The author enjoyed slipping snugly into 2617 and giving it a proper run during an HGPCA test day at Silverstone. Photo: Pete Austin
In 1966, the rain in Spain didn’t stay mainly on the plain. It blew eastward to the Ardennes Mountains of Belgium, and hurled itself down onto the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps, one of the regions unfortunately prone to such downpours. One lap into the race, Jackie Stewart and the BRM you see here flew off the road, bringing the Scot to the very edge of a critical accident. It started the Jackie Stewart safety campaign that changed motor racing circuits, cars and drivers, and which continues to this day. Rather like Stewart, who escaped relatively unscathed, the car had used up one of its lives…not its first, and certainly not its last.
BRM in the 1960s
Its sleek welded and riveted monocoque design made the BRM one of the tidiest F1 designs of its era, especially when fitted with the central exhaust layout. Photo: Pete Austin
VR regulars will recall that we have done BRMs before…the P25 that was the first from the Lincolnshire firm to win a World Championship race, a V12 P126 that had been driven by Rodriguez, Attwood and McLaren, and an H16, which was another Stewart machine. The P261 also has an Attwood, as well as the Stewart, connection. For those of us who have been around for a while, BRM was symbolic of great hope against the odds, the underdog against a stronger and richer opponent, touches of brilliance, and years of incompetence. BRM attempted to raise the British flag in post-war industrial Europe, but struggled in taking over a dozen years to do it. And, when it nearly got to the top, it was close to giving up. BRM is a great story.
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