1961 Emeryson F1

The name Emeryson first appeared in the early 1930s when George Emery began building racing specials under the Emeryson name. After World War II, his son Paul followed in his father's footsteps and continued building racing specials. By the early 1950s, he built a few cars for the Formula 3 series before turning his attention to Formula 2.

For the 1960 season, work began on a new series of Emeryson cars when former Cooper works driver Alan Mann and some associates provided funding. The first examples were built to F2 specification. In 1961, Coventry-Climax-engined Formula 1 cars were built and driven by Bruce Halford. Other examples were built for team Ecurie Nationale Belge and were given Maserati engines. After several accidents early in the year, the team switched to Lotus 18s.

With a promising design and years of racing knowledge, a Formula Junior version of the F1 cars was built and became rather successful. Mike Spence scored a victory at Silverstone. He made his Formula 1 debut with Emeryson at Solitude in July and in October, finished second in the Lewis-Evans Trophy at Brands Hatch.

Though the Emeryson had experienced and knowledgeable individuals, their Achilles' heel was a lack of adequate finances which often prevented the cars from showing their true potential.

By Daniel Vaughan | Jan 2018