1953 HWM 53

Throughout half of the 1952 season, Hersham and Walton Motors had been one of the few teams that had given Scuderia Ferrari a run for its money. However, by the end, HWM would be just another team in the pack hopelessly outclassed by the prancing horses from Modena.

HW Motors had been in a strong position heading into the 1952 season. The manufacturer had been designing and building cars specifically for Formula 2 when the FIA made the decision to conduct the 1952 and 1953 seasons according to Formula 2 regulations. However, the size and might of Ferrari compared to HW Motors made it quite pleasantly surprising that the small manufacturer was able to fare as well as it had.

The biggest problem that a manufacturer, like HWM, has over the course of a season of racing is reliability. Reliability would actually be something that almost all British marks would struggle with throughout the early 1950s, and it would come to a head during the 1952 season. Nonetheless, HWM would still score a couple of points toward the World Championship and would earn a number of other strong finishes over the course of the season that would make it one of the strongest British teams in the World Championship.

Heading into the 1953 season, there were a number of elements coming into play all at once. One of the first points was the simple fact it was to be the final season for Formula 2 in the World Championship. This meant a manufacturer the size of HW Motors would have some important decisions to make. It would certainly cost a good deal of money to prepare a new car for the 1954 season with the new Formula One regulations. It would also cost a good deal of money to remain competitive throughout the 1953 season. This would bring up another point. Not only was Scuderia Ferrari returning and looking as dominant as ever, but a factory Maserati team was coming to life. This meant strong, points-paying positions would be even harder to come by.

Inspecting the evolved Alta-powered HWM F2 53 it would be better to look at what remained unchanged from the F2 52.

Of course, the biggest part of the equation to remain unchanged would be the 2.0-liter, 150hp, 4-cylinder Alta engine resting under the hood of the car. This enabled the HWM F2 53 to accelerate from zero to 60 mph in under 8 seconds and complete a quarter mile in a little more than 16 seconds.

More similarities between the two cars would be the four-speed manual gearbox, rear-wheel drive and tight bodywork with its many rounded bulges and protrusions meant to cover important components of the engine. Out of the sides of the car would protrude the car's exhaust and a large contoured bodywork bulge that would cover the air-inlet pipes to feed air to the carburetors. This bulging bodywork would take on different forms. Often time, the bodywork would be greatly contoured with only an opening along the side so as not to impede airflow except just enough to feed air to the carburetors. However, other arrangements would simply have the opening right on the leading edge of the bulging bodywork in order to maximize airflow to the engine.

In the cockpit, not much would change either. The driver would still sit in a ladder-framed cockpit with a large wood-trimmed steering wheel dominating his view behind a single-pane windscreen. Flanking the wheel would be two mirrors that many would fashion sheet-metal covers to place over in order to provide better aerodynamic flow.

The major changes to the 53 evolution of the car would not be found on the inside of the car, but on the outside. Comparing the two models, the evolution becomes readily apparent when looking at the nose of the car.

On the F2 52 the radiator inlet, or grille, was O-shaped. It was narrow and stood rather tall. This would actually limit the cooling abilities of the radiator with a layout such as this. This would change with the new model.

The new model of the car would have the radiator inlet turned. Instead of standing on end like an 'O', it would be laid down and the mouth of the radiator inlet would be made bigger. While this wouldn't help with drag, it would help to provide more cooling air to the radiator, and thereby, would enable the engine to be run harder, and longer.

The repositioning of the radiator inlet would also lead to the other major design upgrade between the two chassis. With the radiator inlet standing on end as with the F2 52 the top line of the bodywork would actually be rather tall. When shaped and contoured, the overall shape of the nose bodywork would look something like a rounded triangle. This would change slightly with the F2 53.

Despite having some features similar to the Ferrari 500 the F2 53 would certainly not perform like a Ferrari 500. When it came to the World Championship, the best result the team would manage to earn would be an 8th-place result by Peter Collins at the Dutch Grand Prix in early June of that year. Later on in the season, Albert Scherrer would score a 9th-place result in the Swiss Grand Prix. Needless to say, the team would end the season without any of its drivers scoring even a single championship point.

In non-championship events, the team would fare a little better. Duncan Hamilton would score a heat victory in the Ulster Trophy race in mid-May. In the final, he would finish 6th overall. At the Coronation Trophy race held at Crystal Palace Park on the 25th of May, Lance Macklin would finish 3rd in his heat while Peter Collins would finish 2nd in his. Jack Fairman would also put in a promising performance finishing 4th in the same heat as Collins. Unfortunately, the final would not see the promise fulfilled as Lance Macklin would finish 4th and Peter Collins would end up 7th followed by Fairman in 9th place.

Perhaps the greatest race of the season would come at one of the most demanding road courses in the world. In the Eifelrennen, held at the Nurburgring in late May, both Paul Frere and Peter Collins would show their quality in the wet conditions and would come through to finish 2nd and 3rd in the race. Other than a few top-five results, the rest of the season would see HWM come up short often.

Resources and capital were limited for the company. They had made changes to try and improve their ability to compete with Ferrari and Maserati without overly spending. The proposition for the company was not an easy one. Only one year remained until the new Formula One regulations came into effect. Therefore, it was foolhardy to spend a lot of time and money on a car that would be non-conforming to the regulations in just one year's time.

Unfortunately, the company also didn't have the money to build an all-new car for the upcoming season. Therefore, the F2 53 would serve as the basis for HW Motors' efforts to take part in the new Formula One World Championship in 1954. The effort would not pay off. This would lead to the company switching its focus to sports cars after 1954.

After John Heath, one of the founders of HW Motors, died in a sportscar accident in 1956, the only member left of the original founders would be George Abecassis. However, he would give up racing after the 1952 season and would also give up the racing side of the company shortly thereafter to just focus on the running the business of the company. Unfortunately, HW Motors would soon disappear not only from the grand prix world, but also, the automotive manufacturing world altogether. Therefore, HWM would become merely a memory from the Formula 2 years of the World Championship.

Sources:
'Small Teams from Fifties: HWM', (http://www.f1digest.net/constructors/small-teams-50s.html). F1 Digest.net: Comprehensive Digest of Grand Prix Formula 1 Racing. http://www.f1digest.net/constructors/small-teams-50s.html. Retrieved 7 December 2011.

'Constructors: HWM (Hersham and Walton Motors', (http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/con-hwm.html). GrandPrix.com. http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/con-hwm.html. Retrieved 7 December 2011.

'HWM 52 (1952-1952)', (http://www.histomobile.com/dvd_histomobile/usa/1131/1952_HWM_52.htm). Histomobile.com. http://www.histomobile.com/dvd_histomobile/usa/1131/1952_HWM_52.htm. Retrieved 7 December 2011.

'HWM 53 (1953-1955)', (http://www.histomobile.com/dvd_histomobile/usa/1131/1953_HWM_53.htm). Histomobile.com. http://www.histomobile.com/dvd_histomobile/usa/1131/1953_HWM_53.htm. Retrieved 7 December 2011.

'1953 Non-World Championship Grands Prix', (http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/archive/f1/nc/1953/1953.html). 1953 Non-World Championship Grands Prix. http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/archive/f1/nc/1953/1953.html. Retrieved 7 December 2011.

Wikipedia contributors, '1953 Formula One season', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 17 September 2011, 04:33 UTC, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1953_Formula_One_season&oldid=450919439 accessed 7 December 2011

Wikipedia contributors, '1952 Formula One season', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 4 December 2011, 08:42 UTC, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1952_Formula_One_season&oldid=463980789 accessed 7 December 2011

By Jeremy McMullen