BRM P261

SCX 62550 BRM P261 - Graham Hill, United States Grand Prix 1964. By Holger "Slaasshh" Thor When the new international Formula One regulations were introduced for the 1961 season, it was at the same time the end to the big open wheelers with front engine common on the race circuits throughout the fifties. The first year of the "Low Power, High Tech" period belonged to Ferrari and their famous F 156 "Shark Nose", but the British teams quickly adapted the new technology, foremost among them the BRM team in the hands of Raymond Mays and Sir Alfred Owen. So in 1962 Graham Hill claimed the drivers title in a BRM P57 winning four out of nine races and BRM took the constructors title as well. Success proceeded with the P57 in 1963 when Hill took 2 race wins and was runner up to Jim Clark in his Lotus-Climax 25. In 1964 BRM was ready with a new car, the P261 or P61/II as it was sometimes referred to. Still in the hands of Graham Hill it won at Monaco in the carīs first outing, and later the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, and again Hill was runner up to the title, this time only beaten by one single point by John Surtees in his Ferrari F 158. The P261 won four more Grand Prixīs. Two driven by Graham Hill and one by Jackie Stewart in 1965 and the last one won by Jackie Stewart at Monaco in 1966. The years 1962 to 1964 were to become the highlight of BRMīs race history. When Formula One was back with 3 litres engines, the "British Racing Motors" (BRM) were now and then nicknamed "British Racing Misery" by the international sports press instead. In 1972 Frenchman Jean-Pierre Beltoise took the 17th and last ever Grand Prix win for BRM on the wet streets of Monte Carlo. In 1977 the BRM team retired into race history.

Graham Hill in his BRM P261 #3 winning the United States Grand Prix October 4th 1964. Graham Hill was to become a legend in modern motor sport history. To date he is the only driver claiming the three most famous titles in the world, winning the so-called Triple Crown of Motor Sport. He was Champion of the World twice, with a BRM P57 in 1962 and again in a Lotus-Ford Cosworth 49B in 1968. He won at Indianapolis in a Lola T90 in 1966 and the 24hrs of Le Mans together with Henri Pescarolo in a Matra MS 670 in 1972. In a severe accident in the end of the 1969 season Graham Hill broke both his legs. When he returned he was never the same again and he gradually withdrew from Formula One as a race driver, but instead created his own team, Embassy Hill Racing, in 1973, and later constructed his own car, the Hill-Ford Cosworth GH1, in 1975. After two world titles and 14 Grand Prix wins Graham Hill on July 19th 1975 announced his retirement as a race driver. Sadly, on November 19th the same year his aircraft, flown by Hill himself, crashed into a tree in North London, killing almost his entirely team. Graham Hill, the young promising driver Tony Brise, the designer, the manager and two mechanics. His son, Damon Hill, won the world title in 1996, the only son of a former champion ever to do so. NB! Unfortunately SCX has re-used the old mould from their C.37 released in 1968, which was a BRM P83 with a 3.0 litres H16 engine. The colour, race number, driverīs helmet etc are correct, but the shown model has never been a BRM P261 with a 1.5 litres V8 engine.