Lotus-BRM

Interesting facts

The Lotus-BRM pairing was never Chapman's first choice; it appeared more as a stopgap or supplementary option in the team's history, while the main work was carried by the Climax-powered, and later Ford-powered, cars. The Lotus 33 chassis was also fitted with BRM V8 engines, first the 1.5-litre P56 and later the enlarged 1.9-2.1-litre P60, and these rebuilt, previously crashed chassis were often run by customer outfits such as Reg Parnell's team. In 1966-1967 the BRM-engined version also turned up at Team Lotus itself, in cars driven by the likes of Pedro Rodríguez and Graham Hill, while Chapman was already waiting for the Ford-Cosworth DFV. At the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix, Hill brought the BRM-engined Lotus home second while his teammate raced the Climax-engined car, a neat illustration of how many different engine variants Lotus was running in parallel at the time. The BRM chapter remained more of a bridge between two greater eras, the Climax years and the Ford era that exploded onto the scene with the DFV, than a highlight of Lotus's own story. Lotus-BRM's Formula 1 history ran from 1962 to 1967, 6 seasons in total as a British team. The team scored a total of 29 constructors' championship points. The team's best season was 1966, when it finished 5th in the Constructors' Championship with 13 points.