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.