British Formula Atlantic 1973
Yellow Pages upped their stake in 1973 with a six-race "International" championship, in addition to which BP sponsored an 18-race national championship. Colin Vandervell and John Nicholson contested the two series, with Vandervell taking the more lucrative Yellow Pages title and the Kiwi winning the BP title. Nicholson won more races than anyone else (seven) in his Lyncars but the March 73Bs of Vanderwell, Friswell and Choularton bettered that between them winning eight races; the March 722 of David Purley won another five. Tom Pryce won three consecutive rounds early in the season in the Royale RP12A but took the chance of a promotion to the Rondel F2 team and was in F1 by the following season.
Purley remained in contention until near the end of the BP series but retired from the last two races allowing Nicholson and Vanderwell to pull away. Cyd Williams, runner up in 1971 and 1972 was quick, but his Brabham BT40 turned out to be a bad choice and had only a couple of pole positions to show for a frustrating season.
The races
11 Mar 1973 > Mallory Park (Yellow Pages round 1)
18 Mar 1973 > Brands Hatch (Yellow Pages round 2)
24 Mar 1973 > Oulton Park (BP round 1)
01 Apr 1973 > Mallory Park (BP round 2)
20 Apr 1973 > Snetterton (BP round 3)
23 Apr 1973 > Brands Hatch (BP round 4)
06 May 1973 > Mallory Park (BP round 5)
13 May 1973 > Oulton Park (non-championship)
20 May 1973 > Silverstone (Yellow Pages round 3)
27 May 1973 > Brands Hatch (Yellow Pages round 4)
29 May 1973 > Thruxton (non-championship)
24 Jun 1973 > Mallory Park (BP round 6)
01 Jul 1973 > Croft (BP round 7)
07 Jul 1973 > Oulton Park (BP round 8)
14 Jul 1973 > Silverstone (Yellow Pages round 5)
22 Jul 1973 > Mallory Park (BP round 9)
28 Jul 1973 > Silverstone (BP round 10)
12 Aug 1973 > Brands Hatch (BP round 11)
26 Aug 1973 > Mallory Park (BP round 12)
27 Aug 1973 > Snetterton (BP round 13)
09 Sep 1973 > Oulton Park (Yellow Pages final round)
22 Sep 1973 > Oulton Park (BP round 14)
30 Sep 1973 > Brands Hatch (BP round 15)
06 Oct 1973 > Oulton Park (BP round 16)
12 Oct 1973 > Brands Hatch (BP round 17)
28 Oct 1973 > Snetterton (BP final round)
1973 Yellow Pages Formula Atlantic Championship table
| 1 | Colin Vandervell | March 73B - Ford BDA Smith | 92 pts | 1 win |
| 2 | John Nicholson | Lyncar 003 - Ford BDA Nicholson Lyncar 005 - Ford BDA Nicholson | 88 pts | 2 wins |
| 3 | Geoff Friswell | March 73B - Ford BDA Hart | 52 pts | 1 win |
| 4 | David Purley | March 722 - Ford BDA Eden | 50 pts | 2 wins |
| 5 | Ken Bailey | March 722 - Ford BDA | 30 pts | |
| 6 | Tom Pryce | Royale RP12A - Ford BDA RES Motul M1 - Ford BDA RES | 29 pts |
This six-race series used a 20-15-12 system with the last round counting double. Vandervell had a win, three seconds (one at the last round) and a third. Nicholson had two wins, a third, a fourth (at the last round) and two fifths. Purley had two wins and a third. Friswell won the last round but his only other race netted third. Points table from the John Player Motorsport Yearbook 1973 p281.
1973 BP British Formula Atlantic Championship table
| 1 | John Nicholson | Lyncar 003 - Ford BDA Nicholson Lyncar 005 - Ford BDA Nicholson | 92 pts | 5 wins |
| 2 | Colin Vandervell | March 73B - Ford BDA Smith | 79 pts | 3 wins |
| 3 | David Purley | March 722 - Ford BDA Eden March 722 - Ford BDA LEC | 71 pts | 3 wins |
| 4 | Ken Bailey | March 722 - Ford BDA | 36 pts | |
| 5 | Tom Pryce | Royale RP12A - Ford BDA RES Motul M1 - Ford BDA RES | 32 pts | 3 wins |
| 6 | Geoff Friswell | March 73B - Ford BDA Hart | 30 pts | 1 win |
This series ran over 18 races using a 9-6-4 points system but there may also have been points for fastest lap and possibly double points at the last race. Points table from the John Player Motorsport Yearbook 1973 p281.
The other races were won by Ray Mallock (March 712M/73B), Stephen Choularton (March 73B) and Peter Wardle (Surtees TS15A). Two non-championship races are also included above and were won by John Lepp in the Central Garage (Mirfield) Ltd Chevron B25 and by Mallock.