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1975 Race of Champions

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1975 Race of Champions
Non-championship race in the 1975 Formula One season
Race details
Date 16 March 1975
Location Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit, Fawkham, Kent, England
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.206 km (2.6136 miles)
Distance 40 laps, 168.24 km (104.544 miles)
Weather Cold, Wet
Pole position
Driver Shadow-Ford
Time 1:34.9
Fastest lap
Driver United Kingdom Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford
Time 1:21.1
Podium
First Shadow-Ford
Second Surtees-Ford
Third Lotus-Ford

The 1975 Race of Champions was a non-championship Formula One race held at Brands Hatch on 16 March 1975. Weather conditions were inhospitable, with strong winds, heavy rain and even snow showers during the weekend.

There was some pre-race controversy about the decision to top up the grid with Formula 5000 cars-eventually a compromise was reached where only those drivers with Formula 1 experience would be permitted to start.

Ironically the most vehement protester against the Formula 5000 drivers, Emerson Fittipaldi, qualified only 17th, some four rows behind the fastest Formula 5000 driver Tom Belsø.

A cluster of cars rounding Druids Hill bend in the early laps of the race. At this point, eventual winner Pryce's car (centre right) is back in the pack.

Roelof Wunderink made his début in the Ensign, whilst Tony Trimmer qualified well in the new Safir car (previously known as a Token) and Maurizio Flammini was a non-starter after crashing heavily in practice.

Tom Pryce dominated in appalling weather conditions from Jody Scheckter, giving the crowd a home driver to cheer in the absence of James Hunt.

The start was delayed as snow fell and teams had to quickly decide which type of tyres to use, but when the flag fell, Jacky Ickx surged through from the second row to lead. In midfield, Belso was hit and spun taking out Jochen Mass, who retired despite having minimal damage to the car. As a result of this incident, the decision was taken to bar Formula 5000 cars from future Formula 1 races.

Scheckter took the lead at the end of lap 1 on dry tyres and Pryce was soon catching him, having passed Ronnie Peterson and Ickx after a bad start on the damp side of the track.

In second place, with a strong home following was John Watson in the Surtees who gained the place having taken Peterson when they were passing backmarkers at Druids Bend.

Results

Pos. No. Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid
1 16 United Kingdom Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 40 55:53.5 1
2 18 United Kingdom John Watson Surtees-Ford 40 + 30.5 10
3 5 Sweden Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 40 + 32.0 6
4 6 Belgium Jacky Ickx Lotus-Ford 39 + 1 Lap 4
5 1 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Ford 39 + 1 Lap 17
6 14 United Kingdom Bob Evans BRM 38 + 2 Laps 19
7 20 Italy Arturo Merzario Williams-Ford 37 + 3 Laps 8
8 17 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 36 + 4 Laps/Fuel pump 3
9 23 West Germany Rolf Stommelen Lola-Ford 35 + 5 Laps 5
10 51 Netherlands Roelof Wunderink Ensign-Ford 35 + 5 Laps 18
11 35 United Kingdom David Purley Chevron-Ford 34 + 6 Laps 12
Ret 31 United Kingdom Ian Ashley Lola-Chevrolet 27 Accident 16
Ret 28 United States Mark Donohue Penske-Ford 26 Handling 7
Ret 3 South Africa Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 25 Engine 2
Ret 10 Italy Lella Lombardi March-Ford 20 Handling 11
Ret 7 Australia Vern Schuppan Lola-Chevrolet 18 Tyres 13
Ret 50 New Zealand John Nicholson Lyncar-Ford 15 Engine 20
Ret 208 Denmark Tom Belsø Lola-Chevrolet 0 Accident 9
Ret 2 West Germany Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 0 Accident 15
DSQ 52 United Kingdom Tony Trimmer Safir-Ford 33 Outside assistance 14
DNS 21 Italy Maurizio Flammini Williams-Ford 0 Accident during practice 21

References

Media related to 1975 Race of Champions at Wikimedia Commons


Previous race:
1974 BRDC International Trophy
Formula One non-championship races
1975 season
Next race:
1975 BRDC International Trophy
Previous race:
1974 Race of Champions
Race of Champions Next race:
1976 Race of Champions