Autosport show: celebrating F5000

Celebrating 50 years since the pretender to Formula 1’s throne hit UK shores

Half a century after Formula 5000 was introduced to the UK, the spectacular single-seater category will be celebrated with a display at Autosport International.

The Historic Sports Car Club will bring together a selection of these monstrous racers from a time when thunder and awe were a major element of motorsport’s popular appeal. F5000’s reign was brief, but at its pomp it was one of the best shows in European single-seater racing.

John Webb, the innovating boss at Brands Hatch, brought F5000 to Europe for the 1969 season. It had been established a year earlier as Formula A in North America and was based on mating five-litre engines, usually from Chevrolet, to relatively simple chassis. The cars were brutish, fast and loud.

Evolution was rapid and within three years the top cars rivalled Formula 1 for pace. The F5000 pack was used to bolster diminishing F1 entries in the UK’S early-season non-championship races, and Peter Gethin famously won the 1973 Brands Hatch Race of Champions against some quality F1 entries. Notable F5000 alumni include Mike Hailwood, Mario Andretti, Rene Arnoux, Patrick Tambay and Alan Jones.

But the oil crisis and rising costs took the steam out of the category and the European championship morphed into an open single-seater contest under the Group 8 banner. The F5000 cars faded away but are now alive and well with healthy retro grids in the US and New Zealand, as well as a popular place in the HSCC’S Derek Bell Trophy.