1975 Race of Champions

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.

File:Druids Hill Bend 1975 Race of Champions.jpg

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.

Despite not being a Championship round, Pryce's win makes this the only Formula One race won by a Welshman.

Results

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid
1	16	Template:Flagicon Tom Pryce	Shadow-Ford	40	55:53.5	1
2	18	Template:Flagicon John Watson	Surtees-Ford	40	+ 30.5	10
3	5	Template:Flagicon Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford	40	+ 32.0	6
4	6	Template:Flagicon Jacky Ickx	Lotus-Ford	39	+ 1 Lap	4
5	1	Template:Flagicon Emerson Fittipaldi	McLaren-Ford	39	+ 1 Lap	17
6	14	Template:Flagicon Bob Evans	BRM	38	+ 2 Laps	19
7	20	Template:Flagicon Arturo Merzario	Williams-Ford	37	+ 3 Laps	8
8	17	Template:Flagicon Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow-Ford	36	+ 4 Laps/Fuel pump	3
9	23	Template:Flagicon Rolf Stommelen	Lola-Ford	35	+ 5 Laps	5
10	51	Template:Flagicon Roelof Wunderink	Ensign-Ford	35	+ 5 Laps	18
11	35	Template:Flagicon David Purley	Chevron-Ford	34	+ 6 Laps	12
Ret	31	Template:Flagicon Ian Ashley	Lola-Chevrolet	27	Accident	16
Ret	28	Template:Flagicon Mark Donohue	Penske-Ford	26	Handling	7
Ret	3	Template:Flagicon Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	25	Engine	2
Ret	10	Template:Flagicon Lella Lombardi	March-Ford	20	Handling	11
Ret	7	Template:Flagicon Vern Schuppan	Lola-Chevrolet	18	Tyres	13
Ret	50	Template:Flagicon John Nicholson	Lyncar-Ford	15	Engine	20
Ret	208	Template:Flagicon Tom Belsø	Lola-Chevrolet	0	Accident	9
Ret	2	Template:Flagicon Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	0	Accident	15
DSQ	52	Template:Flagicon Tony Trimmer	Safir-Ford	33	Outside assistance	14
DNS	21	Template:Flagicon Maurizio Flammini	Williams-Ford	0	Accident during practice	21
DNQ	34	Template:Flagicon Teddy Pilette	Lola-Chevrolet
DNQ	39	Template:Flagicon Brian Redman	Chevron-Chevrolet
DNQ	33	Template:Flagicon Guy Edwards	Lola-Chevrolet
DNQ	77	Template:Flagicon Dave Walker	Chevron-Chevrolet
DNQ	32	Template:Flagicon Peter Gethin	Lola-Chevrolet
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