1962 - Gold And Glory

Originally, the 8 exhausts were mounted vertically but after it being noted that they became prone to working loose, this layout was replaced by the more traditional horizontal set up. Although it produced the same amount of power as the Climax powered unit, BRM’s unit could run up to an impressive 11,000 rpm- Some 3,500 rpm faster.

The upgraded technical specifications came with a caveat, however. There was still the weight of the teams’ future weighing upon them.

On the 14^th of April, Jim Clark from the Lotus team beat Hill, pushing him into second place at the Lombank trophy race at Snetterton. Hill responded with a victory later in the month at the international 100 at Goodwood. Refusing to be outdone, Hill chased up Clark at the international trophy at Silverstone in May, and when Clark believed he had won, Hill took the daunting Woodcote Corner sideways and bested him by a matter of feet to steal away the 1^st place.

This was only the beginning of Hills successes for the year. He came 1^st in the Dutch Grand prix in May 2^nd in the Belgian grand prix in June, 2^nd again in July for the Rheims GP and claimed another 1^st at the Nürburgring in Germany in August. Topping this off, he took another 1^st at Monza in September, and finished the year with 1^st place at the south African grand prix in east London where the press referred to BRM and Lotus as ‘The two giants’ and all others on the grid as ‘the supporting cast’. Such a fantastic score doesn’t even count the 2^nd place he scored at the Oulton Park gold cup or the one at Watkins glen, nor does it include new team member Richie Ginther and his 2^nd place at Monza or Durban for the Natal grand prix to cap off what was unarguably a dominant year for BRM.

Adding to the gold of the year, BRM won the Constructors championship, having clinched it in race 9 of 9 with a 14.29% margin and 6 margin points. The BBC sports personality of the year award was also presented to the BRM Mechanics team; an award that was collected by Sir Alfred Owen and Raymond Mays on their behalf.

Drivers this year- Graham Hill, Tony Marsh, Richie Ginther, Bruce Johnstone

Cars this year- P578, P57