50 Years on, another win for a Bourne-Based team at the same Circuit!

It must be Christmas…

You can’t believe it! After a year of pure nostalgia celebrating the BRM 1962 world championship victory, former BRM designer and Bourne based Mike Pilbeam, presented a magical Christmas present to the Committee and the town of Bourne when his Pilbeam MP98-Cosworth won the 2012 Border 100 mile event at east London South Africa on the 16^th December, the very race and venue that Graham Hill sealed the 1962 championship victory – almost 50 years on to the day (with Graham Hill winning on 29th December 1962), you couldn’t write a better script!

Many people will remember that the car was kindly demonstrated by Mike to the crowd through the streets of Bourne on BRM Day and we send all our heartiest congratulations to him on his victory. 

Pilbeam Racing, a team based in Bourne, told the town this great news by publishing this Press Release:

'It is fitting that, on the 50th anniversary of BRM's only World Championship victory in 1962, that another Bourne marque should scoop the honours in the blue-riband event at the East London Grand Prix Era Revival meeting in South Africa on 16 December 2012.

On the same track that Graham Hill took his BRM to victory 50 years ago, co-driven by Eddie Keizan and Greg Mills, a Pilbeam MP98-Cosworth won the Border 100 endurance race on debut by more than 40 secs from the second-place Porsche GT3. Veteran Keizan, who drove a privately-entered Tyrrell and Lotus 72 in three GPs in the 1970s, and who returned to the track this year after a 35-year break, said of the brand new Pilbeam ‘It was the first time I have raced a state-of-the-art modern race-car and what a thrilling experience it was. With cantilever suspension, sequential gearbox, slippery aerodynamics, proper down-force and modern race tyres, this is undoubtedly one of the best cars I have ever driven.’ Co-driver Mills, who is spearheading an African effort with Pilbeam for Le Mans in 2014, and who took the first stint, says ‘the MP98 is a car without any vices. But not only is it easy to drive, it has obvious speed, especially through the infamous flat-in-sixth Potter’s Pass corner where we could pull away from the bigger-engined cars.’

The first Border 100 mile event in December 1934 was also labelled the first SA Grand Prix. The ninth SA GP was held in December 1962, the first such one, however, that enjoyed world championship status.

Mike Pilbeam made the trip to South Africa with PRD fabricator Justin Cole. He summed up the weekend: ‘The Border 100 gave us a great opportunity to develop the MP98 and the new South African team towards the huge challenge with a new car for Le Mans in 2014. A most enjoyable weekend.’

Completing the historic circle, the Pilbeam pit crew included Bruce Johnstone on his first visit to the East London GP circuit since 1962 when he finished ninth in the GP as the third BRM works driver. He described the little Pilbeam’s performance as ‘memorable’ on ‘a jewel of a race track’.

Issued by Pilbeam Racing Designs, Bourne, 18 December 2012'

The BRM Day Committee would like to congratulate Mike and his team on this fantastic win, and wish them good luck for the 2013 season.

Students enjoy Special BRM Treat

The house photograph taken with a BRM Racing car.

Students from Mays house at local school Bourne Academy enjoyed a special visit on Wednesday, 12th December, to thank them for their hard work packing programme bags in the run up to BRM Day in October.

House members packing bags in October

In the week before the event, the students worked hard to put 15,000 programmes into bags, got them put into boxes, and then helped to load them into a bus provided by committee member Anthony Delaine-Smith to be sold on the day, and the organising committee decided that something had to be done to thank them for all their hard work.

Local racing car restorers Hall & Hall brought a BRM racing car down to the school, so that some Mays house students could be photographed in and around the car.

Hall & Hall Mechanics then started the car, so that the students could see and hear the car in action.

The house takes its name from Raymond Mays, founder of the Bourne-based racing team, and so a photo of house members in front of a BRM is something the house will be able to treasure.

BRM Day Charity Cheque Presentations

The Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance Cheque Presentation

Members of the BRM Day Committee were delighted to be able to present the proceeds of BRM Day to the event's two main charities, the Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance Charitable Trust, and the Bourne Outdoor Pool Trust, on Saturday, 8th December 2012.

£15,000 was presented to each charity as a result of the event, which could not have happened without the support of the event sponsors and the public who helped raise money by purchasing event programmes, and by making donations on the day.

The committee began the day by gathering at the Bourne Outdoor Pool, where Committee Chairman Rick Hall presented members of the Bourne Outdoor Pool Trust with their donation from the event. Percy the Penguin Bin, who was found by event committee members after he was stolen from the pool earlier this year, was also in on the action.

The Bourne Outdoor Pool Cheque Presentation

The committee then travelled to RAF Waddington, the base of the Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance, where the helicopter hovered over the Yardley BRM to be photographed for the press. The donation will go towards the upkeep of the helicopter, which helps to save lives in the region.

BRM Day Committee Member Richard Bostock said: "Today's cheque presentation's made all the hard work organising the event worthwhile. It is really great to see that the money raised from the event is going to good causes. Hopefully, with the Official DVD expected to be available around Easter, we will be able to continue to raise money for these two great charities"

Missing BRM Day Banners

 Several sponsored BRM banners 8' x 2' on white PVC went missing from The Abbey Road, having been taken down, last Sunday after the event had finished.

 

These all had various sponsors names on and have to be returned or replaced at a cost to the charities.

The Police are studying the CCTV footage from the cameras looking down The Abbey Road area. 

 

If the missing banners are returned no further action will be taken, they may have been picked up or handed to someone by mistake.

 

They can be handed in to :-

The Fenland Shops, Abbey Road

Delaines Bus Depot Reception, Spalding Road

or sent to: PO Box 6339,Sleaford, Lincs, NG34 0NQ

 

Alternatively, if you have any information about the missing banners, or saw them being taken, please email webmaster@brmday.co.uk

BRM School's Art Competition

Kevin Day (Len Pick Trust), Emily Dunthorne & 

Phoebe Kirtland (Bourne Academy), 

Kay Henderson (Len Pick Trust), Ellie Dharamraj,

 Keiran Reid (Bourne Westfield), Zoe Chappell, 

(Bourne Academy), Gerry Burrows (Len Pick Trust).

 Alex Downing (Bourne Westfield) was unavailable.

The winners of the School’s Art Competition organised in conjunction with the recent Bourne BRM Day celebrations collected prizes at a presentation at racing restorers, Hall & Hall, in Bourne on Friday. Pupils from Bourne Academy and Bourne Westfield Primary Academy Schools received cheques on behalf of their respective schools donated by the Len Pick Trust, a charity founded by the late Len Pick for the benefit of the town of Bourne. Trust member, Gerry Burrows said at the presentation, “We are delighted that so many children entered the competition which was on the theme of BRM. The standard of entries from the schools was very high and we had a difficult job choosing the winners”.

The prize winners were presented with cheques for their respective schools and were treated to a guided tour of cars which had taken part in the celebrations including the car in which Graham Hill won the World Championship which had been flown over from America especially for BRM Day.

Gerry went on to say “We have worked with the organising committee of the BRM Day from day one and would like to express our appreciation for their tremendous efforts in arranging the event which was extraordinarily successful. Our initial grant, which enabled planning of the event to proceed, was made on the condition that the event was to be not only a celebration of BRM but should also be a community day for Bourne. It is quite evident from the participation of the many voluntary organisations providing facilities during the day and all the businesses and other organisations that benefitted from the tremendous number of people attending that the event has provided a tremendous boost to the town and its community spirit. We would also like to thank all those who helped with the event, either through the provision of sponsorship, facilities or expertise, which truly justified the strap line of the event which was ‘Pride in Bourne – Pride in Britain’. 

Bourne Academy Supports BRM Day

Students from Mays House helping to pack the event programmes

Students from a local secondary school have taken part in a 'team challenge' this week, to help pack 10,000 event programmes into carrier bags, to be sold on the day.

Around 200 students from Mays house of Bourne Academy worked hard to support the event during the first part of this week, preparing the programmes to be sold at the event on Sunday.

The house has been named after Raymond Mays, founder of BRM, which is why the students were so keen to help the event in whatever way they could.

Sally Sutcliffe, Head of Mays House, liaised with the BRM Committee to offer help for the 50^th Anniversary of BRM in Bourne.  Mrs Sutcliffe commented “As a local person I am really looking forward to the day and I thought my team at school should get involved.  When we volunteered our services we didn’t know exactly what we would be asked to do.  Packing 10,000 souvenir bags wasn’t one of my thoughts!  However the students have all helped out, setting up their own little production lines in their classes.  It was great to see them working so well with each other!”

However, due to circumstances the turn-around of the job had to be quick.  Mrs Sutcliffe added “We only received the programmes and bags on Tuesday morning, so it really was a case of all hands on deck to get the job done by Wednesday afternoon.  I’m immensely proud of all my students and the Form Tutors who co-ordinated and supported them to achieve this challenge.”

 
Mays House student Ellen Hicks (Year 12) added: "It was great to be able to help getting the resources ready for the BRM Day". 

The programmes being loaded into a double-decker bus

Once students had packed the programmes, BRM Day Committee Member and Managing Director of Delaine Buses Ltd Anthony Delaine-Smith came to the school with a double-decker bus to collect the programmes, ready to be sold on the day of the event.

The souvenier programme will be available to buy on Sunday for £5.00, and includes a timetable of the day, a brief history of BRM, information about Graham Hill, Damon Hill & Sir Jackie Stewart, a map of the activities going on in the town, and information on the cars that will be included in the parades.

Yardley of London Supporting BRM Day

The BRM Day Committee are grateful to Yardley London for supporting the event.

The company have provided their Yardley London Citrus and Wood Anti-Perspirant Deodorant and their Yardley London Royal Diamond Body Spray as a complimentary gift for drivers, guests and VIP's on the day.

For more information about Yardley London, visit them on Facebook, Follow @YardleyLondonUK on Twitter, or online.

Anxious Moments at the Dutch Grand Prix

Bette Hill with BRM Chief Mechanic Cyril Atkins

The tension is to be seen in their faces. Bette Hill, with her lap chart and stopwatch, stands with Cyril Atkins, the BRM Chief Mechanic. They watch anxiously for Graham Hill and his BRM to come into view and complete the lap. The race is the Dutch Grand Prix of 1962. Betty has left the pit counter where she has throughout been timing and keeping a lap chart for the BRM Team. Graham is about to win his first Grand Prix. And win he did and later won the 1962 World Championship too.

The Bourne Civic Society is fortunate to receive donations of photographs featuring the town’s racing cars. In most cases the photographer’s identity is unknown but this time the photographer has been identified as Jesse Alexander, a motor racing photographer of considerable note. He came to Europe from America in the mid ‘fifties to travel around the continent reporting on and taking photographs of motor races. Several books of his photographs have been published and are well worth seeking out by enthusiasts of the ‘fifties and ‘sixties motor racing period. He and Denis Jenkinson of Motor Sport became great friends. The first met through the Porsche 356 car. They both had one to travel around the continent for their reporting duties. 

If you would like to know more information, visit the Raymond Mays room at Bourne's Baldocks Mill
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The BRM Celebration Day Committee would like to thank the Bourne Civic Society for allowing us to publish this series of articles. 

Baldocks Mill, which is run by the Bourne Civic Society, will be open on the day, where visitors can look at their BRM trophy cabinet, along with other items of BRM memorabilia. For more information, visit the Bourne Civic Society website.


This article brings to an end the series of articles we have published over the last few weeks, giving information about BRM. These articles can still be found on our website.

Reproduction of this article is strictly prohibited.

What’s Strange about this BRM’s Front Suspension?

Photo by Peter Putterill

You are right, it does indeed include a drive shaft to the front wheel. In 1964 BRM, in partnership with Harry Ferguson Research, built an experimental four wheel-drive racing car using Ferguson’s 4WD System. BRM’s Chief Engineer, Tony Rudd, put his new recruit, Mike Pilbeam, in charge of the project. Tony viewed it all with very little enthusiasm. The car was built to the rules then governing Fl and became the BRM P67.

The first public appearance of the P67 was at the 1964 British Grand Prix held at Brands Hatch. That’s where these photographs were taken. It was not a very successful experiment. Soon 4WD was to be overtaken by improvements in racing tyre technology and indeed it is now banned under the rules governing Fl.

The car was never raced by BRM and was sold by them in 1966. The P67 had success in hill-climbs in the hands of a number of drivers. One of them, Peter Lawson, used it to win the 1968 RAC British Hill-Climb Championship. Very filling for a car from Bourne and indeed one designed by Mike Pilbeam, whose cars later dominated that form of motor sport just as earlier had those driven by Raymond Mays. 

Tony Rolt, a Director of Ferguson and a former racing driver, hears how the P67 is going.

In the late ‘thirties Tony drove an ERA in races and was the youngest driver to do so.

 
If you would like to know more information, visit the Raymond Mays room at Bourne's Baldocks Mill
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The BRM Celebration Day Committee would like to thank the Bourne Civic Society for allowing us to publish this series of articles. 

Baldocks Mill, which is run by the Bourne Civic Society, will be open on the day, where visitors can look at their BRM trophy cabinet, along with other items of BRM memorabilia. For more information, visit the Bourne Civic Society website.


A new article will be added every week, so please keep checking back for more information about BRM. 

Reproduction of this article is strictly prohibited. 

BRM at the Le Mans 24-Hour Race

The Rover Car Company approached BRM to produce a car powered by one of their small gas turbine (jet) engines with a view to taking part in the famous Le Mans 24- Hour Race. A prize had been offered by its organisers for the fir st gas turbine car to exceed 3,6001cm during the course of their race. The details were agreed and, in some haste, the car was built for the 1963 event. It was largely based on BRM’s 1961 Fl racing car.

It easily exceeded the set target distance and, had it been taking part in the race proper, it would have finished eighth! The drivers of the car were the BRM Team’s Graham Hill and Ritchie Ginther.

The 1963 Rover - BRM testing at Le Mans (Photographer Unknown)

The 1965 Rover-BRM at Le Mans (Photographer Unknown)

 

In 1965 BRM returned to Le Mans to take part in the 24-Hour race with an attractive small car powered by a much-revised Rover gas turbine engine. It was again to be driven by the BRM Team’s driver Graham Hill but this time his co-driver was the up- and-coming Jackie Stewart, who had now joined the team. The car finished the race in tenth place despite suffering a loss of power from damage caused to its engine early in the race.

The gas turbine engine suffers from a delayed response to the throttle and this was a major problem for the car’s drivers. On entering a corner they had to apply full power in anticipation of the need to accelerate when they exited it. They fine-tuned the car’s speed against the power delivery by the use of its purposely over-sized brakes! One advantage of these gas turbine powered cars was they need no conventional gearbox or radiator.

Bourne’s BRM Racing Team was the first to race a gas turbine power car.

If you would like to know more information, visit the Raymond Mays room at Bourne's Baldocks Mill
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The BRM Celebration Day Committee would like to thank the Bourne Civic Society for allowing us to publish this series of articles. 

Baldocks Mill, which is run by the Bourne Civic Society, will be open on the day, where visitors can look at their BRM trophy cabinet, along with other items of BRM memorabilia. For more information, visit the Bourne Civic Society website.


A new article will be added every week, so please keep checking back for more information about BRM. 

Reproduction of this article is strictly prohibited.  

A Real Car - Good to Drive and Fun

Jackie Stewart started his very successful F 1 racing career at the wheel of Bourne’s other famous racing car, the BRM. (Photo by Peter Putterill)

These were the words World Champion Driver, Sir Jackie Stewart, used to describe the Bourne built ERA racing car after driving one for the first time. The ERA he drove was the famous R5B, better known as “Remus”, driven in races in the ‘thirties by Prince Bira of Siam.

Sir Jackie drove the car during the 2009 Goodwood Revival Meeting in a parade to celebrate ERA’s 75th Anniversary. Here he is seen being given a swift briefing on driving an ERA by Ludovic Lindsay, the car’s owner, and (far side) fellow ERA racer David Morris. Fourteen ERAs were present at Goodwood for the celebration.

Jackie’s fellow Scottish World Champion Driver, Jim Clark once drove this ERA and surprised its then owner, Ludovic’s father, by his speed. No watch timed Jackie’s efforts but he certainly was not hanging around!

If you would like to know more information, visit the Raymond Mays room at Bourne's Baldocks Mill
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The BRM Celebration Day Committee would like to thank the Bourne Civic Society for allowing us to publish this series of articles. 

Baldocks Mill, which is run by the Bourne Civic Society, will be open on the day, where visitors can look at their BRM trophy cabinet, along with other items of BRM memorabilia. For more information, visit the Bourne Civic Society website. 

A new article will be added every week, so please keep checking back for more information about BRM. 

Reproduction of this article is strictly prohibited.  

You Can't Mean That!

As he flashes by, Dick Salmon is telling Graham Hill to turn off the electric fuel pump that has been transferring fuel from a reserve tank to the main fuel tank of his BRM. Or rather it should have been doing that but it hadn’t.

The race is the Belgium Grand Prix of 1964 and Graham’s next task is to negotiate the frightenly fast Eau Rouge downhill curves just ahead of him. Had the electric pump done all that was expected of it he would almost certainly have won the race and the World Championship of that year. Not all the fuel had been transferred to the main tak and Graham ran out on the last lap when in the lead. The first and second finishers, Jim Clark (Lotus) and Bruce McLaren (Cooper), crossed the finish line with their cars too almost out of fuel.

Dick Salmon was part of the BRM Team for 17 years and at the end of 2006 his memoirs of those times were published by Veloce. He tells the story of someone at the “coal-face” of the team’s activities, from the troubled times of the VI 6 car to the successful times when BRM were the World Champions. Dick’s book is a valuable personal record of a very important part of Bourne’s history.

If you would like to know more information, visit the Raymond Mays room at Bourne's Baldocks Mill
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The BRM Celebration Day Committee would like to thank the Bourne Civic Society for allowing us to publish this series of articles. 

Baldocks Mill, which is run by the Bourne Civic Society, will be open on the day, where visitors can look at their BRM trophy cabinet, along with other items of BRM memorabilia. For more information, visit the Bourne Civic Society website.


A new article will be added every week, so please keep checking back for more information about BRM. 

Reproduction of this article is strictly prohibited. 

Bourne’s BRM F1 Team Wins at Monaco Not once, but Five Times

This photograph, taken at Monaco in 1963, shows Graham Hill and his BRM ahead of

Clark in a Lotus followed by Ritchie Ginther, also in a BRM, and John Surtees in a Ferrari. They are leaving what was then called the Station Hairpin. (Photographer not known).

Bourne’s BRM Formula One Team regularly left the town to go to Monaco to take part in its annual Grand Prix. In the years, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966 and 1972, the team returned with the Winner’s Trophy. For the first three of those victories the team’s driver was Graham Hill who also won the World Championship in 1962, along with the BRM Team. In 1966 BRM’s winning driver was Jackie Stewart. BRM’s driver in

1972 was the French Champion, Jean-Pierre Beltoise. That was to be the team’s last Grand Prix victory. Sadly BRM ceased racing in 1976.

Not a bad record for a motor racing team from Lincolnshire and, in particular, a small market town such as Bourne.

If you would like to know more information, visit the Raymond Mays room at Bourne's Baldocks Mill
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The BRM Celebration Day Committee would like to thank the Bourne Civic Society for allowing us to publish this series of articles. 

Baldocks Mill, which is run by the Bourne Civic Society, will be open on the day, where visitors can look at their BRM trophy cabinet, along with other items of BRM memorabilia. For more information, visit the Bourne Civic Society website.


A new article will be added every week, so please keep checking back for more information about BRM. 

Reproduction of this article is strictly prohibited. 

Tony Rudd - BRM's Chief Engineer

Tony, on the left, is seen here talking to Graham Hill who became World Champion in 1962 driving for Bourne’s BRM Team. (Photo by Peter Putterill)

 

Tony Rudd joined BRM in 1951 as Rolls Royce’s man to look after their interest in the development of the V16 engine. Rolls Royce designed a centrifugal supercharger for this engine, similar to that fitted to their Merlin Aero Engine. After his Rolls Royce training Tony Rudd found things at BRM much less organised than he was accustomed at Rolls Royce. BRM, on their part, were very suspicious of him as an “outsider”.

Later Tony drifted from employment with Rolls Royce into a job with BRM. He took over the development of BRIVI’s troublesome V16 engine and made it more reliable. Eventually he saw it producing just over 600bhp. Indeed it remained the most powerful engine for its size until the then arrival of the turbo-charged El engines in the ‘seventies.

In 1961 Sir Alfred Owen made Tony Rudd BRM’s Chief Engineer. Sir Alfred had decided that unless the team became more successful in 1962 would be its last year. He set Tony a target of two Grand Prix victories. He did better, as the BRM Team became the World Champions in 1962. He left BRM in 1969 and worked at Lotus until his retirement.

If you would like to know more information, visit the Raymond Mays room at Bourne's Baldocks Mill
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The BRM Celebration Day Committee would like to thank the Bourne Civic Society for allowing us to publish this series of articles. 

Baldocks Mill, which is run by the Bourne Civic Society, will be open on the day, where visitors can look at their BRM trophy cabinet, along with other items of BRM memorabilia. For more information, visit the Bourne Civic Society website.


A new article will be added every week, so please keep checking back for more information about BRM. 

Reproduction of this article is strictly prohibited.  

Motor Racing Mechanics

This photograph was taken in 1963 at the Dutch Grand Prix. Tony was then BRM’s

Chief Engineer and with him are some of the team’s mechanics. From the left, Denis

Perkins, Jimmy Collins, Willy Southcott, Len Reedman, Alan Challis and BRM’s

Chief Mechanic, Cyril Atkin.

Tony Rudd, on the far right, dedicated his biography to “Motor Racing Mechanics the World Over”.

He wrote: The ones he knew best were from the world of Formula 1 and they gave their best effort in preparing their cars for the race, despite knowing that perhaps they stood little chance of winning. They might well work a 20-hour day for at least 60 days of the year and, as one once told him, Drivers win races - we only loose them. There is little glamour attached to the job, one international airport looks just like all the others, but without them there would be no World Champions. Tony added, he was proud to have been one of their number.

If you would like to know more information, visit the Raymond Mays room at Bourne's Baldocks Mill

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The BRM Celebration Day Committee would like to thank the Bourne Civic Society for allowing us to publish this series of articles. 

Baldocks Mill, which is run by the Bourne Civic Society, will be open on the day, where visitors can look at their BRM trophy cabinet, along with other items of BRM memorabilia. For more information, visit the Bourne Civic Society website.

A new article will be added every week, so please keep checking back for more information about BRM. 

Reproduction of this article is strictly prohibited.

BRM's Secret Car - the 1969 P142

Above: wind tunnel testing using models of the new car. 

 

 Might it have secured the team's future?

In the ‘sixties wings began to be attached to racing cars to increase cornering speeds. The wings used the air rushing over the fast moving racing cars to create down-force to press the tyres harder onto the road and improve grip. Tony Rudd, BRM’s technical chief, looked upon wings as an inelegant way to achieve this.

Peter Wright, an engineer who had recently joined BRM, shared Tony’s views so was put to work to design a car using its total bodywork to generate down- force in place of wings. The work started, in secret, at BRM’s Exeter Street store. The plan was to have the revolutionary new car ready by September 1969.

The project was known to very few. Not even the management at Bourne was fully aware of what was going on. Wind tunnel tests were made using models (see photo) and the work began on the new car. When the full magnitude of work going on became clear to the management at Bourne the work was stopped to concentrate efforts on the current car - viewed by many an out of date design.

Soon after this both Tony Rudd and Peter Wright left BRM. It was some eight years later that the successful Lotus 78 and 79 Formula One racing cars, proved that the ideas behind the “Secret BRM” were indeed very much on the right lines. By this time both Tony Rudd and Peter Wright were working at Lotus!

If you would like to know more information, visit the Raymond Mays room at Bourne's Baldocks Mill

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The BRM Celebration Day Committee would like to thank the Bourne Civic Society for allowing us to publish this series of articles. 

Baldocks Mill, which is run by the Bourne Civic Society, will be open on the day, where visitors can look at their BRM trophy cabinet, along with other items of BRM memorabilia. For more information, visit the Bourne Civic Society website.

A new article will be added every week, so please keep checking back for more information about BRM. 

Reproduction of this article is strictly prohibited.