the 12 Lap Allcomers Race at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Trophy Vintage Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in August 1992.

Number 1 is Martin Stretton in his ex-BRP/Yeoman Credit 1960 2,495cc Cooper T51 and 229 is Chris Mayman in his cousin Anthony Mayman's 1927/36 ERA Delage, a 1927 Delage 15 S8 Grand Prix car with a 1,982cc supercharged 1936 ERA engine. The Cooper is passing the ERA Delage going into Lodge Corner.

The Coopers were raced by the British Racing Partnership in 1959, mainly in Formula 2 races with a 1½ litre Borgward engine, then by the Yeoman Credit team in both Formula 1 and some Formula 2 races in the 1960 season with 2½ litre and 1½ litre Coventry Climax engines.

The ERA Delage was created by Rob Walker who replaced the original engine of a 1927 Delage Grand Prix car with an ERA engine.

On 19 December 2016 I showed a photograph of one of the ex-BRP/Yeoman Credit Racing team's Cooper T51s, and on 9 April 2018 photographs of the ERA Delage.

Cooper T51

This car took part in the Maserati UK Race for Pre-1966 Grand Prix & Tasman Cars at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1999.

It's the 1959 Cooper T51 of Peter Gooch, and is in the colours of the British Racing Partnership/Yeoman Credit Racing Team of 1959-1960. The two British Racing Partnership cars of 1959 ran with 1½ litre Climax and Borgward engines, but the programme of this event says the car is fitted with a 2½ litre engine as used by the Yeoman Credit Racing Team in F1 races in 1960. On 20 May 2014 I showed a photograph of the late Sir Jack Brabham at the wheel of a Cooper T51 at the Coys meeting at Silverstone in July 1993.