BRM P48/57 Stack Pipe - 1962 Dutch Grand Prix

[David Mitcham]

I've posted about the build of the BRM P48/57 Climax from 1961 in a previous post. I had always intended to build the V8 engined version, driven by Richie Ginther at Monaco and at Zandvoort in early 1962, at some point and at last I've got round to it. Converting the shell was quite straightforward - a case of removing the carburettor bulge and filling the hole, making a hole in the top of the engine cover for the wire mesh covering the injection intakes and removing a little of the lower body at the rear to accommodate the engine detail and, of course, the Stack Pipes. The Climax car had the Policar motor pod but with a BWA 14k rpm motor (it was entered in the VRAA) so, whilst it handled well, it was definitely underpowered. This time I've used the pod with the 25k rpm Policar motor. Its fast and stable and the narrow tyres are fully up to the job of dealing with the additional power. The photographs below show the car in almost finished form - there are one or two areas needing a little bit of improvement and I must replace that front tyre with the Dunlop logo.

Best wishes

David