Intercontinental Formula was an open wheel, single seater motor-racing formula introduced in 1961 as an alternative to

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

. As its name implies it was hoped to encourage participation from the United States and Europe, but ultimately the handful of races which ran under the formula all took place in Great Britain, and only for one year.

Background

In late 1958, the CSI, the regulatory body for motor-sport, announced new regulations for

, to be introduced in 1961. British F1 constructors, unhappy with the new regulations which they felt favoured manufacturers such as

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

and

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...

, developed plans for an alternative series which was effectively a continuation of the existing F1 regulations, with the limit on engine size increased from 2.5 litres to 3 litres. Hoping to attract interest from the United States, the new formula was named ''Intercontinental Formula''. Although Ferrari had expressed an interest in the new formula, in 1960 they announced that they would be committing to the new F1 regulations. In addition, engine manufacturer

Coventry Climax Coventry Climax was a British forklift truck, fire pump, racing, and other specialty engine manufacturer. History Pre WW1 The company was started in 1903 as Lee Stroyer, but two years later, following the departure of Stroyer, it was relocat ...

also withdrew from participation, preferring to concentrate on developing the new 1.5 litre engines. Meanwhile, of the British manufacturers, only Lotus and

BRM British Racing Motors (BRM) was a British Formula One motor racing team. Founded in 1945 and based in the market town of Bourne in Lincolnshire, it participated from 1951 to 1977, competing in 197 grands prix and winning seventeen. BRM wo ...

entered official works entries. In all, only five races were run under the formula, including a joint race with Formula One. All races were won by the

Cooper T53 The Cooper T53 is a Formula One car built by British motorsport team Cooper for the 1960 Formula One season. Jack Brabham drove it to his second World Championship that year, and with teammate Bruce McLaren gave Cooper its second Constructors' Cham ...

Climax Climax may refer to: Language arts * Climax (narrative), the point of highest tension in a narrative work * Climax (rhetoric), a figure of speech that lists items in order of importance Biology * Climax community, a biological community th ...

model; two by

Jack Brabham Sir John Arthur Brabham (2 April 1926 – 19 May 2014) was an Australian racing driver who was Formula One World Champion in , , and . He was a founder of the Brabham racing team and race car constructor that bore his name. Brabham was a R ...

and three by

Stirling Moss Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British Formula One racing driver. An inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, he won 212 of the 529 races he entered across several categories of comp ...

. With waning interest from manufacturers, coupled with the success of the new formula, Intercontinental Formula was abandoned. Despite their initial opposition to the new formula, British manufacturers, particularly Lotus, would eventually dominate the five years of the 1.5 litre Formula One era, winning 36 out of the 47 races and taking three of the five Constructors' Championships.

Race results

¹ run in conjunction with

entries

References

Formula racing series 1961 establishments 1961 disestablishments 1961 in British motorsport {{Motorsport-stub