Re-Awakening the British Racing Motors Archive

Genus has recently completed a very interesting project to capture the historic Trophy collection of British Racing Motors (BRM).

Founded in 1949 and active in Formula One from 1951 to 1974 the team bought together such famous names as Sir Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, Tony Southgate, Dan Gurney and of course Graham Hill. Famously they pushed engineering boundaries and were responsible for the incredible 1.5 litre supercharged V16 racing engine, together with the innovative H16 and V8 and V12 configuration engines. BRM are one of the most famous names in British motor racing and the only UK Formula One team to win the World Championship with a complete car chassis and engine package of their own design and construction. Their success culminated in 1962 when they won both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ championships with Graham Hill at the wheel.

The Owen Family are currently reactivating the BRM Brand that they have owned since Sir Alfred Owen purchased the assets in 1952. The catalyst for the launch was with their amazing Re-awakening campaign BRM TAKES MAJOR STEP AS IT ADVANCES BUILD OF ‘NEW’ V16 FORMULA ONE CARS – British Racing Motors

For the last year Genus have been working with BRM to capture their extensive and geographically diverse archive of amazing Driver Contracts, Photographic Prints, Engineering Drawings, Photographic Negatives, Film and Historic Documents – details of this will be revealed later, to fans and historians alike.

Premium motoring magazine, Magneto, have recently published an interesting article on BRM and its Trophy Collection in their Issue 10: Summer 2021 edition. Consisting of over 40 Trophies, the collection boasts the World Championship cup and the 1971 Italian Grand Prix trophy for Peter Gethin which stood as the fastest Grand Prix for 32 years, the record only being beaten in 2003. The race at Monza also still holds the record for the closest winning margin at 0.61 seconds. Other notable circuits such as Silverstone, Spa-Francorchamps, the feared Nürburgring and of course multiple Monaco successes are represented.

Constructor’s World Championship Trophy

This extensive collection has been captured at Genus using the unique Light Revolution 360-degree Capture Platform and has recently been valued and catalogued by the Assay Office in Birmingham. The Birmingham Assay Office was founded in 1773 to provide assaying (testing) and hallmarking of precious metal items (gold, silver, platinum and palladium) as required by the Hallmarking Act. It has been a centre of expert opinion and independent assessment of jewellery and precious metals for nearly 250 years. During recent decades it has expanded its services far beyond its statutory assaying and hallmarking duties to include Diamond, Gemstone & Pearl Certification, Jewellery, Watch and Silverware Valuations, non-precious metal testing, product safety and quality assurance testing as well as educational training and consultancy.

Credit: Silverstone Interactive Museum

Part of the Trophy collection is now on display at the Silverstone Interactive Museum which has recently reopened after the COVID Lockdown. The Silverstone Interactive Museum has been designed to inspire the next generation and has over 60 hands-on exhibits where visitors can try out a wide variety of activities – from operating a wind tunnel, piloting a Wellington bomber, taking part in a pit stop and climbing into a replica Grand Prix car. Visitors can even see whether they have got what it takes to commentate on a Formula 1 Grand Prix. In addition to the hands-on fun, the museum features some of the most iconic cars and bikes that have played a part in the 70-year history of Silverstone circuit including Mansell’s iconic “Red 5”, an E.R.A from the first ever Grand Prix held at the venue in 1948 and Barry Sheene’s 1979 Suzuki motorbike.

As a reader of this Genus blog we can also offer you a discount to visit until the end of 2021. Enter the code BRM2021 to get 36% off the day prices and 20% off advanced prices.

If you want to keep up to date with the emerging and exciting BRM Re-Awakening programme then sign up to their Newsletter here