I am glad someone has produced a video about the Rover BRM as it is so little known about. I had a brief involvement with the car in question, when in the 1980's I worked as an engineer at Noel Penny Turbines a gas turbine consultancy in the UK started by Noel Penny who was the final MD at at Rover Gas Turbines. Noel had a dream of producing a practical automotive gas turbine powered vehicles and we had one of I believe only two surviving cars. This was kept in running order and was used to take important visitors for rides up and down the orivate road outside the factory, in fact I think at one time it took Frank Williams of F! fame for a ride when we were woring with the Williams team on a project. i had a chance to sit in it a couple of times and saw it run many times, quite impressive. When i left the company in 1989 I lost track of the car. As an aside when the company folded in the mid ninties many of my ex colleques went on to work for Volvo who were looking into gas turbines as poweplants for large trucks, again this proved to be a dead end.
@Jdub658011 ай бұрын
They may not have found an answer in gas turbine but they definitely found some kind of answer! There's about as many Volvos in America driving on the interstate as there are Freightliners, Mack's and Internationals! I love the brand's classic automobiles, therefore I think it's kind of cool to see their semi-trucks driving all over the place in America along with their popular power plants for marine uses. They have lately been offering absolutely beautiful luxury automobiles and I'm happy for their successes, as a brand.
@williamshetler4954 Жыл бұрын
Andy Granatellis turbine Indy cars were a sight to behold just a few years after.
@rarecars3336 Жыл бұрын
Maybe I’ll have to make a video on them 🤔
@roberthill2219 Жыл бұрын
I got to see one of the 1968 Lotus Turbines running and driving around slowly in a Austin,Texas parking lot a few years ago... the sound... next turbine video... the sound of a turbine... wow...
@tommccallan8802 Жыл бұрын
The Andy Granatelli STP turbine racer..1st race out a 20 dollar bearing failed..next race, other drivers were complaing about the plate for slowing the car down , they thought parts were falling off the car. Then Indy made them cut the air intake down..no air no power ..the car was done..
@rosmeartoo Жыл бұрын
The Rover turbine engine lived on as it was used as the starter motor for the Hawker Harrier jump jet fighter aircraft. The modified Rover engine was itself started with by electric starter. This gave the aircraft the ability to take off from anywhere as it didn't require ground support. As the aircraft could also fly backwards it was possible to park it in a farm barn. How do I know this ? I worked for the subsidiary of Lucas Aerospace in the aircraft starter test & development department in 1970 when the Rover engine was under development. The Rover car JET 1 is preserved by the Science Museum in the UK.
@street-level Жыл бұрын
And I was at the Lucas Group Research Centre at Shirley, at the same time. The future was bright then. I think that T3, T4 and the Rover-BRM (and the P6BS) are on show at the British Motor Museum at Gaydon.
@tomsmith2209 Жыл бұрын
Rover were such an excellent company at one time. Shame how they ended. Thanks for this. Edit: Ariel are making an electric car with a turbine as the range extender, so the jet might come back.
@Jdub658011 ай бұрын
I am enamored by Rover's Vitesse touring cars. You're right about it being a shame they can't still be around.
@thewatcher5271 Жыл бұрын
I Enjoyed It. I Only Knew About The Chrysler Car & The STP Special Which I Saw Race In Real Time. Thank You.
@philmanson2991 Жыл бұрын
Very interesting. I only had knowledge of the Chrysler turbine and the STP turbines at Indy, which I saw live in 67 and 68.
@sporkfindus4777 Жыл бұрын
Excellent video!
@rarecars3336 Жыл бұрын
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed 👍
@keithneal536910 ай бұрын
I owned a barber shop in Bourne, lincolnshire. The home of BRM. Many of my customers worked for or were involved in the manufacturing of BRM racing cars. BRM were always willing to experiment ,eg the v16 engine. Mike pilbeam, a major designer at BRM and responsible for pilbeam hill climbers was an acquaintance of mine and I believe I gave Raymond May's his last haircut and shave,just days before his death. These were wonderful times for motor racing, to me it has lost its sparkle, albeit it's a lot safer now. British racing green is still my favourite colour.
@kenchristie9214 Жыл бұрын
Ken Wallis also built a turbine car for the 1967 Indianapolis 500. The car led throughout the race before it had to retire because of a engine bearing failure just 8 minutes short of the finish line. Another point of interest is that actor James Garner drove the pace car for that event.
@NYCS19339 Жыл бұрын
Wasn't it a driveline bearing?
@Jdub658011 ай бұрын
The Rover jet one (never heard about it until just now, thank you!) is really beautiful to me in a kind of brutish way kinda like the Fiat s76. How awesome would it be to drive that thing around packing a Rolls-Royce 12 under the bonnet? 🤤🤤🤤. Is it funny to anybody else that there was a jet competing in the 2.0L class? I guess back then they didn't know the importance of protecting against foreign object damage. That's a big deal in the Air Force, we used to do FOD-walks regularly. Being that the aerodynamic design requirements needed to maintain air speed in order to stay aloft weren't a major concern, they probably should've thought more about the necessity for air intakes that were protected by screens. Sure, it may have affected their performance some. Finishing second with a damaged engine in the 24 hours of LeMans is unheard of anyway. I would imagine a small performance penalty in exchange for an engine that performed optimally would have resulter in no less than a first place finish. Great video, thanks again!
@rarecars333611 ай бұрын
Glad you enjoyed it, I am fascinated by these turbine cars they are just so outlandish you can't help but love them!
@tonycamplin8607 Жыл бұрын
Good to see this video. I remember the car very well, it got a lot of publicity back in the day and was very famous. It's such a wonderful machine.
@rarecars3336 Жыл бұрын
Absolutely, a super cool car!
@jaywalker1233 Жыл бұрын
Fabulous video - I knew the story but not all the details that you have meticulously researched and put together to make the story complete. I was lucky enough to see (and hear) the Rover BRM as it was driven around closed streets in Birmingham as part of a cavalcade of racing + classic cars organised (early 1980s?) as part of a campaign to get street racing in Birmingham, finally given the go-ahead as the Birmingham Superprix which was then held annually for about 5 years (until the early 1990s?). I don’t know if the car is still running but it now lives in a motor museum in the Midlands where it was created.
@numjro Жыл бұрын
oh my god i didnt think anyone else knew about the BRM
@rarecars3336 Жыл бұрын
Make it two people!
@Demun1649 Жыл бұрын
Do you not think that the motor racing fans IN BRITAIN would have heard of it? Maybe in Autosport, or MOTOR? And where did you learn about it? Dreaming? LSD? But certainly not by reading a British motor racing magazine?
@christophecamus3295 Жыл бұрын
Great video, very interesting.
@rarecars3336 Жыл бұрын
Thank you, glad you enjoyed!
@worldtraveler930 Жыл бұрын
I'll take 2 of these Rovers Please and Thank You!!! 🤠👍
@rarecars3336 Жыл бұрын
Why not 3 :)
@worldtraveler930 Жыл бұрын
@@rarecars3336 I don't want to come across as being greedy or anything of the sort!!! 🤠👍
@johnnyjrotten5910 ай бұрын
The 1960's Rover P6 is a road car which has and engine bay that is rounded so that the jet could be placed in it!
@mry8210 ай бұрын
That's very cool.
@poorlydunbarvideos1472 Жыл бұрын
Ariel has a hypercar that employs a turbine to generate power and extend range. Not the same...but its still a whirly-gig!
@rarecars3336 Жыл бұрын
I actually recently saw a video on that, super cool stuff!
@davidgalea6113 Жыл бұрын
should have just used the turbine to power it..
@johngalt9711 ай бұрын
@@davidgalea6113 Using electricity in the transmission of turbine power is better than mechanical.
@johnw3996 Жыл бұрын
GOOD ONE
@robertwoodliff2536 Жыл бұрын
Also look @ the Leyland turbine truck ...
@rarecars3336 Жыл бұрын
Will do!
@mutantryeff Жыл бұрын
Government central planning always leads to failure. F-EVs
@ricksmith4736 Жыл бұрын
" Were here to help"........
@mutantryeff Жыл бұрын
@@ricksmith4736 Government schooling didn't help with your English. It would be "We're here to help"
@ricksmith4736 Жыл бұрын
@@mutantryeff Lets meet somewhere?? I would like to show you my english, simp
@xvdd1 Жыл бұрын
Gas turbines in street cars never became a reality in the end due to their prodigious thirst at idle of course this was not such a problem for a race car since it spends most of it's time at wot. It is the first time I have seen a picture of the T4 and I was surprised to see the body styling so closely matching the later Rover P6 road car. BRM had some adventurous engine designs unfortunately not all of which were successful but they did create some awesome engine sounds.
@anthonyxuereb792 Жыл бұрын
Is it just me who thinks gas turbine cars are jinxed?
@denniscashell2407 Жыл бұрын
Might as well? U mean give up?
@bobbishop9339 Жыл бұрын
Looks a lot like Lotus Elan +2. Like they stole the design from Lotus.
@pashakdescilly7517 Жыл бұрын
The Rover-BRM is an earlier design. You are wrong
@bobbishop9339 Жыл бұрын
@@pashakdescilly7517 Then Chapman stole the design.
@David_Walker16-3-51 Жыл бұрын
Future retro cyber theft? Guess that works for me (not).