The First Step

Sir,

It was with disappointment that I read Mr Boddy’s rather negative BRM article in December’s Motor Sport. He concluded with the words, “these magnificent machines were made redundant without making a mark.” Now whereas that may be correct in terms of Grand Prix victories, it cannot be denied that it was Raymond Mays and his team at Bourne with the V16 BRM who took the first and most difficult steps towards establishing this country as the predominant world force in motor racing, a position that it enjoys to this day. Indeed it can be argued that BRM were responsible indirectly for the creation of Tony Vandervell’s masterpieces which finally broke the Italian stranglehold.

On a more personal note, during the early ’50s on several occasions I went to see and hear the fabulous cars at Charterhall. At one meeting I can vividly remember Ken Wharton arriving at the first corner impossibly fast and slithering to a halt. Leaping out of the car, he pushed it round to point roughly in the right direction and proceeded to accelerate away at an unbelievable speed using the whole width of the track, accompanied of course by that magnificent screaming engine note. Awe inspiring stuff. I suspect that I was not the only fledgling enthusiast on which the BRM left an indelible mark.

I am, yours, etc. Mike Kean, Montrose, Angus