Motor Racing History – New British Teams & The Rear-Engined Revolution
The Rise of British Racing Green
Green cars began appearing more frequently on the grids of the the world’s Grand Prixs. BRM the first major British effort was floundering but Tony Vandervell (ed. a good Dutch name) who left the BRM project produced his own cars. Using and engine developed by the venerable firm, Norton Motor Cycles, he commissioned Colin Chapman to design a chassis to be built by the Cooper brothers, Charles and John. Cooper had built a thriving a thriving business building Formula-Three cars. Stirling Moss drove one of the new cars to victory in the International Trophy race at Silverstone. Ferrari and Maserati would continue to win races through the brilliance of drivers such as Fangio and Hawthorn, but the tide had turned. No longer would the red cars of Italy dominate the sport as they had since the War.
The British Grand Prix of 1957 saw a full complement of British Racing Green including three Vanwalls driven by Moss, Brooks and Stuart Lewis-Evans; two BRMs and three Coopers; one of them driven by Jack Brabham. Moss streaked into the lead and drew steadily away from the others only to suffer from engine problems. Seemingly done for the day on lap 26, He took over the car of Brooks who was in ninth place. A remarkable series of failures struck the leaders including a broken clutch, engine failure, a tire puncture, and finally a broken throttle linkage clearing the way for Moss to regain the lead! When Moss crossed the line the crowd erupted in patriotic celebrations – a British car had won the British Grand Prix with one of its sons.
