F1, F5000 and a… Citroën SM!

Niki Lauda appears to be having a very pleasant conversation with Mike Hailwood sitting in his Citroën SM, before the famous 1973 Race of Champions run at Brands Hatch (photo above).

The 8th Race of Champions was a non-championship race which welcomed not only Formula 1 single-seaters, but also Formula 5000 cars and was won, in an almost unique event, by Peter Gethin driving a Chevron-Chevrolet B24 of… F5000.

However, qualifying had been dominated by the BRM P160Ds of Beltoise (on pole), Lauda, ​​and Schuppan, who were ahead of Scheckter’s McLaren M19C and Hailwood’s Surtees TS14A. Gethin, the first of the F5000s, was in 8th position.

During the race, Peter Gethin took advantage of BRM’s troubles to move into the lead and win a prestigious event. After 40 laps, he was ahead of Denny Hulme’s Yardley-liveried McLaren M19 and James Hunt’s Surtees, entered by Lord Hesketh (picture below).