Little Miss Elegance

[David Lawson]

This is a quick and simple build which I started this afternoon, I had a spare hour while some wood glue went off on my Lotus 76.

As much as I like detailed builds it's nice to sometimes build a car in a day or two just for fun.

BRM "5781", the V8 engined prototype at the 1961 Italian Grand Prix. I love original clean designs before they get modified during their race career but in fact this car only practised at Monza and then privately tested the following week at the autodrome. BRM didn't race it until early 1962 by which time it had the ungainly stackpipes. I don't think this BRM ever looked nicer and the Italian motoring press loved the car giving it the name Little Miss Elegance.

This is the balsa shell after an hour of carving, I will update in between working on the Lotus 76

David

[alfetta]

David; A question. I have on a few occaisions carved a balsa body and have yet to achieve a satisfactory result. How do YOU manage to smooth the wood to get a good result. I have used sanding sealant thnned down milliput all to no avail. Help!
Peter

[Mark Huber]

David,

A brilliant choice! But I would say that wouldn't I?

However, even if I weren't totally enamored with BRMs, this would still be a brilliant choice. Little Miss Elegance will eventually be known as "Old Faithful" and play a major role in Graham Hill's first Driver's Championship and BRM's first and only Constructor's Championship. I have to agree, the car never looked quite this elegant again, but it was a real warrior over the next 4 seasons.

I wonder what the dapper gentleman with the sunglasses is thinking as he views Little Miss Elegance with his arms folded? Perhaps something along the lines of "Not bad Tony, but just wait till you see what I roll out of the transporter next spring!"

The photograph David provided captures a moment that marks a turning point of both the BRM and Lotus teams' fortunes. It is the fall of 1961. BRM has only one Championship victory to its name, way back in 1959. Lotus cars have won 4 Championship events, but all of those victories were by Stirling Moss for the Rob Walker team. Team Lotus has yet to score a win. At this point, counting the final two races of the 1961 season, there are 41 more Championship races that will be run under the 1.5L regulations. In a little more than 4 years, Lotus will win 20 of the races (19 by Jim Clark) and 2 World Championships; BRM will be runner up with 11 victories (10 by Graham Hill) and one World Championship.

I know that David has this picture, but I thought I'd share one more of Little Miss Elegance from Paul Parker's wonderful book covering F1 in the 1960s:

[David Lawson]

Mark

Thanks for reminding me I had that colour shot of the BRM on the banking, I had forgotten it was in that book. The picture I posted here is from the Doug Nye BRM "Bible". Thanks also for telling me that the car later became "Old Faithful", I wasn't aware of that.

I agree that Chapman looks impressed but as you say he had the skinnier 25 in the wings, in profile the BRM looks even sleeker than the Lotus 21 and 25 although in plan view it's quite a bit tubbier. The thing I like about the picture though is the three policeman in the background sitting down to their lunch with wine...


Peter

I cut the balsa to approximate shape with a junior hacksaw then sand it with various grades of sandpaper using a cork sanding block, I then gently rub all over with very fine finishing paper which produces a good surface. I use nail care sanding sticks for smaller pieces. When I end up with the shape I'm happy with I rub superglue into the surface with my finger and then gently rub down again with fine sandpaper and finishing paper. As you know balsa is a pain to work with as it's so soft and marks so easily (always keep your finger nails trimmed very short to avoid digs into the shell) but balsa shells are so cheap to produce.

David

[fiery1]

beautiful. I cannot wait to see more of this work.

[f143]

Hi David, just revisiting this thread again, and I was wondering how the similar Scalextric FJ BRM C72 60's car compared with your scale model.
The Scalextric measures out at Length 116mm. width 27mm at the widest point. height 21mm after cockpit, 14mm in front of cockpit, and a wheel base of 71.5mm.
I did see a post on another site where the car was overlaid on the plan and the scalextric did look quite in scale.
Have you done any more work on this build lately?
Thanks, Nigel

[David Lawson]

An interesting question Nigel and I was surprised by the results of measuring a Scalex BRM, a Dave Jones example and the original works BRM drawings.

There is very little difference between all three.

The works drawing which I assume I have re-scaled accurately..... shows a length of 117mm, a maximum width of 26mm and a depth of monocoque of 15mm at a mid point along the cockpit opening. The wheelbase is 72mm.

I measured Dave Jones shell at 115mm length, 26.5mm width and 15mm depth.

I measured the Scalextric shell at 115mm length, 26mm width and 13mm depth.

My quick carving (bearing in mind I did it in about an hour) is correct for scale length, is 1.5mm too wide and is about 1mm too deep but I haven't done anything to it since October and I can easily correct these slight inaccuracies.

My measuring of the Scalex shell isn't exactly the same as your figures but I did all the measuring with a ruler as opposed to callipers so I might be a little out.

The short answer to your question is that the Scalex is a pretty accurate shell and with a very small amount of refining would make a great scale F1 slot car.

David

[f143]

David, ssshhhhh, don't let everyone know that, they will be forcing the price up!!!!
I thought as much, on the race track they look very good running round, especially with Grahams head on from IM.
Thanks for the answer, I like the FJ series of cars very much, it would be nice if they could reintroduced them in updated mode with a little more detail.
Regards
Nigel