Tuesday 24th May 2022

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BOOK REVIEW  By Peter Baker 

BRM - RACING FOR BRITAIN 

If you put co-authors Ian Wagstaff and Doug Nye in the same room, they only need one typewriter and five minutes before they’ve written the motorsport equivalent of Shakespeare. Put simply this could easily become my ‘Book of the Year’.

Hard to imagine, following World War II and the resumption of international motor racing, Great Britain was not just hungry for roast beef and Mars bars, but wanted this country to take on the very best, and win. Thus, when rumours spread that Raymond Mays and Alfred Owen were launching a new Grand Prix car capable of beating all comers and bringing the World Championship to the UK everyone, from schoolboy to housewife, stood up and cheered.

Sadly, the hype and euphoria surrounding British Racing Motors and its highly imaginative super-charged V16 1½ litre engine, was a trifle premature. It was to be an exasperating, and sometimes bitterly disappointing, start to 12 years of hard labour. Not until the end of 1962, could the team celebrate ultimate success when BRM solidly beat Lotus, taking first and second in the Italian Grand Prix, and subsequently winning that year’s Formula One Championship.


By then Raymond Mays and his close friends, including engine designer Peter Berthon, were long gone, replaced by technically savvy youngsters such as Tony Rudd, who was given more or less a free hand by Sir Alfred to come up with a new car that could 'beat Lotus' and, in particular, Jim Clark. The dream came true in South Africa on 29 December 1962 but only after Clark retired in sight of the flag. Graham Hill inherited the lead and crossed the line 49.8 seconds ahead of Bruce McLaren. At last. Even the Queen sent a telegram.

Of course, this was not the end, the team won 17 Grand Prix, the last being at Monaco in 1972.

Melt down began in 1974 when The Owen Organisation declined to cough up a million pounds and withdrew its support. The writing was on the wall, and after a short struggle nobody was surprised when, on a wet evening in October 1981, Christie’s auctioned the cars and everything else worth having, leaving behind just the name and a few old photographs.

Thoroughly recommended. Five plus stars.

BRM -RACING FOR BRITAIN
Written by Ian Wagstaff and Doug Nye
ISBN 978-1-913089-23-8
Available from Porter Press International
Price £120.00