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As the current Formula 1 World Championship approaches its thrilling conclusion, many renowned figures within the sport are reflecting on the modest origins of Britain’s pioneering F1 team. British Racing Motors (BRM), established 80 years ago in the small Lincolnshire town of Bourne, began its journey in a simple garden shed. Despite these unassuming beginnings, the team rose to achieve the ultimate success by winning the world title.
Damon Hill, the 1996 Formula 1 World Champion and broadcaster, highlighted the significance of BRM’s emergence: “It’s an amazing story isn’t it? They set out to take on the world. I think they put this country on the map as a world leader in automotive technology and Formula 1.” Damon’s connection to BRM is deeply personal, as his father, Graham Hill, was a key figure within the team, securing their only championship in 1962. Reflecting on Graham Hill’s time with BRM, Damon remarked, “It was one of the places that really enabled him to show what he had. He built his career on, basically, the success he had at BRM.”
BRM came into existence in 1945, thanks to the efforts of Raymond Mays, a determined racer and businessman, together with co-founder Peter Berthon. They started by constructing a small factory situated at the bottom of Mays’ garden in Bourne. Their ambitious aim was to challenge established European racing giants like Ferrari and Alfa Romeo. According to Anthony Delaine-Smith, whose bus company now occupies the site of the original BRM factory, “Raymond Mays always had a hankering to go Grand Prix racing. The idea was after the war, they would bring industries together with this idea of building a British Grand Prix car.” At a time when motor racing was making a comeback post-World War Two, BRM developed the advanced Type 15 chassis powered by a V16 supercharged engine to compete in the burgeoning Formula 1 World Championship, which was inaugurated in 1950.
The project attracted support from around 40 British firms and prominent industrialists, including Sir Alfred Owen, who eventually acquired the team. BRM’s Type 15 is now considered “arguably Britain’s most important Formula 1 car,” though it was not finished in time for the first championship race at Silverstone in 1950. The car soon raced against prestigious marques such as Ferrari and Maserati. The team’s stature grew with the signing of Juan Manuel Fangio in 1952, then the leading driver globally. Maurice Hamilton, former racing correspondent, noted, “To get Juan Manuel Fangio into your car was
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