Vanwall to build £2m continuation cars of F1 title winner
Six continuations of the Vanwall VW5, in which Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks won the inaugural Formula 1 constructors’ title in 1958, will be built and sold for £2million each.
Founded by Tony Vandervell, Acton-based Vanwall became the first British team to win its home grand prix – with Moss/Brooks scoring victory at Aintree in 1957 – but ceased racing after an ill-fated 1961 Intercontinental Formula season.
Now listed as the Vanwall Group, offshore powerboat racing champion Iain Sanderson bought the naming rights from automotive parts supplier Mahle in 2012. The marque’s revival will now be spearheaded by the six continuation VW5s, built by eminent historic race car restorer and preparer Hall and Hall – which was heavily involved in the filming of RUSH.
Sanderson said: “The Vanwall name is too important to consign to history. The Vanwall story is untold to many, but it is a great British tale of innovation and achievement and shows what happens when the right team come together and push themselves fearlessly to reach a clearly defined goal.
“On this [62nd] anniversary, we think the time is right to celebrate this great British story of success. Faithfully recreating the iconic 1958 championship winning car with six 100% accurate and authentic continuation cars is a fitting tribute to their historic success. The DNA that made those cars so successful also serves as an inspiring foundation for the future of the Vanwall marque, which I look forward to sharing in due course.”
With a chassis designed by Lotus boss Colin Chapman, and aerodynamics penned by Cosworth co-founder Frank Costin, the VW5 scored six victories – three for Moss, three for Brooks – in 1958.
Only a team’s best six results contributed to its constructors’ tally, meaning Vanwall is one of just two manufacturers to score maximum points in a World Championship F1 season. The original 270bhp, 2.5-litre VW5s were part of the Donington Collection, but will now be recreated using original drawings and blueprints.
Vanwall VW5 1958
Photo by: Vanwall Group
Five of the six continuation cars will be offered for private sale at £1.65m excluding taxes, and the final example will form the basis of a Vanwall Historic Racing Team. This project, according to a statement, is part of “investigations to understand how the historic Vanwall brand DNA could translate into a vehicle for the 2020s”.
Andrew Garner, the chairman of Vanwall Group and a former chairman of the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association, added: “I can still remember watching the Vanwalls at Aintree in 1957 when I was a boy and had the pleasure of sitting in one at Goodwood. I drove at all the major circuits in a Cooper T51 for many wonderful years but the Vanwall is the car I coveted.
“These cars will be fully race eligible and in the right hands will be unbeatable, repeating Tony Vandervell’s mission to beat [Ferraris].”
Related video
Ricciardo key to Renault's progress - Abiteboul
When big single-seaters ruled Algarve long before F1’s debut
Why the lack of "needle" between Red Bull and Ferrari in F1 2022 is a mirage
OPINION: The fight for the 2022 Formula 1 world titles between Red Bull and Ferrari so far features little of the public animosity that developed between the former and Mercedes last year. But that isn’t to say things are full on friendly or won’t get much worse very quickly…
The underdog F1 squad that thrust Senna into the limelight
The Toleman TG184 was the car that could, according to legend, have given Ayrton Senna his first F1 win but for Alain Prost and Jacky Ickx at Monaco in 1984. That could be stretching the boundaries of the truth a little, but as STUART CODLING explains, the team's greatest legacy was in giving the Brazilian prodigy passed over by bigger outfits an opportunity
Why Aston Martin is unlikely to repeat Jaguar’s F1 mistakes
Two famous manufacturer teams born out of humble midfield origins, splashing the cash while attempting to rise to the top of F1 in record time. There are clear parallels between Lawrence Stroll’s Aston Martin and the doomed Jaguar Racing project of 22 years ago, but Mark Gallagher believes struggling Aston can avoid a similar fate.
How rejuvenated Haas recovered its F1 mojo
US-owned but until recently Russian-backed, Haas seems to have reached a turning point in car performance after three gruesome seasons. And it needs to if it’s to attract fresh investment. Team boss Gunther Steiner tells Oleg Karpov how close Haas came to the abyss.
How F1 race leaders have now lost their comfort blanket
As Formula 1 teams have settled down in understanding the new generation of cars and the way they need to maximise their performance, fresh lessons have emerged. Jonathan Noble investigates how they have brought with them an all-new kind of grand prix racing
Gilles Villeneuve's 10 greatest F1 drives
Formula 1 lost one of its brightest stars when Gilles Villeneuve was killed during practice for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix. Forty years on, Motorsport.com picks out the greatest drives by a Ferrari legend
The silver lining of Ferrari’s Miami GP defeat
OPINION: Much was made of Formula 1’s first Miami Grand Prix – what turned out to be a very ‘marmite’ event for both those in attendance and everyone following on TV. But even as the on-track battle between Red Bull and Ferrari it produced continued the negative run of results for the red team, it contained a glimmer it must hope continues to shine
How imperfect Miami offered F1's drivers a unique challenge
OPINION: Despite all of the stylistic embellishments festooning Formula 1's inaugural Miami Grand Prix, the Miami International Autodrome offered the drivers a unique challenge and punished driver errors; a stark contrast to the usual cast of modern-day circuits