<< Prev Page 2 of 2 What was carried over from the earlier BRMs was the five-speed gearbox, which in 1963 would be replaced by a lighter and more compact, six-speed gearbox. Suspension was conventional and featured double wishbones on both ends with additional radius arms at the rear. Dunlop disc brakes were fitted all-round. Unusually, the rear discs were mounted on the inside of the callipers, which placed them in the airflow. The P578 was tightly wrapped in an aluminium body and noticeably more compact than the P57 it replaced.
Signed to drive for the Owen Racing Organisation in 1962 were Graham Hill and Richie Ginther. Due to a testing accident only one P578 was ready at the start of the season and Ginther had to compete in the first two rounds with a V8-engined P57. Qualifying second for the season opening Dutch Grand Prix, Hill equalled Bonnier's result of three years earlier by scoring a debut victory with the P578. Fortunately, BRM did not have to wait another three years for the next win as Hill added three more to the tally on the way to the drivers' and constructors' championships.
BRM continued with the P578 in 1963 and Hill won a further two Grands Prix that year. He and the team had to concede the title to Jim Clark and the sophisticated monocoque Lotus 25, which in its second season was as reliable as it was fast. BRM developed a monocoque car of their own, which was briefly raced in 1963 and would replace the P578 in earnest from the start of 1964. The three P578s that had previously served the works team continued to be raced by privateers into the 1965 season and were still good for points by the summer of 1964.
Although BRM scored the first win with the Type 25, the P578 was the real breakthrough car for the British team. With six Grand Prix wins, and the 1962 drivers' and constructors' trophies, it also ranks as the most successful of all the Grand Prix cars built by BRM. Of the five cars built, two were crashed before they even turned a wheel in anger but fortunately the other three have survived and one of the crashed cars has later also been rebuilt. << Prev Page 2 of 2
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What was carried over from the earlier BRMs was the five-speed gearbox, which in 1963 would be replaced by a lighter and more compact, six-speed gearbox. Suspension was conventional and featured double wishbones on both ends with additional radius arms at the rear. Dunlop disc brakes were fitted all-round. Unusually, the rear discs were mounted on the inside of the callipers, which placed them in the airflow. The P578 was tightly wrapped in an aluminium body and noticeably more compact than the P57 it replaced.