Car · Vanwall · 1957–1958
Vanwall VW 5
Tony Vandervell built Vanwall to beat 'those bloody red cars', and did. The 1957 British Grand Prix, shared by Moss and Brooks, was the first World Championship win for a British car. In 1958 Vanwall took the first Constructors' Championship ever awarded - and then Vandervell's health failed and the team effectively stopped, so the first constructors' champion never defended the title.
- Seasons
- 1957–1958
- Entries
- 42
- Wins
- 10
- Poles
- 7
- Fastest laps
- 6
- Constructors' titles
- 1
Why it mattered
The idea. A motorcycle engine multiplied by four in an aircraft-aerodynamicist's body on a Chapman chassis
New on this car. Bosch fuel injection; Costin's streamlined body, which made it the fastest car in a straight line; four cylinders derived from Norton motorcycle practice
What it did. The first Constructors' Championship, 1958. Six wins that season, three each to Moss and Brooks - and no drivers' title, which went to Hawthorn's Ferrari on consistency.
- Designers
- Colin Chapman (chassis), Frank Costin (aerodynamics), Leo Kuzmicki (engine)
- Supersedes
- —
- Design life
- 1956–1958
- Confidence
- high
Specification
- Chassis
- spaceframe
- Suspension
- Front: torsion bars. Rear: de Dion axle
- Brakes
- disc
- Gearbox
- 5-speed manual with Porsche synchromesh
- Gears
- —
- Tyres
- Dunlop
- Fuel
- —
- Engine
- Vanwall straight-4
- Configuration
- straight-4
- Capacity
- 2,489 cc
- Aspiration
- naturally aspirated
- Power
- 290 bhp
- Power note
- About 290 bhp at 7,500 rpm on methanol; 255-262 bhp under the 1958 pump-fuel rules
- Weight
- —
- Wheelbase
- —
- Track, front
- —
- Track, rear
- —
A blank is a figure nobody published for this car. Where several teams quote the same number in a season it is usually the rule they were all built to rather than a measurement, so it is kept with the regulation limits instead of here.
Every entry 42 entries
Show all 42 entriesShow the first 10, Every entry
Where this comes from
- Constructor
- Vanwall
- Predecessor
- —
- Successor
- —
- Races (published)
- —
- Wins (published)
- —
- Poles (published)
- —
- Confidence
- reference
- Specification source
- —
- Register source
- https://github.com/f1db/f1db