BRM in a spin

Simon Taylor’s lovely piece about Tom Wheatcroft (Full throttle, March) brought back memories of the great man, especially his huge generosity – and that laugh!

One day I was at Donington with Froilán González, having arranged for him to drive Tom’s V16 BRM. In his haste to get going, Froilán overdid it on the loud pedal and the tyres (old and hard – typical Tom!) couldn’t cope as the revs hit the famously narrow powerband. The car fishtailed in the pitlane as Froilán corrected before losing it to a spin that came to rest with the nose right up against the pit wall having – incredibly – not hit anything.

When the screaming motor stalled there was stunned silence, broken by Tom’s enormous, booming laugh. Incidentally, it was a very cold day and Froilán did agree that he suddenly felt much warmer!

Dr Richard Mccann

Biddenham