Tony Marsh working his 1960 BRM P48 chassis ‘484’, 2.5-litre ex-Bonnier 1960 F1 car very hard, lifting an inside rear wheel into ‘The Courtyard’, Bo’ness Hillclimb, Scotland 1966…
Two of the reasons why the content of this blog is eclectic are that it suits my broad racing interests and that a photo is usually the inspiration for an article, this shot is one of those! I tripped over it on ‘The Nostalgia Forum’, which is a wonderful place for those of you who may not paid it a visit. You can get lost in there for weeks! http://forums.autosport.com/forum/10-the-nostalgia-forum/
Lots of ex-GP cars have found their way into British Hillclimbing over the years, the Tony Marsh BRM P48 is one of those…
The 1951 BRM P15 supercharged 1.5-litre V16 racer was a disaster, too complex, too late but a fabulous bit of kit and the greatest sound in motor racing, full-stop. Aural orgasm is not going too far to describe its musical, mechanical, sonorous howl!
The design which followed, the Type 25 was the reverse, a simple 2.5-litre, DOHC, Weber carbed, front-engined, spaceframe chassis car which served BRM from 1955 to 1959, finally achieving a breakthrough win for Bourne in the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix, Jo Bonnier the driver.
But by then the game had moved on, Cooper dominated the grids with their Coventry Climax engined, simple mid-engined cars. Jack Brabham and Cooper took the drivers and constructors titles in 1959 and 1960 with Cooper Types 51 and 53, Tony Rudd and his team needed to respond.
BRM were famous for their engineering process and toolroom quality but the P48 was a quick fix, utilising as many of the Type 25 components as possible, in essence the P48 was a mid-engined variant of the Type 25, right down to its controversial, less than reliable cookie-cutter, single, gearbox mounted rear disc brake.
1960 was the last year of the 2.5-litre Formula, the P48 Mk II was more competitive than the first iterations used for most of the season and were devoid of the cookie cutter and used the wishbone rear suspension which formed the basis of BRM’s 1961 contender’s design intent.
This 1961 car, the P57, was Coventry Climax 1.5-litre FPF powered until BRM’s fabulous and successful P56 1.5-litre V8 was developed for use from the 1962 season. See this link; https://primotipo.com/2014/10/12/graham-hill-brm-p57-german-gp-1962/ The P48 evolved into the P57 which delivered BRM’s first and only Manufacturers and Drivers Championships for the marque and Graham Hill in 1962.
Graham Hill’s P48 485 (above) took third place in the 1960 Belgian GP at Spa won by Brabham’s Cooper T53 Climax. The weekend was one of racing’s worst, Stirling Moss broke both legs after an axle failure, Mike Taylor’s steering broke so he crashed into trees suffering grievous injuries which made him paralysed, eventually with therapy he walked again, both were driving Lotus 18s, those accidents took place in practice. In the race Chris Bristow crashed his Cooper T51 Climax at Malmedy whilst pushing too hard and crashed to his death while Alan Stacey (Lotus 18 Climax) was hit in the face by a bird near Masta, he crashing and died instantly.
Tony Marsh…
Marsh was an iconic hillclimber, first taking the British Hillclimb Championship title in a Cooper Mk8 Jap in 1955. After two more successive wins he turned to circuit racing winning the British F2 Championship in 1957 with a Cooper T43 Climax. He also contested the 1957 German GP, finishing fifteenth in his F2 car and eighth in 1958 aboard a Cooper T45 Climax.
Marsh raced a private Lotus 18 Climax and his own BRM P48/57 1.5 V8 engined car in 1962 in some Non-Championship F1 events – best placings were fourth in the Pau GP and seventh in the International Trophy at Silverstone.
He returned to hillclimbing in the mid-1960s, winning the championship a further three times and was still competing right up until his death at 77 years of age in May 2009.
Bo’ness Hillclimb…
Bo’ness is 17 miles north-west of Edinburgh, the hillclimb was used from 1934 to 1966 and ran through the grounds of Kinneil House. James Watt of steam engine fame lived there, the grounds contain the ruins of his cottage and the boiler of his Newcomen Engine.
Tony Marsh set the record for the climb in June 1963, one which stood for all time, the last meeting at the venue was held in June 1966, revival meetings have taken place in recent years.
Some former motor racing greats held the climbs’ record including Bob Gerard, Ken Wharton, Ron Flockhart and Jim Clark, the latter with a Lister Jaguar in 1959.
Etcetera…
Credits…
The Nostalgia Forum, John Ross Motor Racing Archive, Brian Tregilgas, Doug Nye, Vic Berris
From Ballarat to Bathurst, BRM P48’s in Australia, Part 2…
Finito…
primotipo... 