Formula 5000 Motor Racing is a trip down memory lane,
recalling the days when Formula 5000 cars roared around the race tracks in Britain and Europe,
creating a lot of noise and, occasionally, dust. The wail of a 5-litre engine
was often more spine-tingling than ANY other racing car. Nowadays, many of the
same cars show modern day spectators just what Formula 5000 was. Few, if any,
of the drivers are prima donnas, and many want to know what their car did
before it came into their possession. This book answers those questions and
many more.
This book covers a very popular ‘formula’ of racing cars
that is generally untapped as a subject by other authors. Although Formula 5000
has never had the mass appeal of F1, in some instances the cars and drivers
became favourites of spectators across the globe. Some drivers went on to great
fame after their adventures in this genre – Peter Gethin in F1 and Brian Redman
in Sports Cars, for example.
Formula 5000 was launched in the UK
and Europe in 1969, but fell by the wayside at
the end of 1976 – although a few cars continued to run in other events after
that. Some cars came back to circuits in 2003 as part of the Formula One Race
Car Entrants (FORCE) package, but it was in 2004 that a lot more cars became
really re-acquainted with their old haunts following the launch of the Derek
Bell Trophy, backed by the UK’s
Historic Sports Car Club.
This book will remind readers of both periods when the cars
ran in anger.