A superb and rare photo of the amazing Vanwall racing shop.
Vanwall was a
Formula One team in the 1950s. The Vanwall name was derived by combining the
name of the team owner Tony
Vandervell with that of his
patented Thinwall bearings, which were produced at his Vandervell Products
factory at Acton, London. Tony Vandervell
was one of the original backers of British Racing Motors ( BRM ). In the early
1950s, he entered a series of modified Ferraris in Formula Libre races under
the name "Thinwall Special". The first actual Vanwalls were known as
Vanwall Specials and were built for the new Formula 1 regulations in 1954 at
Cox Green, Maidenhead. The chassis was designed by Owen Maddock
and built by the Cooper Car Company. The 2.0 L engine was designed by Norton engineer Leo Kuzmicki,
and was essentially four Norton
single-cylinder 500 cc engines merged into a single unit. The car appeared
in a Grande Epreuve for the first time in that year's
British Grand Prix. Development continued with boring out the engines to a full
2.5 L. Vanwalls then ran for a season in F1 without
much in the way of success. At the end of the 1955 season, it was plain that
while the engine was sound, the chassis needed improvement. It was suggested to
Vandervell that he should hire the services of a young up-and-coming designer
to improve their cars. The designer was Colin Chapman.
The new cars designed by Chapman (along with the aerodynamicist Frank Costin)
showed early promise in 1956 by winning a non-championship F1 race at
Silverstone against strong opposition. Stirling Moss drove the car to victory
in what was his only drive for Vanwall that year, as he was still contracted to
drive for Maserati in F1. Talented drivers Harry
Schell and Maurice Trintignant
were the full-timers for the season. However, neither of them had much success
although the car showed obvious potential. With the car developing and becoming
ever more competitive, Moss eventually decided to drive for the team in 1957.
He was joined by two Englishmen, Tony Brooks and Stuart
Lewis-Evans. As the 1957 season
unfolded, the cars became faster and more reliable. Moss and Brooks duly shared Vanwall's first Grand Prix victory
in Britain
at Aintree, and Moss went on to win both the Italian and Pescara Grands Prix. All
three drivers stayed with the team in 1958, and Moss and Brooks
each won three championship races that season. Vanwall became the first team to
win the Constructors' Championship, held for the first time that season.
However, Moss lost out to Mike
Hawthorn in the drivers'
championship by a single point. Their triumph at the end of the season was sadly
marred when, during the final race of the year in Morocco, Lewis-Evans was fatally
injured in an accident.
The 1958 season was the last one in which Vanwall
entered every race. Vandervell's health was failing and he had been advised by
his doctors to rest. The team continued half-heartedly. Brooks
made one appearance in a lower and lighter Vanwall in the 1959 British Grand
Prix and the team tried again with another car in the 1960 French Grand Prix.
These efforts lacked the seriousness of the past however and they were
unsuccessful. The last racing Vanwall was a rear engined machine produced for
the 1961 Intercontinental Formula. Although showing promise when campaigned by John Surtees
in two races, development was stopped short when the formula did not find
success in Europe. In 2003 Vanwalls Cars was
formed, producing the Vanwall Sports Racer, a single seater road legal car
bearing a strong resemblance to previous Vanwall racing cars.
This is a very nice and very rare photo that reflects a wonderful era of
Vanwall ‘s and Formula One automotive history in a wonderful way. This is your rare chance to own this
photo, therefore it is printed in a nice large format of ca. 8" x 11"
(ca. 20 x 27 cm). It makes it perfectly
suitable for framing.