British Sprint Championship 1971
The two main contenders in 1971 were Bob Rose in his Formula 5000 McLaren M10B and Johnty Williamson in the mighty ex-Martin Brain Cooper T81B-Chrysler. Rose won four of the first six rounds, including two at his Curborough kingdom, but his focus changed to the hillclimb championship just as Williamson moved in the other direction, and the Cooper driver was easily able to overhaul his points total. Also highly competitive was David Render in his gorgeous Ginetta G12 GT car, into which a 3.5-litre Buick V8 engine had somehow been crammed.
Among the hillclimb regulars who found themselves scoring points were Tony Griffiths who won the Weston Speed Trials, Roy Lane for a win at Yeovilton, John McCartney for a win at Blackpool, and Curborough challenger John Ravenscroft. A strong 1600cc class included Spencer Elton in his Brabham BT18.
The races
28 Mar 1971 > Yeovilton
18 Apr 1971 > Curborough
09 May 1971 > Santa Pod
06 Jun 1971 > Curborough
13 Jun 1971 > Blackpool
20 Jun 1971 > Gaydon
09 Aug 1971 > Thruxton
15 Aug 1971 > Lydden Hill
12 Sep 1971 > Duxford
02 Oct 1971 > Weston-Super-Mare Speed Trials
1971 RAC British Sprint Championship table
| 1 | Johnty Williamson | Cooper T81B - Chrysler RB 440 V8 | 62 pts | 2 wins |
| 2 | Bob Rose | McLaren M10B - Chevrolet V8 | 40 pts | 4 wins |
| 3 | David Render | Ginetta G12 - Buick V8 | 40 pts | |
| 4 | Spencer Elton | Brabham BT18 - Ford twin cam Vegantune | 34 pts | 1 win |
| 5 | John Saunders | Alexis Mk14/15 - Ford Kent | 23 pts | |
| 6 | Dave Hartley | Brabham BT18 - Buick V8 | 20 pts | |
| 7 | Tony Griffiths | Brabham BT35X - Repco V8 | 19 pts | 1 win |
| 8 | Roy Lane | McLaren M10B - Chevrolet V8 | 19 pts | 1 win |
| 9 | John Ravenscroft | Brabham BT21A - Vegantune | 17 pts | |
| 10 | Peter Ryan | Aldon Viper A - BMC s/c | 14 pts | |
| 11 | John McCartney | TechCraft 4WD - BRM P60 V8 | 14 pts | 1 win |
| 12 | Tom Elton | Cooper MkX - JAP | 11 pts | |
| 13 | Tony Harrison | McLaren M12C/M6B - Chevrolet V8 | 9 pts | |
| 14 | David Pullen | Brabham BT21B - Ford twin cam Cosworth Mk 13 | 9 pts | |
| 15 | Frank Aston | Chevron B19 - Ford BDA | 6 pts | |
| 16 | Tony Bradwell | Brabham BT21 Quattro - Oldsmobile V8 | 5 pts | |
| 17 | Dave Caulkin | Mini Cooper S - Mini | 2 pts |
The points system for the championship remained the same as that used for the Hill Climb championship, awarding 10 points for the fastest time in the runoff, then 9 for second and on down to one point for tenths place. An additional point was awarded to each driver that improved on the best time for the course prior to the meeting.