Ultimatecarpage.com update (04-10-08)

[Wouter Melissen]

Dear Ultimatecarpage.com visitor,

Often overlooked and discarded, the 1961 - 1965 1.5 litre Formula 1 era deserves much more credit. Sure the engines were tiny and not very powerful, but this inspired chassis and suspension designers to make some major steps forward. The limited displacement, high revving V6, V8, V12 and flat 12 engines were absolute works of art and eventually produced over 150 bhp per litre. The 1.5 litre era also saw some of the greatest drivers of all time to come to fruition such as Jim Clark and Graham Hill. We already feature many of these great racers and today we put another six in the limelight; some more successful than others.
Scoring five victories, the BRM P261 is by far the most successful of the bunch. BRM's answer to the Lotus 25, it was even successful in the later 3-litre era. Following a similar design pattern of a spaceframe covered by aluminum sheets was the Ferrari 156 'Aero'. This was the final six cylinder engined Ferrari F1 car before being replacement by the similar, but V8 engined 158. One of the most popular combinations for private entrants was the Lotus 24 powered by the BRM V8 engine.
The era was very much dominated by the Works BRM, Ferrari and Lotus teams and others could rarely do better than a podium finish. Some of the cars that came closest were the Brabham BT11, Cooper T66 and the Lola Mk4 Climax.
Many of these fabulous single seaters will be seen out racing again at next month's Monaco Historic Grand Prix, which we will of course cover in great detail again. For much more information on these great cars, drivers and races, we strongly recommend Mark Whitelock's "1 1/2-litre Grand Prix Racing 1961-1965" book.

Enjoy the links:

1964 - 1965 Brabham BT11 Climax - Images, Specifications and Information

1964 - 1965 BRM P261 - Images, Specifications and Information

1963 Cooper T66 Climax - Images, Specifications and Information

1963 - 1964 Ferrari 156 F1 'Aero' - Images, Specifications and Information

1962 Lola Mk4 Climax - Images, Specifications and Information

1962 - 1964 Lotus 24 BRM - Images, Specifications and Information

Regards,
Wouter Melissen