Hall & Hall join us!

Hall & Hall will be returning again this year with a selection of their vintage F1 Racing cars 

BRM P153

Raced in the 1970 – 1972 F1 seasons

Tony Southgate’s first design for BRM was the BRM P153, a low monocoque cockpit with bulging sides that was a complete change to previous designs. This design returned the team to competitiveness with Pedro Rodriguez winning the Belgian GP.

There had been something of a revolution at BRM during 1969, with chief engineer Tony Rudd leaving, and Tony Southgate coming in from Eagle to take his place in charge of chassis design and development. Southgate designed an entirely new car for 1970, the P153, which followed his ideas at Eagle by having a very low centre of gravity. The fuel was concentrated around the centre of the car by means of a low tub monocoque with double-curvature sides that bulged out toward the back, a shape compared to a Coke bottle. Southgate was not the first to bring this shape to F1, Bernard Boyer’s 1969 championship-winning Matra MS80, having a very similar layout, but the P153 had a distinctly onion-shaped profile compared with the more cylindrical Matra. The car’s suspension was highly conventional with outboard springs all round, and the main radiator was in a standard wedge nose similar to the Surtees TS5 nose that had been used on John Surtees’ BRM P139 in 1969. Aubrey Woods’ heavily revised V12 engine was only partially stressed, so a triangular framework connected the back of the monocoque to the rear suspension/gearbox mounting plate. BRM continued to build its own gearboxes, and the P153 was fitted with a 5-speed P131 transmission designed by Alex Stokes, a Loyal BRM team member with 23 years’ service. The car sat on 13-inch wheels front and rear, with 10.5-inch diameter Girling brakes shrouded inside the wheels. The magnesium uprights were all new. Bodywork was produced by Specialised Mouldings Ltd.

John Surtees had left to set up his own F1 team, so BRM’s drivers for 1970 were Jackie Oliver, Pedro Rodriguez and George Eaton, the latter driving a third car at most races. The P153 was not especially reliable, due in no small part to issues with the engine oil system, but the power of the BRM V12 meant it was especially competitive on faster circuits and Rodriguez won the Belgian GP at Spa in June. He also took second place at Watkins Glen at the end of the season, having qualified in fourth, the best grid position the P153 achieved.