BRM P48
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Category | Formula One | ||||||||
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| Constructor | British Racing Motors | ||||||||
| Designer(s) | Stewart Tresilian | ||||||||
| Predecessor | P25 | ||||||||
| Successor | P57 Climax | ||||||||
| Technical specifications[1] | |||||||||
| Chassis | Steel ladder frame | ||||||||
| Suspension (front) | double wishbones, coil springs over dampers, anti-roll bar | ||||||||
| Suspension (rear) | double wishbones, coil springs over dampers, anti-roll bar | ||||||||
| Wheelbase | 90 in (228.6 cm) | ||||||||
| Engine | British Racing Motors 25 2,491 cc (152.0 cu in) S4 N/A, rear-mounted. | ||||||||
| Transmission | British Racing Motors 4-speed transverse shaft. ZF differential. | ||||||||
| Weight | 1,102 lb (499.9 kg) (Unladen) | ||||||||
| Fuel | Petrol/alcohol mix. | ||||||||
| Tyres | Dunlop. | ||||||||
| Competition history | |||||||||
| Notable entrants | Owen Racing Organisation | ||||||||
| Notable drivers |  Graham Hill Harry Schell  Joakim Bonnier Dan Gurney | ||||||||
| Debut | 1960 Monaco Grand Prix | ||||||||
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The BRM P48 was a Formula One racing car raced in 1960. It was BRM's first rear-engined car. With rear-engined cars in the ascendancy, BRM hastily reworked the front-engined, now five-year-old P25. The car proved to be slow and unreliable, and was replaced by the P48/57 the following year.
Aside from the placement of the driver and engine, the P48 was mechanically the same as the outgoing P25. It featured the same 2.5 litre straight-4 engine producing 275 horsepower. The P48 also featured a single brake disc at the rear mounted directly to the gearbox. The rear bodywork was cut off to aid cooling, which exposed the unlovingly nicknamed "bacon slicer" rear brake.
During 1960 Tony Rudd designed his Mark II version of the car, with a conventional 2 disc rear brake layout, simple rear wishbone suspension and a much lower profile. This resulted in a much better handling car, and for the 1961 Formula One season BRM based their chassis designs on the Mark II.