BRM s Supercharged V16 F1 Car Sounds INSANE 4k TG Tunnel Run Ft THE STIG

I'm Becky Evans and this is the Stig's top secret lair. It's the perfect place to celebrate the old school sounds of combustion by letting the Stig loose in a rockstar band of cars that go all the way to 11. Back at Catesby, the leaky old tunnel turned high-tech test centre, where we're letting Stig go wild in the world's loudest cars. For the full history lesson and to find out what makes Catesby so cool, head back to video one in this series. And this time we're going old school with a proper blast from the past with one of the craziest racing cars ever made. Even if it looks like something for a Sunday drive, trust me, this thing is savage. This is the BRM P15 and underneath that buckled down bonnet is 16 cylinders of supercharged madness. This is one of the most complicated engines ever made and also one of the most terrifying. It revs to 12,000 rpm and this post-war monster sounds like a flame-gargling Godzilla. You can hear it for miles around, but before we get into the noise, let's take a quick trip into the Top Gear time machine for a little history lesson. Before the war, Grand Prix racing was dominated by the Germans, Italians and French. But a bunch of Brits wanted to change that. And so while the final battles of World War II still raged, they hatched a plan to create one of the most outrageous racers ever imagined. They formed British Racing Motors, Britain's first Formula 1 team, to make Britain's first Formula 1 car at a time when F1 was all flat caps and flying goggles. The car would be a showcase of national know-how, a machine masterminded by the best of Britain's engineers. It would be mind-blowingly complicated, eye-wateringly expensive and more powerful than anything else on the grid. So complicated, in fact, that it took several years to build. But finally, in 1950, the P15 was ready. At its heart is that 16-cylinder supercharged power station, making over 600 horsepower and all this from 1.5 litres. It has a downscaled version of a supercharger from the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, which was found in the Spitfires and Lancaster Bombers. As you can imagine, this is no ordinary supercharger. It has 124 components from 24 different suppliers. And it was an absolute beast. To tame it, BRM enlisted the world's best drivers, including Sterling Moss and future F1 champ Juan Manuel Fangio. But even they struggled with a car that span its wheels in fifth gear at 140 mph. It was also unreliable. At its first race, it didn't even get off the grid. Over time, things improved and it even won a few races. But ultimately, it caused too many headaches. And when F1 rules changed, its time was up. BRM switched to simpler machines and went on to win the F1 World Championship with Graham Hill in 1962. But here's the thing. This isn't actually an old car. This P15 is brand new, but built to exactly the same spec as the four original cars. They've actually built two, and they'll build one more for the right buyer. They're using thousands of original blueprints and hand-drawn diagrams from the late 40s. Basically, it's exactly the same car, just 70 years later. And it's every bit as complicated as the original. It has 36,000 individually engineered parts being made by a very patient team of specialists and even mechanics from the old days of BRM. This rev counter, for example, which is adapted from a Wellington bomber, requires about 50 pieces. Because who needs a simple dial when you can have one of these? It's no wonder it takes two years to build each car with this level of attention to detail. But it's well worth the wait, because when you fire this thing up, it has the same colossal noise as the original. So prepare your ears, because it's time to see what it sounds like in the Top Gear Tunnel. Over to the Stig. Stig's got two runs to make as much noise as possible. That's almost three and a half to start, but you've got a machine that'll explain it to you. That sounds absolutely wicked. Do you want to see that again? I do. And this time, we'll dial it right up. Have you ever heard anything like it? Why can't F1 cars sound like that, these dudes? Let's do it again. But before we let the Stig loose, there's someone you need to meet. Firstly, if you're not wearing any headphones, get some on now. Trust me, you really need them for this bit. This is Mike. Inside Mike's ears are two microphones that record sound just like our own ears in 3D. He's shaped like this to mimic the way sound travels into and around our heads. So when you play it back, you hear what Mike hears as if you were actually here listening with your own ears. This isn't just surround sound, it's sonic sorcery. It works everywhere I go. This side, that side. Are you freaked out yet? Now imagine what it sounds like when we put Mike in the passenger seat to bring that tunnel run magic straight into your ears. You know the feeling. Windows down, drop a few gears, floor it, build a noise. With Mike's help, we can recreate that for you right now. Let's head back to the Stig, and this time you can go on board. Remember, headphones on. Get ready to ride, and I'll see you next time. Next time on the Top Gear Tunnel Run.