BRM, the Inside Story

Published by JasonB on May 5, 2023 in Features, Updates

We have a new and fairly substantial motor racing history section which we’ve added to the site. It could be encapsulated by just three letters, BRM, but in truth the full story would make a decent sized  book.

The inspiration for our new section came from a British Racing Motors team mechanic, Dennis ‘Sheriff’ Perkins who worked for the team for well over a decade from the mid 1950s onwards, and who took photos throughout his time with the team.

Of course Perkins wasn’t a professional photographer, he was first and foremost a BRM mechanic. In fact he was so good at his job that he was elected to membership of the BRDC, being proposed by Graham Hill and seconded by Jackie Stewart.

But he took photos of some important motor racing events, and he took his photos from a different angle to the press, or the spectators. He snapped his pics from behind the scenes, from the oil stained pit boxes, from the workshops, or even from the team transporter which he drove across the continent in his slippers.

Through his photos we will tell the story of British Racing Motors, from the disastrous and all too obvious failings in the early days, through to being world champions and one of the most consistently successful teams in Formula One at their peak, before they were brought back down to earth with a bump, as the team declined.

BRM had always set out to match and beat the best in Formula One. To do that, they absolutely insisted that they should build their own engines as well as the chassis. They wanted to take Ferrari’s approach, and when it worked, it really worked, but when it didn’t, it really didn’t.

Nowadays of course, we can expect a netflix documentary for every F1 race, no matter how insignificant. But in those days there were a very limited cohort of press reporters and photographers. So this little treasure trove of photos from the pit lanes and paddocks of the 1950s and 1960s are important.

We’ve tried our best to tell the stories of not just BRM, but of the individual races for which we have photos, many of which have their own fascinating tales to tell.

We’ve tried to tell the story of the BRM drivers and the BRM cars. We’ve used a wide variety of sources for all of the information, including contemporary reports.

We’ve also included slot track plans for every circuit, and a comprehensive list of BRM slot cars.

So there you go, that’s a rough outline of what we’ve got for you, hope you enjoy having a look and a read.

Many thanks to John Perkins, son of Dennis, for his kind permission to use these photos. Many thanks also to Dennis ‘Sheriff’ Perkins himself, not just for his sterling work with BRM, but also for recording his time with the team.

BRM, the Inside Story