British Racing Partnership

The BRP BRM P25 which Stirling Moss drove to second place in the 1959 British Grand Prix, BRP's best result.

BRP ran a Cooper-Borgward Formula Two car and occasionally a BRM Formula One car in 1959, the latter being demolished in a spectacular crash at the Avus street circuit.[1] BRP was the first Formula One team to sell the entire identity of the team in return for sponsorship income; they were sponsored by the Yeoman Credit Ltd. hire-purchase company from August 1959 and became Yeoman Credit Racing for the 1960 season. BRP was given a sum of £40,000 just to buy their equipment plus £20,000/year to operate the team.[1] The team ran Coopers in both Formula One and Formula Two during 1960, with mixed success. During this time two of the team's drivers were killed while racing their cars,[2] and the Yeoman Credit management became concerned that the team was not generating solely positive publicity for their company. The Yeoman Credit deal was passed to Reg Parnell Racing at the end of the year, and for the 1961 and 1962 seasons BRP was renamed UDT Laystall Racing, as part of a new, similar sponsorship deal. UDT was United Dominions Trust, who among various holdings owned Laystall Engineering, the principal supplier of crankshafts to the British automotive and aviation industries.[1]

Mechanics work on the UDT Laystall team cars prior to the 1962 Dutch Grand Prix

For 1963, the team reverted to its original name and became a true constructor; they had been running Lotus 24s and Cooper T51s for the previous few seasons, and had tried to acquire the more modern, monocoque Lotus 25 without success. This caused chief designer, Tony Robinson, to design his own monocoque car, patterned very closely after the Lotus 25, but with a thicker skin and running a BRM V8 rather than the typical Coventry Climax engine run in the Lotus 25. This car is commonly referred to as the BRP-BRM and was raced by Innes Ireland and Trevor Taylor.[1]

As a constructor, BRP took part in 13 Grand Prix rounds, scoring a total of 11 championship points. After 1964 the team was forced to withdraw from F1 when BRP were denied membership of the Formula 1 Constructors Association which effectively deprived them of start money, then a significant factor in a team's income. Instead, BRP was hired by Masten Gregory's stepfather George Bryant to build two cars for the 1965 Indianapolis 500, but enjoyed little success.

• Forix article on BRP
• Team Profile at Grand Prix Encyclopedia
• F1 Database entry
• Results from Formula1.com