1971 Race of Champions G Hill Brabham BT34

The 23rd BRDC International Trophy meeting - formally the GEN/ Daily Express

BRDC International Trophy The International Trophy is a prize awarded annually by the British Racing Drivers' Club to the winner of a motor race held at the Silverstone Circuit, England. For many years it formed the premier non-championship Formula One event in Britain, ...

- was held on 8 May 1971 at the Silverstone Circuit,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The race was run 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, ...

and

Formula 5000 Formula 5000 (or F5000) was an open wheel, single seater auto-racing formula that ran in different series in various regions around the world from 1968 to 1982. It was originally intended as a low-cost series aimed at open-wheel racing cars tha ...

regulations, and was held over two heats of 26 laps each, the final results being an aggregate of the two. Graham Hill emerged the winner in the unique Brabham BT34 ''lobster-claw'' car, designed by

Ron Tauranac Ronald Sidney Tauranac (13 January 1925 – 17 July 2020) was a British-Australian engineer and racing car designer, who with Formula One driver Jack Brabham founded the Brabham constructor and racing team in 1962. Following Brabham's retireme ...

. It would be the two-time World Champion's last victory in a

race. The 1971 event was also notable as one of the few competitive outings for the

Lotus 56 The Lotus 56 was a gas turbine-powered four-wheel-driven racing car, designed by Maurice Philippe as Team Lotus's STP-backed entry in the 1968 Indianapolis 500. All three cars entered retired from the race, Joe Leonard's car expiring while lead ...

gas turbine A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directio ...

car. However, suspension failure on only the third lap of the first heat resulted in early retirement for driver

Emerson Fittipaldi Emerson Fittipaldi (; born 12 December 1946) is a Brazilian former automobile racing driver who won both the Formula One World Championship and the Indianapolis 500 twice each and the CART championship once. Moving up from Formula Two, Fittip ...

, although the car held together for long enough to take third place in the second heat. The race incorporated Round 5 of the 1971 Rothmans European Formula 5000 Championship.

Results

Final aggregate

''Note: a blue background indicates a Formula 5000 entrant.''

Heats

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1971 Brdc International Trophy BRDC International Trophy

Brdc Formula 5000 race reports