F1 1958 BRM P25

In September 1955 the Type 25 debuted at a local race at Aintree. It was relatively quick straight away, but there were handling and reliable problems that would dog the car throughout its career. The big valves were a weak spot and oil and dirt build-up on the single rear brake was another major issue. For 1956 Mike Hawthorn and Tony Brooks were hired, but other than some spectacular crashes, they did not manage to grab attention. At the end of the season Brooks took off; he did not want anything to do with the horrible BRM anymore. There were some revisions carried through for the 1957 season, but BRM again failed to impress. To add insult to injury, Vanwall scored that elusive first British Grand Prix win in thirty years.

Still determined BRM carried on into 1958 with some fundamental changes. A more sophisticated spaceframe chassis was introduced and the suspension was modified. Following suggestions made by Lotus' Colin Chapman, the single rear leaf spring was replaced by coil springs on each corner. By now the Type 25's reputation was, however, so bad that the one-handed Archie Scott Brown refused to drive the car, even though he was desperate to get a break in F1. The changes did improve the handling, but the results were again poor because the engine suffered from overheating after changing from alcohol-based fuels to pump gas. For 1959 the cooling system was improved and the Lockheed discs were replaced by Dunlop brakes, but the single rear disc was retained.