1958 Vanwall VW5 Monoposto

The Vanwall, the first British racer to win a Formula 1 World Championship, reflected Guy Anthony Vandervell's obsession to beat 'those bloody red cars.' Vandervell knew Italian cars well, having fielded modified Ferrari Grand Prix racers called 'Thinwall', after the bearings he manufactured, Specials in 1954 - 1955. He was a majority shareholder in Norton Motorcycles. Thus the two-liter twin-cam power unit of his new racer had four water-cooled cylinders derived from Norton's 500cc racing bike engine. The chassis was built by Cooper, but the chassis and transmission design borrowed liberally from Ferrari and Maserati. More improvements included an entirely new multi-tube space frame chassis and increasing the frontal area to create a smooth low drag body which made it almost impossible for any red rival to stay with it on high-speed straights. The culmination of racing came in 1958 with three wins apiece for Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks, solid team backup by Stuart Lewis-Evans, and the Formula 1 Constructors' World Championship for Vandervell. Moss lost the Driver's Championship, his third near miss, by a single point to Mike Hawthorn of Ferrari.