Rothmans F5000 Championship round

Snetterton, 30 Aug 1971

All cars are 5-litre F5000 unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. McLaren M10B [400-11S] (Graham McRae): New to Graham McRae for the 1970 British F5000 series, starting at Brands Hatch at the end of March. Won the final round of the series, also at Brands Hatch. Then raced in the 1971 Tasman series, winning at Levin, Wigram and Sandown Park. After crashing his new M18 at Snetterton early in 1971, McRae brought out the M10B again and won at Mallory Park in May, at Thruxton in August, and at Snetterton at the end of that month. At the next race, at Hockenheim on 12 September, McRae crashed when challenging Emerson Fittipaldi's Lotus 56B turbine for second place. The car slammed ito the barrier and caght fire when a fuel cell ruptured. McRae escaped with minor burns, but the M10B was completely destroyed.
2. McLaren M10B [400-20] (Teddy Pilette): To Belgian team Racing Team VDS for Teddy Pilette to drive in the 1971 Tasman series. Then raced by Pilette in the British series in 1971, after which it returned to New Zealand for the 1972 Tasman series. Sold to Pierre Soukry (Strasbourg, France) and raced in the 1972 European series from late May onwards. Also used in French hillclimbs, winning at Wissembourg in early June. Soukry recalls that he sold the car to a man who crashed his car and trailer on the way home, destroying the McLaren.
3. Brabham BT16/21B [F2-19-65] (Dave Berry): Jack Brabham's works SCA-engined BT16, used during the 1965 mid-season and also raced by Chris Irwin when the Honda project was revived. To Robs Lamplough (London) for 1966 and retained for 1967. To John Watson (Craigavad, County Down, Northern Ireland) for Irish racing in 1967 and fitted with a Lotus-Ford twin-cam. Retained for 1968. Sold to Dave Berry (Colwyn Bay, Wales) for 1969 and used in UK libre; then fitted with an Oldsmobile V8 for 1970, 1971 and 1972. Last seen in October 1972.
4. Harrier 001 ['2'] (Terry Sanger): New for Terry Sanger to drive in the 1971 Rothmans F5000 Championship, and fitted with a Ford Boss 302 V8 engine prepared by Piper Cars. He was hit by Keith Holland's McLaren while being lapped at the opening race and the Harrier was badly damaged. It was rebuilt with a longer wheelbase and a Chevrolet engine, and raced at Snetterton, Hockenheim, Oulton Park and Brands Hatch later in 1971. Sanger also ran the car at the Weston-super-Mare Speed Trials in October. Advertised in 1975 and 1976, but remained unsold. The car was next seen in 1983, when John Fossey (Jersey) started racing it in Channel Island hillclimbs, fitted with a 3.5-litre Rover V8 engine. He continued to use it until at least 2003, and by June 2009, it was with Barry 'Noddy' Le Prevost, again for Channel Island hillclimbs. It was bought from Le Prevost by Geoff Robinson, then sold to Spencer Elton, who Robinson believes sold it to Ewan Cameron (Malvern, Worcestershire).
5. McLaren M10B [400-05] (Gordon Spice): Barry Newman for Howden Ganley: UK 1970 (18 races, five second places) - Gordon Spice: Argentinean GP 1971; UK 1971 (11 races + 1 DNS). Rebuilt as 'Kitchmac' by Tony Kitchiner for 1972 season: driven by Gordon Spice (UK: 7 races + 1 DNS), John Kendall (UK: 2 races; US : 1 race only R3 Watkins Glen), Fred Saunders (UK: 1 DNS only), Alan Rollinson (UK: 1 race only), Roger Williamson (UK: 3 races); UK 1973: driven by Kaye Griffiths ( 1 race only), Richard Knight (5 races + 1 DNS). Not seen again after the end of 1973. It has been reported that this car was wrecked in an accident but it appears to have survived its final race in 1973 intact. Subsequent history unknown.
6. Lola T190 [190/F1/4-2] (Peter Wiechert): New to Jo Bonnier and raced at Sebring 28 Dec 1969. To Daniel Rouveyran 1970 for French hillclimbs but crashed. Returned to Bonnier and rebuilt on new T190 tub. Sold to Roland Heiler (Germany) and loaned back to Bonnier again for 1971 Argentine GP. Peter Wiechert (Germany) and Heiler UK 1971. Likely to be the car raced by Hans Furian (Austria) in Swiss Championship events in 1973 and at the F5000 races at Snetterton and Brands Hatch in October 1973. Subsequent history unknown.
7. McLaren M18 [500-01] (Brian Redman): See full history: McLaren M18 500-01.
8. Lola T300 [P] (Frank Gardner): This prototype F5000 car was called a T242 at its first race but this confused owners of Formula B Lola T240s so the car was renamed T300 for second race. Frank Gardner raced the car in the 1971 British F5000 series, starting at Thruxton at the beginning of August. He raced the car four times before it was wrecked at Snetterton and replaced with first production T300, chassis HU1.
9. Surtees TS8 [007] (Alan Rollinson): New for Peter Revson at the 1971 Questor GP then for Alan Roillinson in UK series. To Alan Brodie 1972 and raced by Brodie and by Steve Thompson. To Servis Appliances Racing Team 1973 and raced by Ray Allan early in the season. Then possibly the Robin Darlington car in Sep 1973 Reappeared with Colin Andrews (Banbury, Oxfordshire) 1974, then to Steve Cuff (Frome, Somerset) 1975 for hillclimbs. To Alan Richards (Cheltenham) and used in sprints and occasional hill climbs in 1976 and 1977. Used in sprints and occasional hill climbs by Bob Clapham in 1978 and 1979. Then unknown until sold by Brian Redman to Dave Swigler (Panama City, FL) in 1986. Dave believes Brian got it from Richard Attwood about two years earlier. Retained until Swigler sold his collection to Harin De Silva (Palos Verdes Estates, CA) in 2009. Restored by Virtuoso Performance and first raced at Laguna Seca in August 2011. Also raced in New Zealand in the 2011/12 Tasman Revival series and at the Phillip Island Classic in March 2013.
10. Surtees TS8 [005] (Mike Hailwood): Built for 1971 season and run by Team Surtees for Mike Hailwood to race in the 1971 British F5000 series. Hailwood won the opening race and also at Mallory Park and Silverstone later in the season to finish second in the championship. Sold to Belgian driver Hervé Bayard for 1972, reportedly together with a works spare car. Bayard raced it in one early season F5000 race at Mallory Park, but his main focus was hillclimbing in Europe. He had the car fitted with a Cosworth DFV engine and competed in the French and European series, winning overall at La Bachellerie, Turckheim-Trois-Epis, Les Andelys and Soissons. He finished second overall in the European championship. Bayard also used the Surtees-DFV at the Rothmans 50,000 on 28 August 1972 but did not qualify. After the 1972 season, the car was rebuilt back to Formula 5000 specification and entered by Ecurie Bonnier (Geneva, Switzerland) for Rolf Tellsten in the F5000 race at Mallory Park on 28 May 1973 but he and the car did not arrive. Ecurie Bonnier had been taken over by Heini Mader since Jo Bonnier's death. In February 1974, Ecurie Bonnier advertised six cars for sale in Autosport, including a Surtees TS8 that was "chassis only". The Surtees was later sold to engine builder Louis Morand (La Tour-de-Trême, Switzerland) and was stored at Mader's workshop at Gland, Switzerland until 1978. It then moved to Morand's workshop and was restored to F5000 specification, with a view to Benoît Morand, Louis' son, driving it. This didn't happen, and the car remained stored until sold to Peter Hoffmann (Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany) in 1982. Hoffmann also did not race the car, and sold it in 1989 to Rainer Jacobi (Mainz), who restored the car and ran it in historic events in 1990 and 1991.

Sources

Note that the identification of individual cars in these results is based on the material presented elsewhere in this site and may in some cases contradict the organisers' published results.

1969-1976 UK results have been researched and collated by Chris Townsend based primarily on material in Autosport and Motoring News. Information has been added from the growing collection of entry lists from programs.

All comments, clarifications, corrections and additions are most welcome. Please email Allen (allen@oldracingcars.com) if you can help in any way with our research.