Mike Pilbeam: king of the hills

“I went with some friends for a day trip to Silverstone and that was it. I was hooked and decided that it was something I would like to get involved in. I had no money, though, so I built my own car.”

In doing so, he became an alumnus of the 750 Motor Club finishing school, along with the likes of Colin Chapman, Eric Broadley, Len Terry and Arthur Mallock.

Mike Pilbeam’s workshop is a treasure trove of designs from his fascinating career

Mike recalls: “Looking back, it was a bit of a Who’s Who of designers, but most of us were nobodies back then.

“Loads of us used to meet at the Red Cow in Hammersmith and discuss racing. The car park would be full of Specials.

“I constructed my first car in 1959-’60. It was typical of the period in that it had a Ford sidevalve engine and was a bit primitive.”

The retrospectively named Pilbeam R1 was destroyed in a shunt at Brands Hatch, although two similar cars were built for the 1172cc Formula, with Tony Gould coming within an ace of winning the 1965 title, only to lose out to Bill Cooper’s Aquila.

Mike had by then already landed a job with a leading constructor.

Mike Pilbeam’s well-stocked trophy cabinet is a reflection of his extraordinary achievements in motorsport

“Tony was a very good driver, and I realised early on that I was better at designing cars than racing them,” says Mike. 

“So I wrote to BRM, Lotus and Lola, and offered my services. BRM was receptive and I joined in March 1963.”

The Bourne squad was the reigning World Championship constructor, at its apogee in Formula One.

Initially taken on as a stress engineer, Mike was soon handed the role of designer.

“Well, sort of,” he counters. “The first car I did in its entirety there was the four-wheel-drive P67.

“Tony Rudd was the technical director and we used to spend a lot of time together, often driving to and from test sessions, so we spent hours discussing things.”

Richie Ginther in the four-wheel-drive BRM P67 F1 car, at Snetterton in July 1964 © Getty

“The 3-litre category of Formula One was on its way,” explains Mike, “so we decided to experiment with four-wheel drive; perhaps we could find an advantage.

“There was no budget, though. There was the main BRM works, and then there was a building that was referred to as the Transport Shed, where everybody put the junk parts.

“I was told to take what I wanted. We did some testing with Graham Hill and quite a lot with Richard Attwood.

“We entered the car in the 1964 British Grand Prix, but it was withdrawn after practice.

“It was too heavy, and we couldn’t balance the car to gain the benefit of four-wheel drive. It was an interesting experiment, but no more than that.”

BRM team manager Tim Parnell (in white shirt) talks to then new designer Mike Pilbeam at the 1973 Argentine GP © Getty

Intriguingly, in a harbinger of what was to come, the P67 found its métier in hillclimbing: “Tony decided to run the car in one of those long Continental hillclimbs at Ollon-Villars, in Switzerland, in 1965. Peter Westbury was down to drive it.

“I was due to get married and Tony agreed to let me stay out there for our honeymoon. I moved our wedding forward, and Wendy and I are still very much together.

“As for the car, it went well, as it did in the UK, where the superior traction masked the weight issue. Peter Lawson won the 1968 British Hillclimb Championship with it.”

Mike had by then moved to Essex after taking a position at Ford. He says: “I worked on the advanced planning side of things, but then all of that was moved to Germany so there wasn’t much to do.

“I only went there for the money and didn’t find it very satisfying. I wasn’t there for long.”

Mike has worked at the sharp end of Formula One, but is best known for success in hillclimbs

“I joined Lotus in February 1969 and worked alongside Geoff Ferris, who later designed cars for Penske,” he remembers.

“We were answerable to Maurice Philippe, who was a nice guy, and obviously Colin Chapman, who I was in awe of.

“It was a busy period, in that we had the gas-turbine F1 car [the Type 56B], the IndyCars and the Type 63 four-wheel-drive Grand Prix racer.

“Of course, I had worked on such a car for BRM and decided that it was never going to amount to anything.

“I thought that if anyone could make this kind of arrangement work, it would be Chapman. I thought ‘he must know better than me’, so I kept quiet, but the car was hopeless.

“We also did the Type 72. I remember Colin disappearing for a few weeks and coming back with his ideas for a new ‘wedge’ F1 car.”

Many decades of memories are on display in Mike Pilbeam’s garage

In 1972, Mike jumped ship again, this time heading to Team Surtees, which was, he says, a different sort of operation: “There was a lot of excitement around Lotus; there was always a lot going on.

“The money wasn’t great, and you worked silly hours, but you felt as if you were part of something big.

“I had the greatest respect for John Surtees as a driver and for his achievements with motorcycles, but he wanted to do everything himself.

“He wasn’t an easy man to get along with because he was trying to run a business, build the team, do the testing, decide the set-ups and so on.”

His spell with the Edenbridge squad lasted a mere 11 months.

“John got through people,” says Mike. “When I left I think there were only three employees who had been there longer than me.

“I headed back to BRM in 1973 to run the design office after Tony Southgate left.”

A small-scale BRM P201 model

“There were some wonderful people at BRM,” Mike continues. “I always got on well with Tim Parnell, who was the team manager.

“I also had a great relationship with Niki Lauda, who drove for us that year.

“I designed the P201 with him in mind, given all that we had discussed during the 1973 season, but then he went to Ferrari.”

The striking, silver-and-green machine finished second on its debut, the 1974 South African Grand Prix, with Jean-Pierre Beltoise at the helm, but it was a slippery slope thereafter.

“Beltoise was a much better driver than he was given credit for,” Mike reveals. “We could have achieved a lot more that year, had we had better management.

“Louis Stanley, who was married to Jean Owen, the sister of BRM founder Alfred Owen, was making decisions and ignoring those who knew what they were doing.”

The underrated Jean-Pierre Beltoise in the Pilbeam-designed BRM P201 at Jarama in 1974 © Getty

“Stanley wasn’t a leader,” Mike says. “He took the team over for the 1975 season [running cars under the Stanley-BRM banner] and there was no way I was sticking around. I left, and so did Tim.

“A lot of good people went. I started Pilbeam Racing Designs in late 1974, initially working from my home in Northorpe, near Bourne. 

“I had done some ‘off the books’ stuff before, so I knew a little bit about freelancing, but it was a bit daunting all the same.

“About a month after I set up on my own, Tom Wheatcroft phoned – and that was a big boost.”

Formula Atlantic was on the rise in the UK and the saviour of Donington Park was looking to become a constructor.

Pilbeam’s early 1172cc Formula racer

Mike explains: “Tom said, ‘You know what Lola, March and those guys are doing? Do you think they’re beatable?’

“I said I thought there were things they hadn’t tried so, yes, they were. That was it. The reply was, ‘Do that then,’ and he put the phone down.

“To Tom, that meant we had a contract. I then set about designing the R18. We built four of them and later got into F2.

“I worked with Tom for a good few years, and through him I also designed the LEC F1 car for David Purley.”

‘Brave Dave’ had claimed the ShellSport Group 8 title in 1976 in the unique Chevron B30, having previously tasked Mike with designing an F5000 car.

“I can’t remember why that didn’t happen, but we built the LEC for 1977 and he went very well in it,” Mike says. “David was a superb driver, but he hated testing.”

“Hillclimbing has its own challenges. Top speed is not such a big issue. Drag is relatively unimportant, but downforce is”

“He and his team manager, Mike Earle, were great friends with Derek Bell, and he did all of the set-up work.

“Incidentally, we did a lot of work on the Hexagon-Penske that Derek raced in the British F1 series in 1977.

“Unfortunately, David had his massive accident at Silverstone that year. It was a miracle that he survived.”

There would be no further adventures in Formula One, and the Pilbeam name found much greater fame in a more arcane arena of motorsport: “The hillclimbing thing started with Alister Douglas-Osborn, who was very much in the Niki Lauda mould.

“He was a superb driver, but could also interpret what a car was telling him. He and his mechanic, Martin Middleton, asked if I could do anything with their Brabham BT38.

“That formed the basis for the Pilbeam R15, which evolved into the Cosworth DFV-powered R22 in which he won the 1977 British Hillclimb Championship.”

Mike Pilbeam went solo in 1974, initially working from his Lincolnshire home

It was the first of 17 titles for the marque in the premier class.

“Designing cars for hillclimbing has its own challenges,” explains Mike. “Top speed is not such a big issue. Drag is relatively unimportant, but downforce is, as is having excellent traction.

“With a conventional track car, there is a small range of roll angles. There is also little suspension travel.

“It’s different on the hills. I suppose we became primarily known for our hillclimb cars, and I am perfectly okay with that, but we didn’t stop with what I suppose you would call more conventional motorsport.”

Mike worked closely with several works teams in the British Touring Car Championship during the Super Touring era, the 1995 Honda Accord being the favourite of such projects. 

But it was the demise of the big-money saloons that inspired, in a way, the decision to chase glory at Le Mans.

Pilbeam’s early 2000s-era LMP2 racing car

He recalls: “We had a look at a sports-prototype that John Mangoletsi was running, but decided to do our own thing, originally in the LMP675 (soon to be LMP2) class.

“We built the first car in 1999. We did the 24 Hours for the first time in 2001 with the MP84 and made sports-prototypes on and off for 12 years.”

More recently, modular carbonfibre Pilbeam chassis designs have been employed in all manner of applications, including a recent Pikes Peak International Hill Climb winner.

Mike is currently working with a former Ferrari F1 aerodynamicist on a new breed of hypercar, although retirement may finally be on the horizon.

You would have to wait until hell freezes over before he will sing his own praises, but even Mike admits to being surprised by the longevity of his career.

That, and wondering if he should have perhaps placed a greater emphasis on manufacturing.

“I’ve been at it a long time. I’m just about getting the hang of it”

“Looking back, I sometimes wish I had done what Lola and Reynard did, and become a volume constructor,” he muses.

“That said, the closest we came to going under was when we ran our design of F3 cars in the early 1980s.

“There have been missed opportunities, but you need skills beyond just designing cars. I could have taken on a partner to take responsibility for marketing, sales and so on.

“As for how things stand now, I am slowing down, but running even a small company is a fair undertaking. I do think about retiring. Who knows? One day it may even happen.”

Images: Jack Harrison/Getty

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