1975 Race of Champions

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The 1975 Race of Champions was a non-championship Formula One race held at Brands Hatch on March 16, 1975. Weather conditions were unusually 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 protestor against the Formula 5000 drivers - Emerson Fittipaldi - was to qualify only 17th - some 4 rows behind the fastest Formula 5000 driver Tom Belso. 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 third 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.

[edit] Results

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