Owen Racing Organization

Last season, for the first time since 1951, Alfred Owen's team fielded their own-designed BRM P25 cars in the championship, which, as it turned out, had a lot of flaws and became a real headache for the team. One of the main problems of these cars was the rear brakes, the only disc of which the chief designer Peter Berthon quite originally placed right on the central axle behind the gearbox, but also a lot of trouble was caused by the engine and suspension with hydropneumatic struts, which did not forgive the team drivers even the slightest mistakes. As a result, having failed to get past the qualification at the Monaco Grand Prix and missing the rounds in Belgium and France, the debut of the P25 took place only at the home stage in the Great Britain, and there the team drivers Hawthorn and Brooks still managed to show very good speed and at the initial stage even lead the race, however, due to technical problems, both of them never made it to the finish line, while Brooks got into a very serious accident, which almost cost him his life. After such a fiasco, Alfred Owen withdrew his team from the championship, saying that the P25 would not appear on the track until all the shortcomings were corrected, but it was too late, and Hawthorn and Brooks left BRM at the end of the season, joining Ferrari and Vanwall, respectively. Yet, Owen did not give up and, still believing in the potential of the P25, instructed Berthon to finalize the cars for the next championship, which he did by increasing the wheelbase and developing a new body, distinguished by raised cockpit walls. As for the drivers, the new leader of the team was the Scotsman Ron Flockhart, who had already driven for BRM last season, while Englishman Roy Salvadori became his new teammate.