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clear to the management at Bourne the work was stopped to concentrate efforts on the current car - viewed by many an out of date design.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.