BRM V16 continuation:

I suspect that they have already agreed sales on all these reproductions and I'm sure that some of the buyers will want to run their cars at selected race meetings, these people can afford it from their petty cash.

My memory is hazy but back in the 1990s I snapped Nick Mason trying to coax the BRM into life at a Coys Historic Festival at Silverstone.

As I say my memory of the meeting isn't good but Mason's race was very wet and I remember him popping and banging through Copse on one lap and I think he then retired the car, sadly the engine note was far from glorious that day.... I can't find my photo of him on that lap at the moment but I'll see if I can find it.

David

A day at Silverstone in 1987 when a V16 did several laps without breaking down.

Thank you John for finding the link about a replica BRM V16.I seem to have many recollections about these noisy monsters. My Motor Year Book of 1950 has a hopelessly optimistic article by the famous Laurence Pomeroy who seems obsessed by two parameters, piston area and piston speed. Completely forgot about the need for ease of repair under the pressure of racing conditions. On holiday in August 1952 a chance encounter with a certain Mr Walker revealed all the chaos of the BRM setup in particular the dilettante tastes of Raymond Mays who insisted on doing a show in London every week. I listened to Raymond Mays interviewed on Desert Island Discs and concluded that would not want this guy running anything for me, I found this broadcast on BBC archive the other day. I saw and heard the MkII at Snetterton in 1955 but I was more impressed by the beautiful simplicity of the rear engined Cooper Climax. I modelled the MkII as a slot car with a Pittman DC60, brakes were nonexistent. As my friend Joel Gonin is an avid collector and BRM fan I feel another project coming on! I also met Alfred Owen in Manchester in early 1962, at last he had good reason to be optimistic. But you have to have a weird streak to love the marque.