BRM P201

The BRM P201 is a Formula One racing car built by British Racing Motors and designed by Mike Pilbeam, which raced in the 1974 and 1975 seasons and in P201B specification in 1976 and 1977. The P201 featured a triangular monocoque, hip-level radiators, outboard front springs and inboard brakes.[2] It used a 3.0-litre V12 engine and competed in 26 races, making 36 individual entries in total. Its best finish was second place for Jean-Pierre Beltoise at the 1974 South African Grand Prix, on the car's debut.

BRM P201
BRM P201 being demonstrated at Mallory Park in 2009
CategoryFormula One
ConstructorBritish Racing Motors
Designer(s)Mike Pilbeam
PredecessorP160 / P180
SuccessorP207
Technical specifications[1]
ChassisAluminium alloy monocoque
Axle trackFront: 1,540 mm (61 in)
Rear 1,560 mm (61 in)
Wheelbase2,591 mm (102.0 in)
EngineBRM 2,998 cc (182.9 cu in) V12 naturally aspirated, mid-mounted
TransmissionBRM 5-speed manual
Weight586 kg (1,291.9 lb)
TyresFirestone (1974)
Goodyear (1975–1977)
Competition history
Notable entrantsStanley BRM / Team Motul BRM
Notable drivers Jean-Pierre Beltoise
Chris Amon
Henri Pescarolo
Debut1974 South African Grand Prix
RacesWinsPolesF.Laps
26000
n.b. Unless otherwise stated, all data refer to
Formula One World Championship Grands Prix only.

Race history

1974

The car made its debut in the 1974 South African Grand Prix, driven by Jean-Pierre Beltoise, who qualified in 11th position. However, Beltoise was able to use qualifying tyres in the race due to the P201's handling, and was able to drive through the field for a second-place finish.[2][3] At the Spanish Grand Prix, Beltoise again qualified 11th but retired after two laps, with an engine problem.[4] At Belgium, he qualified seventh and finished fifth.[5] At Monaco, Beltoise, who had qualified 11th and led the first practice times at one point, was in collision with Denny Hulme's McLaren on the first lap when the New Zealander got off-line and in attempting to rejoin, triggered a multiple accident.[6] For this race, a second P201 chassis had been produced with outboard front disc brakes rather than inboard but was not used.[6]

At Sweden, Henri Pescarolo drove the second chassis, with the brakes moved inboard, and he and Beltoise qualified 19th and 13th respectively. However, both retired, Pescarolo on lap one through fire and his teammate on lap three with an engine problem.[7] At the 1974 Dutch Grand Prix, Beltoise tried both P201 chassis and raced the newer one. Pescarolo drove the second car in one practice session only and eventually raced a P160. The earlier P201 chassis was raced by François Migault who retired on lap 60 with gear linkage problems having qualified 25th, and last, on the grid. Beltoise qualified 16th and retired on lap 19, also with a gearbox problem.[8]

At the French Grand Prix, the earlier chassis was adapted to suit Pescarolo and Beltoise drove the later car, which had modified cylinder heads. Beltoise qualified 17th and finished 10th. Pescarolo started 19th, 0.3secs behind his teammate, and retired after one lap due to clutch problems after a lengthy hold at the start.[9] At the British Grand Prix, Beltoise qualified 23rd and Pescarolo 24th, after ignition, wheel and engine problems. Both were out-qualified by Migault in a P160, in 14th place. In the race, Beltoise finished 12th, three laps behind, and Pescarolo retired on lap 65 with an engine problem.[10]

At the German Grand Prix, Beltoise was in P201/02 and a third P201 chassis had been built for Pescarolo. The two drivers qualified 15th and 24th respectively. The first P201 chassis was being rebuilt for Migault who used a P160 for this race. Pescarolo finished tenth, more than four minutes behind the winner Clay Regazzoni, and Beltoise retired on lap 5 when the engine stopped.[11] For the Austrian Grand Prix, BRM made only one entry as a result of internal difficulties and Beltoise had P201/02 and P201/03 available. He practised both cars, qualified 18th, raced 02, and retired on lap 22 with engine failure.[12]

At Monza, a fourth chassis was produced which was used by Pescarolo. Beltoise used P201/03 and Migault P201/02. Beltoise qualified 11th, Migault 24th, and Pescarolo 25th and last. Beltoise and Migault both retired after one lap with electrical and gearbox failure respectively. Pescarolo retired on lap 4 with engine failure.[13]

At Canada, Pescarolo and Migault were both dropped from the team and Beltoise was joined by Chris Amon after the closure of his own team. Amon drove P201/04, qualifying 25th and Beltoise 03, qualifying 17th. Amon finished 17th, but was 10 laps behind and Beltoise 18th, 20 laps behind. Both were officially not-classified.[14] At the American Grand Prix, Beltoise did not qualify after crashing P201/03 in practice but Amon qualified 04 in 12th position and finished ninth, 2 laps down.[15]

1975

At the end of the 1974 season, Beltoise retired from F1 and Pescarolo left the team. BRM P201s participated in 11 of the 15 races in 1975, with one entry on each occasion. British driver Mike Wilds competed in the first two races, at Argentina and Brazil. He qualified 22nd at each race and retired from both, with engine failure (24 laps) and a broken flywheel (22 laps) respectively. He drove chassis No. P201/04 on each occasion.[16][17]

Wilds was replaced for South Africa, by British driver Bob Evans. Evans qualified P201/02 in 24th place and finished 15th, 2 laps down.[18] At the Spanish Grand Prix, he qualified a new chassis, P201/05, in 23rd position and retired after seven laps with fuel system problems.[19] At Monaco, Evans failed to qualify chassis 05.[20] In Belgium, he qualified P201/02 in 20th position and finished ninth, 2 laps down.[21] For the Swedish Grand Prix, Evans resumed in P201/05, qualified 23rd and finished 13th, two laps behind.[22] At the Dutch Grand Prix, he qualified P201/05 in 20th position but retired after 23 laps with transmission problems.[23] At the French Grand Prix, Evans qualified P201/02 in 25th place and finished 17th two laps down.[24]

The BRM team did not appear at the British or German Grands Prix stating that the V12 engine was felt to be uncompetitive.[25] However, Evans qualified P201/02 in 22nd place but retired with engine problems (3 laps) at the Austrian Grand Prix.[26] At the Italian Grand Prix, he qualified P201/05 in 20th position, but retired on lap one with electrical problems.[27]

1976–1977

The BRM P201, upgraded to P201B specification, made only one appearance in each of the 1976 and 1977 seasons.[28] At the 1976 Brazilian Grand Prix, British driver Ian Ashley qualified chassis P201/04 in 21st place and retired on lap three, with oil pump failure.[29] BRM did not enter any further races in 1976 and after a non-appearance at the next race, in South Africa, the team was reported to have closed.[30]

However, the team entered nine races in 1977, with the un-competitive BRM P207 qualifying only once. In addition, Australian Larry Perkins drove P201/04 at the South African Grand Prix, qualifying 22nd and finishing 15th, five laps behind winner Niki Lauda and three laps behind the rest of the field.[31]

Of the five P201s built, four survive, and three have appeared in historic racing.[2]

Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year Entrant Engine Tyres Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Points WCC
1974 Motul Team BRM BRM P200 V12 F ARG BRA RSA ESP BEL MON SWE NED FRA GBR GER AUT ITA CAN USA 10‡ 7th‡
Beltoise 2 Ret 5 Ret Ret Ret 10 12 Ret Ret Ret NC DNQ
Pescarolo Ret PO Ret Ret 10 Ret
Migault Ret Ret
Amon NC 9
1975 Stanley BRM BRM P200 V12 G ARG BRA RSA ESP MON BEL SWE NED FRA GBR GER AUT ITA USA 0 —
Wilds Ret Ret
Evans 15 Ret DNQ 9 13 Ret 17 Ret Ret
1976 Stanley BRM BRM P200 V12 G BRA RSA USW ESP BEL MON SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA JPN 0 —
Ashley Ret
1977 Rotary Watches Stanley BRM BRM P200 V12 G ARG BRA RSA USW ESP MON BEL SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA USA CAN JPN 0 —
Perkins 15
Sources:[1][28][32]

‡ Points were also scored by the P160 chassis.

Non-Championship results

(key)

Year Entrant Engine Driver Tyres 1 2 3
1975 Stanley BRM BRM P200 V12 G ROC INT SUI
Evans 6 10
1976 Stanley BRM BRM P200 V12 G ROC INT
Ashley DNA
Perkins DNA
Source:[2]

References
  1. Stats F1. "BRM P201". Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  2. Brown, Allen. "BRM P201 car-by-car histories". oldracingcars.com. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  3. Henry, Alan (May 1974). "8th South African Grand Prix: A popular win for Reutemann". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 25. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  4. Jenkinson, Denis (June 1974). "The Spanish Grand Prix: Ferrari Dominates". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 34. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  5. Jenkinson, Denis (June 1974). "The Grand Prix in Belgium: A nice little race". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 34. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  6. Jenkinson, Denis (July 1974). "The 32nd Monaco Grand Prix: Peterson keeps the faith for Lotus". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 45. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  7. Jenkinson, Denis (July 1974). "The Swedish Grand Prix: A Tyrrell Double". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 45. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  8. Jenkinson, Denis (August 1974). "The Dutch Grand Prix: Ferrari all the way". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 50. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  9. Jenkinson, Denis (August 1974). "The 7th Grand Prix of France: Minuscule". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 25. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  10. Jenkinson, Denis (September 1974). "The British Grand Prix: Scheckter finishes first". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 47. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  11. Jenkinson, Denis (September 1974). "The German Grand Prix: Well done Regazzoni". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 21. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  12. Jenkinson, Denis (October 1974). "The Austrian Grand Prix: Reutemann all the way". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 44. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  13. Jenkinson, Denis (October 1974). "The 45th Italian Grand Prix: Peterson keeps the faith again". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 23. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  14. Henry, Alan (November 1974). "The Canadian Grand Prix: Fittipaldi a worthy first". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 42. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  15. Henry, Alan (November 1974). "The United States Grand Prix: Reutemann the Winner, but Fittipaldi the Champion". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 21. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  16. Henry, Alan (February 1975). "The Argentine Grand Prix". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 22. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  17. Henry, Alan (March 1975). "The Brazilian Grand Prix: Pace scores from Fittipaldi at home". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 39. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  18. Henry, Alan (April 1975). "The South African Grand Prix: Scheckter is the new national hero". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 36. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  19. Jenkinson, Denis (June 1975). "The Spanish Grand Prix: Catastrophic". Motor Sport magazine archive. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  20. Jenkinson, Denis (June 1975). "The 33rd Monaco Grand Prix: Lauda all the way". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 26. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  21. Jenkinson, Denis (July 1975). "Grote Prijs van Belgie: Another Ferrari domination". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 34. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  22. Jenkinson, Denis (July 1975). "The Swedish Grand Prix: Ferrari Again". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 21. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  23. Jenkinson, Denis (August 1975). "The Dutch Grand Prix: An Englishman wins". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 44. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  24. Jenkinson, Denis (August 1975). "The French Grand Prix: Runaway win for Ferrari". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 57. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  25. Jenkinson, Denis (September 1975). "The British Grand Prix - Chaotic". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 45. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  26. Jenkinson, Denis (October 1975). "The Austrian Grand Prix: A washout". Motor Sport magazine. pp. 1129–31.
  27. Jenkinson, Denis (October 1975). "The Italian Grand Prix: A Ferrari Walk-over". Motor Sport magazine. pp. 1115–17.
  28. "BRM P201B". statsf1.com. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  29. Henry, Alan (March 1976). "The Brazilian Grand Prix: Lauda confirms Ferrari's mastery". Motor Sport magazine. pp. 248–251.
  30. Jenkinson, Denis (April 1976). "BRM". Motor Sport magazine. p. 366.
  31. Jenkinson, Denis (April 1977). "The South African Grand Prix: Ferrari and Lauda back on form". Motor Sport magazine. pp. 402–4.
  32. Small, Steve (1994). The Guinness Complete Grand Prix Who's Who. Guinness. pp. 24, 37, 56, 128, 255, 284, 286 and 401. ISBN 0851127029.
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