This book 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.
