British Car To Challenge World

Northern Advocate, 22 December 1948, Page 7

British Car To Challenge World

LONDON (By Airmail).—Britain, whose cars have held the world land speed records for nearly 20 years, will be challenging the world for road racing supremacy next year with the new BRM (British Racing Automobiles) machine. The car which is a one and a half litre supercharged machine of International Grand Prix formula is expected to have a speed of about 200 miles an hour.

Provided there are no serious snags, the assembly of the first prototype will commence in January and if satisfactory after a severe test in a new highly specialised test house, three of the cars will be built. Before the car has its first competitive race it is expected that it will make an attempt on the one-kilometre (standing start) world record for its class. The British Government are not helping with the scheme financially but they have given the British Motor Racing Research Trust priority for materials

45 FIRMS INVOLVED Most of the major difficulties on the production side have been overcome. Many components and special assemblies have already been delivered to Automobile Developments Limited, at Bourne, Lincolnshire, where they will be assembled and tested under the person] supervision of Raymond Mays, British champion racing driver, and Peter Berthon, the designer. The car is being assembled in the same workshop at Bourne, in which the first British Era machine was built in 1935.

These cars are no longer being made but the old pre-war models are still racing in International Grand Prix and it is time they had a successor. A highly-trained team of mechanics will go with the cars when they start their racing careers, but it is not yet known who the drivers will be.

It is expected, however, that they will be led by Raymond Mays.

There are considerable difficulties involved in the production of a car which is the result of team work between 45 firms.

At the same time it brings many expert and specialised- minds to bear on the problems that arise. There is every hope that the final result will be worthy of the immense effort and expenditure involved and will beat the best foreign competition. —Reuters