Team story
Origins
The first World Championship found ERA with a long history already behind it. Its single-seaters had raced before the war and continued in private hands: Bob Gerard is listed sixth at Silverstone in 1950. The A, B and E types belonged to that tradition; the G of 1952 was instead a new attempt to revive the constructor.
The Formula 1 journey
Leslie Johnson entrusted the G-Type to Stirling Moss for Grands Prix run under Formula 2 regulations. Moss drove it at Spa, Silverstone and Zandvoort in 1952, retiring at all three events with mechanical problems. The experiment did not improve on Gerard's sixth place, which remained ERA's best championship placing.
Historical timeline
Three chapters in the story of ERA
Three episodes to revisit the people, cars and races that shaped this journey.
First appearance · British Grand Prix
Bob Gerard · British Grand Prix 1950. The recorded position is P6; this number alone does not show whether the driver completed the race distance. This is the first recorded race start, or the first entry if the team never started a race.
Sporting landmark · British Grand Prix
Bob Gerard · British Grand Prix 1950. The recorded position is P6; this number alone does not show whether the driver completed the race distance. This marks the first win or podium where one exists, otherwise the highest recorded placing for this constructor.
Latest recorded appearance · Dutch Grand Prix
Stirling Moss · Dutch Grand Prix 1952. The recorded outcome is DNF. This is the last race start attributed to this constructor in the archive, not necessarily the end of the organisation behind it.
A distinctive way of racing
The design begun by Robert Eberan von Eberhorst and completed by David Hodkin used a magnesium-alloy chassis, de Dion rear suspension and a two-litre Bristol engine. The driver sat offset to one side. The ERA Club notes that the bodywork was intended to be temporary, but the car always raced with it; the Bristol had been modified with dry-sump lubrication.
What remains
At the end of 1952 the project passed to Bristol's car division. Some G-Type components contributed to the prototype of the 450 sports car: a technical continuation outside Grand Prix racing. The earlier ERAs instead followed their own paths in racing and collecting.
The G's championship failure therefore did not mean the immediate disappearance of the marque's other cars.