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90-427: The Bond Bug is a small British two-seat, three-wheeled automobile which was designed by Tom Karen of Ogle Design for Reliant Motor Company , who built it from 1970 to 1974, initially at Bond Cars Ltd factory, but subsequently at Reliant's Tamworth factory. It is a wedge-shaped microcar , with a lift-up canopy and side screens instead of conventional doors. Since 1962, when Reliant Motor Company launched

180-510: A Reliant Robin or Rialto for the majority of donor parts, or the whole car could be supplied as one kit with a mixture of new and refurbished parts. To allow the Bug to have 4 wheels, the ladder chassis was cut down at the front, with a Mini front subframe welded in place. The moulds were also changed to have two large arches at the front. Different models were developed, including convertible versions that had no lift-up canopy with small screens, or

270-485: A basic 850 cc Mini, a four-seater much faster round corners but with considerably inferior acceleration, cost £620. The Bond Bug was often compared to a basic mini even though the vehicles were completely different. Reliant launched the Bond Bug 750 in late 1973 but production ended after fewer than 200 Bug 750s were sold, as Reliant ended all other production lines so more capacity could be made open to build more of

360-426: A building called 'The Maltings' (the adjacent former ERA works, vacated in 1939). Several people involved with ERA returned to the firm to work for BRM, including Harry Mundy and Eric Richter. The team also had access to a test facility at Folkingham aerodrome . The first post-war rules for the top level of motor racing allowed 1.5-litre supercharged or 4.5-litre normally aspirated engines. BRM's first engine design

450-485: A claimed 465 bhp (347 kW) during 1969. In 1973, Louis Stanley claimed 490 bhp (370 kW) at 11,750 rpm. The design and building of the first V-12 chassis, the P126 was contracted to former Lotus and Eagle designer Len Terry 's Transatlantic Automotive Consultants. The cars first appeared during the 1968 Tasman Championship, powered by 2.5 litre versions of the engine, temporary team driver Bruce McLaren winning

540-554: A common means of public transportation in many countries in the world, and are an essential form of urban transport in many developing countries such as India and the Philippines . Early automotive pioneer Karl Benz developed a number of three-wheeled models. One of these, the Benz Patent Motorwagen , is regarded as the first purpose-built automobile. It was made in 1885. In 1896, John Henry Knight showed

630-474: A four-wheeled car, or a triangle for a trike) then the vehicle will tip and eventually fall over. This is true for any vehicle. With all vehicles it is critical that the vehicle should be engineered to slide before this point of instability is reached. This can be achieved in several ways: In the case of a three-wheeled ATV, tipping may be avoided by the rider leaning into turns. To improve stability some three-wheelers are designed to tilt while cornering like

720-685: A four-wheeler with a front wheel missing. Three-wheelers, including some cyclecars , bubble cars and microcars , are built for economic and legal reasons: in the UK for tax advantages, or in the US to take advantage of lower safety regulations, being classed as motorcycles. As a result of their light construction and potential better streamlining, three-wheeled cars are usually less expensive to operate. Some inexpensive three-wheelers have been designed specifically to improve mobility for disabled people. Three-wheeler transport vehicles known as auto rickshaws are

810-422: A front engine driving the single rear wheel, similar to the rear engine driving the rear wheel. The wheel must support acceleration loads as well as lateral forces when in a turn, and loss of traction can be a challenge. A new tadpole configuration has been proposed with a rear engine driving the front wheels. This concept (Dragonfly Three Wheeler ) claims both stability and traction (two driven wheels), as well as

900-465: A good second to Graham Hill's Lotus at Monaco, but after this results went downhill and the season petered out ignominiously. For 1969 the four valve per cylinder engine was developed and a new slimline car, the P139 was built. John Surtees joined as the team's lead driver backed up by Jack Oliver. Rodríguez was shunted into the semi-works Parnell team. Surtees' time at BRM was not a happy one and, despite

990-723: A lot of development; it was so late that the Owen Organisation started the 2.5 L formula with a Maserati 250F . The P25 was initially unsuccessful, not winning a race until a victory at the Dutch Grand Prix in 1959. Colin Chapman helped to improve the car in 1956. Stirling Moss believed that the BRM engine was superior to the Coventry-Climax unit used in his Cooper , and a P25 was briefly run in 1959 by

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1080-414: A mix of paying and paid drivers until it became obvious that it was completely overstretched and the team's sponsors insisted that the team should cut back to a more reasonable level and only three cars were run in 1973 for Beltoise, Lauda, and Regazzoni. At the end of the year, Marlboro would transfer its sponsorship to McLaren from 1974 (staying with the team until 1996 ). The last notable performance

1170-491: A motorcyclist would do. The tilt may be controlled manually, mechanically or by computer. A tilting three-wheeler's body or wheels, or both, tilt in the direction of the turn. Such vehicles can corner safely even with a narrow track. Some tilting three-wheelers could be considered to be forms of feet forward motorcycles or cabin motorcycles or both. Three-wheeled battery powered designs include: Here are three notable examples of solar-powered three wheelers; two race cars,

1260-603: A national prestige project, with financial and industrial backing from the British motor industry and its suppliers channelled through a trust fund . This proved to be an unwieldy way of organising and financing the project, and as some of the backers withdrew, disappointed with the team's slow progress and early results, it fell to one of the partners in the trust, Alfred Owen of the Rubery Owen group of companies. Owen, whose group primarily manufactured car parts, took over

1350-399: A new form of transport. So now, in fact, we think it's going to appeal to a much wider section of the market than we originally envisaged." The Bug was available in a bright orange tangerine colour, although six white Bugs were produced for a Rothmans cigarette promotion, registration AME191H through to AME196H– one of which was also used in an advertisement for Cape Fruit of which AME191H

1440-412: A power increase to 31 bhp (23 kW; 31 PS) as well as improved torque for the then range-topping 700ES. The Bond Bug 700ES also offers more ergonomic seats, as well as more padding over the engine cowl, twin mudflaps, an ashtray, a rubber front bumper and a spare wheel. The car had an upbeat launch, at which Reliant's Ray Wiggin stated: "The fact it has three wheels is quite incidental. It's

1530-573: A profit through sales of racing engines; the four-cylinder appeared briefly in a Cooper-BRM special for Stirling Moss but found no other customers. The V8 powered many 1.5-litre cars, including various private Lotuses and Brabhams as well as the BRP works team. Enlarged Tasman Series V8s of between 1.9 and 2.1 L were popular in 1966 as a stopgap before full three-litre engines were widely available. These units were also sold to Matra to power its early sports-prototypes. A one-litre Formula Two engine

1620-483: A prototype of a strange coupe that looked very different from the Bond Bug. All this design was done by Ogle, but Reliant management never took it any further. A larger engine was also in development with BRM for the car too; this was a standard 850cc engine block with an overhead camshaft design; this engine would also gain twin SU carburettors and an electric fuel pump; the engine in standard tune would give 70hp. The engine

1710-426: A standard car and a convertible. These cars had huge bubble-shaped front and rear arches. Again more prototypes were produced; the chassis was redesigned once more with double-wishbone front suspension, and because the car was a 4-wheeler, the 850cc engine was redesigned to take fuel injection and a catalytic converter. Even though prototypes were promising, Reliant Motor Company wouldn't pay for further development, and

1800-424: A standard car which had fibreglass doors instead of the original vinyl doors, to keep the driver warm and dry. They also produced a small number of 3-wheeled Webster Bugs Under 30 kits were known to be sold. In 1994, Reliant unveiled the "Reliant Sprint"; this car was a complete redesign of the original Bond Bug. Tom Karen of Ogle design rounded off all the sharp edges of the Bug and added round headlights, giving

1890-424: A state-by-state basis. Some states require drivers of three wheeled vehicles to have a motorcycle license and register the vehicle as a motorcycle. Some states, including Virginia, Kansas, and Indiana, classify some three wheeled vehicles as autocycles. Virginia defines an autocycle as "a three-wheeled motor vehicle that has a steering wheel and seating that does not require the operator to straddle or sit astride and

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1980-464: A teardrop shape is often used. A teardrop is wide and round at the front, tapering at the back. The three-wheel configuration allows the two front wheels to create the wide round surface of the vehicle. The single rear wheel allows the vehicle to taper at the back. Examples include the Aptera (solar electric vehicle) and Myers Motors NmG . Having one wheel in front and two in the rear for power reduces

2070-584: A three-wheeled vehicle with an enclosed passenger compartment or partially enclosed seat is considered an automobile. BRM British Racing Motors ( BRM ) was a British Formula One motor racing team. Founded in 1945 and based in the market town of Bourne in Lincolnshire , it participated from 1951 to 1977, competing in 197 grands prix and winning seventeen. BRM won the constructors' title in 1962 when its driver Graham Hill became world champion. In 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1971, BRM came second in

2160-494: A tri-car at The Great Exhibition . In 1897, Edward Butler made the Butler Petrol Cycle, another three-wheeled car. A Conti 6  hp Tri-car competed in (but did not complete) a 1907 Peking to Paris race sponsored by a French newspaper, Le Matin . A configuration of two wheels in the front and one wheel at the back presents two advantages: it has improved aerodynamics , and that it readily enables

2250-473: A unique driving experience. With two wheels in the front (the "tadpole" form or "reverse trike") the vehicle is far more stable in braking turns, but remains more prone to overturning in normal turns compared to an equivalent four-wheeled vehicle, unless the center of mass is lower and/or further forward. Motorcycle-derived designs suffer from most of the weight being toward the rear of the vehicle. For lower wind resistance (which increases fuel efficiency ),

2340-484: Is manufactured to comply with federal safety requirements for motorcycles." Indiana defines it as "a three (3) wheeled motor vehicle in which the operator and passenger ride in a completely or partially enclosed seating area that is equipped with:(1) a rollcage or roll hoops; (2) safety belts for each occupant; and (3) antilock brakes;and is designed to be controlled with a steering wheel and pedals." In other jurisdictions, such as British Columbia , Canada, and Connecticut,

2430-486: The 1970 Belgian Grand Prix in a P153, with further victories for Jo Siffert and Peter Gethin in 1971 in the P160. The team had reached one of its intermittent peaks of success. Both Siffert and Rodríguez were killed before the 1972 season and the team had to regroup completely again. Their last World Championship victory came when Jean-Pierre Beltoise drove a stunning race to win the rain-affected 1972 Monaco Grand Prix with

2520-469: The 1972 Monaco Grand Prix the team achieved their last win which was also the first win for a Marlboro-sponsored F1 car. Ironically this deal was also lost to McLaren for the 1974 season, to be replaced briefly by Motul in a pale green and silver colour scheme. As Stanley-BRM the cars initially ran in red, white and blue with no major sponsorship; for the team's swansong it was sponsored by Rotary Watches and ran in pale blue and white. The Jordan-BRM P230

2610-628: The British Racing Partnership , for Moss (and also Hans Herrmann), and Rob Walker also backed the construction of a Cooper-BRM to gain access to the engine. The P25 was becoming highly competitive just as the rear-engined Cooper started to become dominant; the P48 was a quick reaction to this, using major components from the P25 but in rear-engined format. The P48 was revised for the 1.5 L rules in 1961, but once again BRM's own engine

2700-768: The Guinness World Record , on 20 August 2014. It took the record from another three-wheeler, Sunswift IV , designed and built at the University of New South Wales in Australia, by a margin of almost 3 km/h. The Aptera solar electric vehicle uses a tadpole layout and is being designed to have a top speed of over 100 mph. The Aptera uses 42 KW in-wheel electric motors and can be ordered with two ( front-wheel drive ) or three ( all-wheel drive ) motors. The Aptera's roof and dashboard, and optionally its hood and hatch, are fitted with solar panels, with

2790-581: The Lotus 43 to house it, and Jim Clark managed to win the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen with this combination. It was the only victory for this engine in a world championship race. Lotus built the similar Lotus 42 designed for Indianapolis with a 4.2-litre version of the H16 (2.9375 x 2.36 in, 74.61 x 59.94 mm) but this was never raceworthy; the cars were raced with Ford V8s instead. The H16 engine

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2880-625: The U.S , the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration defines and regulates three-wheeled vehicles as motorcycles . However, in 2015 a bill was introduced in Congress that would prevent some three wheeled vehicles from being classified as motorcycles in the United States, instead creating a new classification for "autocycles". Driver's license and registration requirements vary on

2970-690: The "Pond Bug"; driven by Jeremy Clarkson , the car broke the UK water speed record in the "experimental amphibious unlimited class", reaching a speed of 47.81 mph at Coniston Water . A fictionalized version of the Bond Bug with minor visual changes appears in BeamNG.drive as the Ibishu Wigeon. A four-wheeled version based on the Webster Bug called the Wigeon Sprint is also in-game. Three-wheeler Many three-wheelers which exist in

3060-489: The 1960s Alfred Owen's brother Ernest wanted the team to paint their cars orange with black trim, orange being the Owen Organisation's corporate colour, used for a band around the nose of the cars and for the mechanics' overalls; Rudd (who didn't like the idea of orange BRMs) pointed out that orange was the Dutch racing colour , when such things were still honoured; through most of the 1960s the cars ran with Owen orange bands round

3150-488: The 81-year-old son of BRM's original owner, the renowned industrialist, Sir Alfred Owen, has commissioned the build of three authentic 'new' 1950s V16 race cars. BRM's technical partners, Hall and Hall, used the original 'engine number two' a V16 power unit dating back to the 1950s, to help engineers overcome the technical challenges presented by one of the most complex Formula 1 engines of its day – each with more than 36,000 precision-engineered parts. The re-built engine itself

3240-546: The French constructor was forced to drop the involvement with BRM and restart development with a French partner, as its government funding was threatened, but there were still close resemblances between the finished Matra engine and the BRM. The first BRM cars entered by the BRM works team were a pale duck-egg green (any shade of green represented the British racing green , the national racing colour of Great Britain ), but this

3330-694: The H16 engine for the Indianapolis 500 . As a part of the Owen Organisation, BRM also worked on tuned road-car engines for Ford, Chrysler and others. The BRM-tuned version of the 1557 cc Lotus-Ford Twin Cam engine was particularly popular as the Special Equipment option on the Lotus Elan . This improved version of the Lotus-Ford engine was used by Tony Rudd when he left BRM for Lotus to form

3420-657: The Infinium and the Sky Ace TIGA, and a vehicle planned for production, the Aptera. The Infinium, built by the University of Michigan Solar Car Team , came in 3rd place in the 2009 World Solar Challenge held in Australia, and won the 2010 American Solar Challenge . Ashiya University 's Sky Ace TIGA achieved 91.332 kilometres per hour (56.751 mph) at Shimojishima Airport , in Miyakojima, Okinawa, Japan, to win

3510-493: The P160. He also won the non-championship 1972 World Championship Victory Race later in the year. The 1972 campaign was generally chaotic: having acquired major sponsorship (of Marlboro cigarettes , being the first team in the category to be sponsored by the brand), Louis Stanley originally planned to field up to six cars (three for established drivers, three for paying journeymen and young drivers) of varying designs including P153s, P160s and P180s and actually ran up to five for

3600-590: The Regal 3/25, the company had tried to make a more sporty version to appeal to younger buyers. Design sketches were done as early as 1964 by Ogle; these sketches are much more wedged-shaped with some rounded edges; the original name for this car was the Reliant Rogue. The car was never put into production, as management thought that such a strange-looking vehicle might hurt the Reliant brand identity. Following

3690-533: The Sprint into production, as they had little faith that, in the 1990s, it would sell in any large numbers, even though it would cost as little as £12,500 to start production. More developments were made on the Sprint until 1998 when Reliant would try to get it production-ready as a 4-wheeled sports car. Andy Plumb would redesign the car, now renamed/code named internally "the Clubman", in 2 different 4-wheeled models:

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3780-542: The back and two at the front (2F1R), (for example: Morgan Motor Company ) or one wheel at the front and two at the back (1F2R) (such as the Reliant Robin ). Due to better safety when braking, an increasingly popular form is the front-steering "tadpole" or "reverse trike" sometimes with front drive but usually with rear drive. A variant on the 'one at the front' layout was the Scott Sociable , which resembled

3870-522: The basic 850 cc Mini (72 mph/116 km/h) and the Hillman Imp (80 mph/128 km/h). For this, the Bond Bug would get an altered Regal Regal speedo with a top speed of 100mphj on the regal it only went up to 80mph. The Bond Bug was sold as being fun to drive, with the low seating position giving a similar exaggerated impression of speed as in a go-kart . The Bug was, however, no cheaper than more practical cars. It cost £629, while

3960-682: The basis of the Lotus produced "Sprint" version of the engine used in the Elan Sprint , Elan Plus2S-130, Europa JPS and Caterham Seven . BRM were contracted by Chrysler (UK) Competition Department to develop a sixteen-valve cylinder head for the Hillman Avenger engine. It proved unreliable, underpowered, and unable to compete with the Ford rally team's proven Cosworth BDB -powered RS1600 Escorts . The Owen Organisation expected BRM to turn

4050-542: The car a totally new look; the prototype had Minilite alloy wheels, a grey vinyl interior, and was bright yellow. The Sprint used, in effect, a Reliant Robin chassis cut in half, with the rear half made to use the original suspension set up of the Bond Bug. Similarly, the interior used many of the current Robin switches and dials, to keep production costs low. As shown in the Trouble At The Top TV show, Reliant Management wouldn't allow Jonathan Haynes to put

4140-430: The car had yet to leave the drawing board. In 2012, Bobbie Neate, granddaughter of Alfred Ernest Owen (who created Rubery Owen ) and daughter of Jean Stanley (née Owen) wrote of her memories of BRM racing in the 1950s and 60s in her book Conspiracy of Secrets . The BRM team won seventeen Formula One Grands Prix as follows: There is a small exhibition about Raymond Mays, including his interest in BRM, together with

4230-639: The car was equally unsuccessful. A special edition Rover 200 was produced to commemorate the Rover-BRM gas-turbine car; this was finished in Brooklands Green (however not the very dark metallic gunmetal BRM shade) with an orange lower, front grill and silver details. In October 2008, a press release announced that Bee Automobiles Ltd ' BRM Bee Four ERV' would compete in the British Speed Hill Climb championships: As of 2011,

4320-528: The constructors' competition. BRM was founded just after the Second World War by Raymond Mays , who had built several hillclimb and road racing cars under the ERA brand before the war, and Peter Berthon , a long-time associate. Mays' pre-war successes (and access to pre-war Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union design documents) inspired him to build an all-British grand prix car for the post-war era as

4410-406: The cost of the steering mechanism but greatly decreases lateral stability when cornering while braking. When the single wheel is in the front (the "delta" form, as in a child's pedal tricycle ), the vehicle is inherently unstable in a braking turn, as the combined tipping forces at the center of mass from turning and braking can rapidly extend beyond the triangle formed by the contact patches of

4500-558: The end of the 1961 season BRM had managed to build an engine designed by Peter Berthon and Aubrey Woods (BRM P56 V8) (2.6975 x 2.0 in, 68.5 x 50.8 mm) which was on a par with the Dino V6 used by Ferrari and the Coventry Climax V8 used by other British teams. However, the real change was the promotion by Owen of an engineer who had been with the team since 1950 (originally on secondment from Rolls-Royce to look after

4590-515: The fact that a ground effect "wing car" was designed, this was never constructed and the team's performances were lacklustre. Surtees left after a single season (1969), along with Tony Rudd who went to Lotus (initially on the road-car side), and Geoff Johnson who departed for Austin Morris. The team regrouped with Tony Southgate as designer and Rodríguez brought back into the fold to partner Oliver, and gained its first V12 victory when Rodríguez won

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4680-479: The form of motorcycle-based machines are often called trikes and often have the front single wheel and mechanics similar to that of a motorcycle and the rear axle similar to that of a car. Often such vehicles are owner-constructed using a portion of a rear-engine, rear-drive Volkswagen Beetle in combination with a motorcycle front end. Other trikes include All-terrain vehicles that are specially constructed for off-road use. Three-wheelers can have either one wheel at

4770-517: The fourth round of the series at Teretonga but being generally unimpressed with the car. BRM themselves built further examples of the Terry design, which were designated P133 and 1968 team drivers Mike Spence and Pedro Rodríguez appeared competitive in early season non championship races at Brands Hatch and Silverstone, but then Spence was killed driving the Lotus 56 turbine during qualifying at Indianapolis. Spence's replacement, Richard Attwood, finished

4860-500: The full compliment being designed to add a range of up to 40 miles per day and 11,000 miles per year in the sunniest climates. First customer availability is planned for before the end of 2024. The world's first full-size self-propelled land vehicle was a three-wheeler. French Army Captain Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot 's 1770 fardier à vapeur (steam dray), a steam tricycle with a top speed of around 3 km/h (2 mph),

4950-478: The newly launched Reliant Robin 750 to keep up with demand. Even though the Bond Bug ended production with little fanfare, Reliant continued development into the 1970s; prototype 4-wheeled Bond Bugs were made before the launch of the Reliant Kitten, as they thought a 4 wheeled version might have more appeal to the market. The code name FW9 was used for the 4-wheeled Bond Bug design studies, later leading to

5040-423: The nose. The team acquired significant commercial sponsorship from Yardley for the 1970 season, running in white with black, gold and ochre stripes in a stylised "Y" wrapping around the car's bodywork, losing this deal to McLaren for the 1972 season and replacing it by Marlboro 's familiar white and red (a flat shade, not dayglo ) colours. The BRM team became the first F1 team sponsored by Marlboro and at

5130-637: The odd O.S.C.A. The V16s continued to race in minor Formula One races and in British Formula Libre events until the mid fifties, battles with Tony Vandervell 's Thin Wall Special Ferrari 375 being a particular highlight of the British scene. The Type 25 was BRM's next car. It used an extremely oversquare (4.05 x 2.95 in, 102.87 x 74.93 mm) 2.5 L atmospheric four-cylinder engine designed by Stewart Tresilian and (as became typical with BRM) it arrived late and took

5220-509: The other, with the crankshafts geared together. BRM found the H16 (2.75 x 1.925 in, 69.85 x 48.895 mm) attractive because it was initially planned to share design elements and components with the successful 1.5-litre V8. While the engine was powerful, it was also heavy and unreliable - Rudd claimed that his drawings were not followed accurately and many of the castings were much thicker and heavier than he had specified (when Lotus took delivery of their first H16 it took six men to carry it from

5310-631: The problems were still unsolved when the Commission Sportive Internationale announced in 1952 that for 1954, a new engine formula of 2.5 litres naturally aspirated or 750 cc supercharged would take effect. Meanwhile, the organisers of all the grands prix counting for the world championship elected to run their races for Formula Two for the next two years, as Alfa Romeo had pulled out of racing and BRM were unable to present raceworthy cars, leaving no credible opposition to Ferrari other than outdated Lago-Talbots and

5400-403: The project died. Tom Karen oversaw the design and production of Luke Skywalker 's landspeeder from Star Wars (1977): one of the models was built upon the chassis of a Bond Bug – the wheels hidden by mirrors angled slightly to the ground. In the television series The Grand Tour , presenters Richard Hammond and James May transformed a Bond Bug into an amphibious vehicle , dubbing it

5490-488: The purchase of Bond Cars Ltd. in 1969, Reliant commissioned Tom Karen of Ogle Design to alter the Reliant Rogue design; the car would now become a Bond vehicle. The Bond Bug was based on chief engineer John Crosthwaite 's newly designed chassis, and used a mixture of Reliant Regal parts, and running gear which had been designed for the Reliant Robin 750, which was due to be launched in 1974. The original concept

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5580-470: The revived Can-Am series. The team became involved with Rover 's gas-turbine project, with the Rover-BRM gas turbine car running at Le Mans in 1963 and 1965 ; it was damaged in testing and missed the 1964 race. BRM were also involved with Donald Campbell 's gas-turbine Bluebird-Proteus CN7 project. In later years they also built an unsuccessful Can-Am car, and dabbled with larger versions of

5670-556: The start of a new formula and the old cars continued to be used, even on occasion after the H16 was ready. For 1966 , the engine regulations changed to permit three-litre atmospheric (or 1.5-litre supercharged) engines. BRM refused Peter Berthon and Aubrey Woods's proposal to build a V12 , and instead built an ingenious but very complicated engine, designed by Tony Rudd and Geoff Johnson, the H16 ( BRM P75 ), which essentially used two flat-eight engines (derived from their 1.5L V8) one above

5760-540: The supercharging on the V16), Tony Rudd , to the position of chief development engineer. Rudd was the first professional engineer to exercise full technical control over the team, and basic engineering and reliability problems which had plagued the team for years began to vanish. He was given greater responsibility in 1960 after two of the drivers, Graham Hill and Dan Gurney , went on strike and told Alfred Owen they would not drive again, and in early 1962 full executive authority

5850-520: The team hoping for a revival with the bulky and vaguely Ferrari-like P207 - which failed entirely. Cereal millionaire and amateur racer John Jordan purchased some of the team's assets when the team finally folded, and backed the building of a pair of P230 cars by CTG, with the aim of competing in the national-level Aurora AFX Formula One Championship . Teddy Pilette raced a P207 during 1978 with modest success, finishing fourth at Oulton Park and fifth at Brands Hatch. One chassis also apparently raced in

5940-568: The team in its entirety. Between 1954 and 1970 the team entered its works F1 cars under the official name of the Owen Racing Organisation . Berthon and Mays continued to run the team on Rubery Owen's behalf into the 1960s, before it was handed over to Louis Stanley , the husband of Sir Alfred's sister Jean Owen. A factory was set up in Spalding Road, Bourne , Lincolnshire , behind Eastgate House, Mays' family home, in

6030-633: The trophies won by BRM while it was owned by the Owen Organisation, at Bourne Civic Society 's Heritage Centre. A driveable, detailed virtual recreation of the BRM H16-powered P83/P115 and the BRM P261 was made available in the PC simulation Grand Prix Legends that is based on the 1967 Formula One season . An unlicensed recreation of the 1968 BRM P126 can be found in rFactor 2 . In celebration of BRM's 70th anniversary, John Owen,

6120-495: The use of a small lightweight motorcycle powerplant and rear wheel. This approach was used by the Messerschmitt KR200 and BMW Isetta . Alternatively, a more conventional front-engine, front wheel drive layout as is common in four-wheeled cars can be used, with subsequent advantages for transversal stability (the center of mass is further to the front) and traction (two driven wheels instead of one). Some vehicles have

6210-462: The van to the workshop). At that time, BRM earned the nickname of "British Racing Misery". BRM, Lotus , and various privateers had been using enlarged versions of the BRM 1.5 V8 of up to 2.1 litres in 1966, as competitive three-litre engines were in short supply in the first year of the new regulations. Lotus also took up the H16 as an interim measure until the Cosworth DFV was ready, building

6300-446: The vehicle stationary, the line will be vertical. As the vehicle accelerates, that imaginary line tilts backward, remaining anchored to the centre of mass the point at which the line intersects the ground moves backward. As you brake it moves forward, with cornering it moves sideward. Should the point at which this line intersects the ground move outside of the boundary formed by connecting the tyre contact patches together (a rectangle for

6390-400: The wheels. This type, if not tipped, also has a greater tendency to spin out ("swap ends") when handled roughly. The disadvantage of a three-wheel configuration is that lateral stability is lower than with a four-wheeled vehicle. With any vehicle, an imaginary line can be projected from the vehicles centre of mass to the ground, representing the force exerted on the vehicle by its mass. With

6480-524: Was Beltoise's second-place finish in the 1974 South African Grand Prix with the Mike Pilbeam -designed P201, a car with a pyramidal monocoque , very different from the curvy "Coke-bottle" Southgate cars. The Owen Organisation ended its support of the team and it was run on a lower-key basis by Louis Stanley and some of the Bourne personnel as Stanley-BRM until 1977. Old P201s were initially used, with

6570-513: Was also made available, based on half of the F1 V8. This was not successful, in a formula dominated by Cosworth - Ford and eventually Honda engines. Team Lotus used the ill-fated H16 engine, scoring its only win. V12s were sold to other constructors of which the most notable were Cooper , John Wyer and McLaren . Matra entered into a contract with BRM to collaborate in the design of their own V12 engine, but when this became public knowledge

6660-457: Was an extremely ambitious 1.5-litre supercharged V16 . Rolls-Royce was contracted to produce centrifugal superchargers , rather than the more commonly used Roots type. The design concept of the V16 had not been used extensively on automobiles before so that design problems were many and the engine did not fire for the first time until June 1949. It proved to be outstandingly powerful but its output

6750-658: Was black and gold. BRM raced again as part of a project by John Mangoletsi for a Group C sports car known as the P351 with the backing of the Owen family to use the BRM name. Unfortunately the car was short lived and unsuccessful. In 1997 Keith Wiggins and Pacific Racing would resurrect the car as the BRM P301 , using the BRM name only because it was technically a BRM built chassis but had no other connection to British Racing Motors. Heavily modified into an open cockpit sportscar,

6840-564: Was cautiously tested at Hall and Hall's dynamometer at RAF Folkingham, Lincolnshire, where the original BRM Formula 1 engineering team worked during the 1950s. This particular engine has not been run since one of the original BRM team drivers, José Froilán González, then 77 years old, accidentally over-revved it during the at BRM's 50th anniversary celebration at Silverstone in 1999.  It was comprehensively 'lunched', according to Hall and Hall technicians and has remained in storage ever since. The three 'new' P15 V16 BRMs have been made possible by

6930-463: Was explored by chopping down a production Regal vehicle, the car's rear being shortened to end over the rear axle. The engine is the front-mounted 700 cc Reliant light-alloy four-cylinder unit. At launch, 29 bhp (22 kW; 29 PS) was claimed for the less expensive 700 and 700E models. The more upmarket 700ES incorporates a redesigned cylinder head, which permitted the compression ratio to be increased from 7.35:1 to 8.4:1. This provided

7020-614: Was first used in F1 by the McLaren M5A . Back at the works, the early V12 years were lean ones. In 1967 the two-valve layout gave about 360 bhp (270 kW) at 9,000 rpm. In 1968 this had increased to 390 bhp (290 kW) at 9,750 rpm. Geoff Johnson updated the design by adding a four-valve head, based on the H16 485 bhp 4-valve layout; this improved the V12's power output to 452 bhp (337 kW) at 10,500 rpm and eventually to

7110-567: Was given to Tony Rudd. Raymond Mays and Peter Berthon were sidelined. The team had designed their first mid-engined car for 1960, matching the other teams, and won the World Drivers' Championship with Graham Hill as driver, in 1962 with the P57 . (During 1962, BRM also ran Lucas electronic ignition .) During 1965, 210 bhp (160 kW) at 11,000 rpm was the rated power. However at the high-speed 1965 Italian GP (Monza) an uprated version

7200-604: Was intended for hauling artillery . Another of the earliest preserved examples is the Long steam tricycle , built by George A. Long around 1880 and patented in 1883, now on display at the Smithsonian Institution . The Whike is a recumbent tricycle with a sail, made in the Netherlands. Due to the incidence of injuries and deaths related to their use, a 10-year ban, entirely voluntary for manufacturers,

7290-729: Was later replaced for aesthetic reasons by a very dark metallic shade of grey-green. During the team's Owen-owned years the cars bore simple "Owen Racing Organisation" signage. The BRP-entered BRM for Moss and Herrmann was a non-metallic duck-egg green. However, BRM cars entered by non-British privateer teams wore their respective national racing colours , e.g. the Italian Scuderia Centro Sud team ran their cars in Italian red and cars entered by Maurice Trintignant 's privateer team were in French blue . At one point in

7380-407: Was meant to be shared with a small production sports car that Reliant never finished developing. Mike and Gary Webster between them managed to acquire the original Bug moulds from Reliant Motor Company in 1990 with a licence for the design, and formed the "Webster Motor Company". They decided to produce 4-wheeled Bugs as a "Kit car", so you would build the vehicle yourself. The kit asked you to buy

7470-414: Was not ready and the cars had to run with a Coventry-Climax four-cylinder unit in adapted P48 chassis, achieving very little in terms of results. The firm moved to a purpose-built workshop on an adjoining site in the spring of 1960, but when the 1.5-litre atmospheric Formula One regulation was introduced in 1961, Alfred Owen was threatening to pull the plug unless race victories were achieved very soon. By

7560-554: Was placed on the sale of new three-wheeled all-terrain vehicles in the United States in January 1988. More injuries were sustained by riders by not applying a proper riding technique, and lack of wearing proper safety gear such as helmets and riding boots. In a search conducted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, it was determined that "no inherent flaw was found in the three wheel design". In

7650-421: Was produced over a very limited range of engine speed, coming on suddenly if the throttle was applied carelessly, resulting in wheelspin as the narrow tyres proved unable to transfer the power to the road. This made the car very touchy to drive. Engineer Tony Rudd was seconded to BRM from Rolls-Royce to develop the supercharging system and remained involved with BRM for nearly twenty years. The Type 15 , which

7740-674: Was raced with 220 bhp (160 kW) at 11,750 rpm for short bursts. A planned 4-valve-per-cylinder version in cooperation with Weslake Engineering never materialised. As part of Owen's attempt to make BRM pay its way, the V8 engine was sold to privateers and appeared in a number of other chassis during the 1.5 L formula, particularly in private Lotus chassis and in smaller marques such as BRP . A number of privateers acquired 1961 and 1962 BRMs during this period, including Maurice Trintignant and Scuderia Centro Sud ; these cars continued to race for many years. The monocoque BRM P261 V8 car

7830-436: Was redesigned with a narrow-angle four-valve head and magnesium main castings to reduce weight and increase power, but was never raced (it was intended for the 1967 BRM P115) as BRM decided to use the V12 unit which was being sold to other F1 and sports car teams with encouraging results. The H16 was replaced by a V12 (2.9375 x 2.25 in, 74.61 x 57.15 mm) designed by Geoff Johnson. It had been intended for sports car use, but

7920-427: Was soon developed and these ran on through the 1.5-litre formula and performed useful service in the early races of the subsequent 3.0-litre formula. In 1965 Jackie Stewart was signed to partner Hill; he took his first grand prix win at Monza in his debut season, and won the first world championship race of the new three-litre formula with a car fitted with a Tasman two-litre V8; once again BRM were not ready for

8010-525: Was the designation for the V16 car, won the first two races it actually started, the Formula Libre and Formula One events at Goodwood in September 1950, driven by Reg Parnell . However, it was never to be so successful again. The engine proved unreliable and difficult to develop, and the team were not up to the task of improving the situation. A string of failures caused much embarrassment, and

8100-485: Was used as the main vehicle, Only three Rothmans Bugs are known to exist, and, according to the most recently available information, all three are registered in South Yorkshire. In contrast to the image of three-wheeled Reliants as being slow, the Bond Bug was capable of 76 mph (122 km/h), in excess of the UK national speed limit (70 mph/112.6 km/h), and comparable to small saloon cars such as

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