British Racing Motors, world-champion F1 in 1962, had not won a GP for three years. In 1969, they got the young and talentful designer Tony Southgate on board. He was responsible for the P153, a race winner. Because he had worked earlier on the Lola T70, he was asked to design a Groupe 7 CAN-Am car. This Challenge Cup was always run in the autumn; there were not many rules and lots of prze-money for the drivers. From the Ferrrai experience earlier, he knwe they had to rely on the big-block Chevrolet V8 engine and a Hewland four-speed gearbox and not construct a new in-house engine. So he started "project 154". Southgate developed a very conventional aluminum monocoque chassis with independent suspension on all four wheels.
The CanAm car was named :P154. This BRM had a lightweight fiberglass body. Tony Southgate believed sufficient downforce could be created by designing a wedge-shaped body that functioned as one large spoiler. So no separate rear wing was fitted. Instead the rear body-work boasted a 'ducktail' that was 83in. wide. The broad nose featured a low-mounted radiator intake with the hot air exiting ahead of the cockpit. The P154 was finished in white with red and green stripes courtesy of sponsor Castrol.
Testing of the new car was minimal and it was sent off to America with mechanics Roger Bailey and Mike Underwood to sort out.
Tasked to drive the BRM P154 was the team's Canadian driver George Eaton, who had raced previuos in the Can-Am with private entries. The car was ready for the opening round at Mosport where Eaton qualified seventh but failed to finish with mechanical issues. BRM had no experience with running and properly tuning the American Chevy engine. Fourteen days later Eaton qualified third at Mont-Tremblant; in the race he could not finish. For the final three races, he was joined by BRM's #1 driver Mexican Pedro Rodriguez. He actually did a bit better, finishing ninth at Donnybrooke, fifth at Laguna Seca and third at Riverside.
Following the disappointing season, the car was reworked with heavily revised aerodynamics. A shovel nose and a separate rear wing were added to a chassis with a 9 inches larger wheelbase to create a more stable platform. "The tracks, front and rear were widened." (Tony Southgate). It was now called : P167 and it is believed that both an existing P154 chassis and a brand new car was built.
To test the car, the P167 was first entered in the European Interserie Championship for Rodriguez(Zolder #26) and Brian Redman (#38). He took two wins. Following the promising results, one car was shipped to North America for the final Can-Am rounds. Howden Ganley drove the car to fourth at Laguna Seca and Redman was back behind the wheel at Riverside where he finished third. In 1972 it was back to Interserie racing with a couple of more wins for Ganley and one for Helmut Marko.
Brian Redman - Interserie Hockenheim and Imola 1971
After the 1972 season, BRM cancelled the CanAm in favour of the F1. Southgate went on to design the BRM P160 F1 and the P180 F1 before moving to Shadow.
Former double British Hillclimb Champion David Hepworth bought the entire BRM Can Am Group7 project including all cars along with “three tons of spares, then sold P154 #01 on to Lol Hopkins who entered the car for at least one event in 1973. He already raced one of the earlier cars in 1972, the Silverstone race. He continued to race the BRMs with limited success in the Interserie into 1974.
All the five BRM Can-Am cars still exist, four of them owned by David’s sons. The exception is the ex-George Eaton chassis P154/1. Included are what is known as ‘the bastard car’, an interim machine with P154 short wheel base but P167 geometry and a pair of P167s. One of these is the mustard coloured, car and the second chassis that, it is believed, was never completed by the factory but assembled by David following acquisition.
