Hill landing after one of the Nurburgrings’ jumps, he won the race, on the way to his first World Championship…
Wonderful bit of composition on the part of Jesse Alexander! In fact cameras were a big topic of conversation and consternation on this weekend as Hill had an ‘off’ avoiding a TV camera which fell off Carel de Beauforts’ Porsche in practice.
BRM P57 Chassis…
Graham Hills’ 1962 championship winning mount was a BRM V8 engined variant of the space-framed chassis, Climax engined car used in 1961. Hill fought a season long battle with Jim Clark in Colin Chapmans’ revolutionary monocoque Lotus 25 Climax. The P57 was both reliable and fast, and prevailed in 1962.
Hill famously the only driver to win motor racings’ Triple Crown’; an F1 Championship, Indy’ 500 and Le Mans. (in 1962/8, 1966 and 1972 respectively)
Start of the 1962 German GP, Nurburgring, August 1962 (Pinterest)
BRM Type 56 V8…was a 90 degree V8, it had a bore and stroke of 68.5mmX50.8mm for a capacity of 1498cc. Lucas port fuel injection was fitted, compression ratio was 11.5:1, the engine developed 190BHP at 10250RPM. Customer versions were also sold, these used Weber carburettors and developed at least 180BHP at 9750RPM.
This shot shows the T 57 in ‘ultimate form’ with six speed Colotti gearbox and low level exhaust system on its Type 56 engine (Automobile Year 10)
Hill being tended to by BRM Chief Engineer Tony Rudd on the British GP grid, Aintree, July 1962. Hill finished fourth in the race won by Clarks’ Lotus 25 Climax. Note ‘stack exhausts’, upper and lower wishbone front suspension. Body made of electron, fibreglass the ‘norm’ by 1962. (Pinterest)
Hill and Bruce McLaren, Cooper T60 Climax , Aintree 1962. Bruce finished third with John Surtees second in a Lola Mk4 Climax (Pinterest)
Hill victorious at Zandvoort, Holland 1962. BRM P57 (The Cahier Archive)
1962 BRM P57 drawings. Spaceframe chassis, wishbone front and rear suspension with coil spring/ damper units. 1498CC DOHC 2 valve, V8. Circa 190BHP @ 10250 RPM. 5 and sometimes 6 speed gearbox. Body made of electron, ‘stack exhausts’ shown replaced by conventional setup later in 1962 (Pinterest)
High level view of the Type 57 chassis shows the standard of finish, upper and lower wishbone suspension front and rear and later low level exhaust system (Automobile Year 10)
This shot of the Type 56 BRM V8 shows the earlier ‘chimmney or stack’ exhausts, intake trumpets for the Lucas injection system, rear of the spaceframe chassis, rear wishbone and adjustable sway bar (Automobile Year 10)
Finish shot similar to the opening one…Jo Bonniers’ Porsche landing German GP 1962. (Jesse Alexander)
Photo Credits…
Jesse Alexander, Pinterest, The Cahier Archive, Automobile Year # 10
primotipo... 
[…] I posted this short article a while back about Hills’ 1962 Championship winning car; https://primotipo.com/2014/10/12/graham-hill-brm-p57-german-gp-1962/ […]
[…] This car, the P57 was Coventry Climax 1.5 litre FPF powered until BRM’s fabulous and successful P56 1.5 litre V8 was developed. See https://primotipo.com/2014/10/12/graham-hill-brm-p57-german-gp-1962/ […]
Always liked the stack exhausts on the P57.
[…] Graham Hill’s 1962 season is briefly covered in this article, click here for the link; https://primotipo.com/2014/10/12/graham-hill-brm-p57-german-gp-1962/ […]