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Rothmans 5000 Brands Hatch

Brands Hatch International Circuit, Kent, Great-Britain

Date: 26/8/1974
Track length:
Attendance:
Entries accepted:
Starters: 20 (A-B); 14 (C-D)
Finishers: 18 (A-B);

Pole position: Lyon in 1.04,4 (A-B); Graham in 0.57,0 (C-D)
Fastest lap: Williams in 0.57,6 (A-B); Lloyd and Graham in 0.55,6 (C-D)

Distance: 20 laps
Average speed: 122,63 kmh (A-B); 125,88 kmh (C-D)
Weather: Sunny and dry
Ruleset: Group 1B
Car info: 1974 Cars

Pictures

Race 1
The field for the two Castrol Gp1 Championship rounds, which as at Ingliston was divided into separate races for those above and below 2500 cc, featured all the regular faces from the proceeding rounds. In the smaller race, however, Dutchman Hans Deen added a welcome dash of genuinely international flavour with his FIA Gp1 Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV, and John Fitzpatrick was in Gerry Edmunds' Dolomite. As at Ingliston, too, Tom Walkinshaw had the London Sports Car Centre Escort RS2000, although as a reserve he in fact only got a race because Gordon Dawkins stood down and ran with the unlimited cars instead.
The rain affected practice for the smaller cars too - and how! Just as "the line" was beginning to look dry the skies burst open and that was that as far as decent times were concerned. Andy Rouse was not alone in going out for a quick time on a merely damp track at exactly the moment that the heavens burst asunder.
The upshot was that John Lyon's Alfa Romeo was fastest in 1.04,4 with Mike Chittenden's BMW 2002 TII of all things second-best, 0.4s slower. Bernard Unett was third quickest in his 1600 cc class-leading Avenger, which did a very creditable 1.05,8.
Walkinshaw and Deen both made atrocious starts, but Hine fairly leapt away and slipped through the front row to lead into Paddock. Lyon latched himself onto Hine's tail but revolved at Druids, and although everyone somehow avoided him, the momentary blockage gave Hine a useful leeway on his first lap that he never lost. Having pulled out a 4s advantage by half distance, Hine was content to maintain a gap of that order to the end.
Handley was second after the opening lap, being chased by Rouse, Fitzpatrick, Williams and Unett, but on the second lap Rouse passed Handley, Williams moved into third spot on lap four, taking Handley round the outside of Bottom Bend, and entering Paddock for the sixth time he removed Rouse from second place. This pair had already shaken off the others, and though Rouse harried Williams all the way to the flag the Mazda kept the upper hand, finishing 1.2s in front.
Unett was never challenged at all for the 1600 cc class, and for much of the race lay seventh, but with four laps to go Deen's extra power took him past. Behind a recovered Lyon and Tim Stock's Magnum, Chittenden proved far less nifty in the dry than in the wet.

Race 2
Only fourteen cars lined up for the Castrol qualifier for cars over 2500 cc: and among those Stuart Graham's Camaro was wheeled off pole position with petrol spewing from beneath the bonnet. Graham had lapped in 57.0s at the very end of the practice session, when the track was virtually dry. Tom Walkinshaw's Shellsport entered Capri was in the middle of the front row with a time of 58.8s, and Richard Lloyd was alongside them in the Camaro pranged at the Race of Champions meeting and was now completely rebuilt.
Lloyd got away first, but behind him there was a breathtaking moment as Walkinshaw's Capri faltered on the line and for a second there were saloons five abreast approaching Paddock. Indeed Woodman had been too eager and was penalised 10s accordingly. Nevertheless, Woodman had secured second place by his lightning start and as Lloyd simply ran away from the field Woodman also never lost his place. For a lap Kay lay third but then Nash got past and the leading order stayed unchanged to the flag. Nash challenged Woodman for a few laps but then suffered his usual gearbox maladies and fell back.
Kay meanwhile got involved in a major argument with Walkinshaw, Hanson, Lanfranchi and Ridgard. Kay punted Walkinshaw onto the grass at Paddock on the fourth lap, costing the Scotsman a lot of time, but undaunted and ignoring the huge dents in his Capri he resumed the attack on Hanson and Lanfranchi for his class. His task was eased when Lanfranchi spun at Clearways on lap eight, much modifying the BMWs back end and costing him several laps, but Kay, Hanson and Ridgard were still hard at it. By half distance Ridgard had worked his way to the front of this bunch, while Walkinshaw was again on Hanson's boot. On lap 14 the Capri passed the Opel and next time past the pits both were in front of Ridgard. When they reappeared they were alone, for Kay had shoved Ridgard off at Druids. So Lloyd won by 10.6s on the road, but Woodman had lost another 10s of course for his over-anxious start. However, this still left him well clear of Nash, who in the last lap slowed right down with a flattening tyre. Indeed, Nash was almost caught by Walkinshaw, who still had Hanson clinging forlornly to his rear bumper. Graham had emerged with the race eight laps old, trying for and getting a new lap record for the class along with Lloyd. After the race there was the usual argument about Mr Kay's driving manners - he was not the most popular man in the pits after this performance.

Touring Cars class A-B
Pos Pos in class # Team / Entrant
Car- Engine		 Drivers, Nationality Engine
vol. (cc)		 Engine
Type		 Group Distance,
time		 Qualifying position Qualifying time Fastest lap Reason out,
remarks
1 1 46 Bill Shaw Racing/Shellsport
Triumph Dolomite Sprint		 John Hine, GB
 1998 L4 B 20 laps, 19.31,6 5      
2 2 40 Team Castrol
Mazda Savanna RX-3		 Barrie Williams, GB
 2 x 491 R2 B 20 laps, 19.36,2 4   0.57,6  
3 3 48 Team Broadspeed Castrol
Triumph Dolomite Sprint		 Andy Rouse, GB
 1998 L4 B 20 laps, 19.37,4 10      
4 4 47 Rolling Chain Distributors
Triumph Dolomite Sprint		 John Handley, GB
 1998 L4 B 20 laps, 19.41,6 9      
5 5 59 Gerry Edmonds Racing
Triumph Dolomite Sprint		 John Fitzpatrick, GB
 1998 L4 B 20 laps, 19.42,2        
6 6 52 Team Broadspeed Castrol
Triumph Dolomite Sprint		 Tony Dron, GB
 1998 L4 B 20 laps, 19.46,4        
7 7 56 NMB Racing Team
Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV		 Hans Deen, NL
 1962 L4 B 20 laps, 20.01,6 7      
8 1 61 Chrysler Dealer Team
Hillman Avenger 1600 GT		 Bernard Unett, GB
 1594 L4 A 20 laps, 20.03,0 3 1.05,8 0.59,0  
9 8 50 Roger Clark Cars/Esso Uniflo
Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV		 John Lyon, GB
 1962 L4 B 20 laps, 20.09,2 1 1.04,4   Spin
? ?    
Vauxhall Firenza Magnum 2300		 Tim Stock, GB
 2279 L4 B 20 laps?        
10 9 54  
BMW 2002 TII		 Mike Chittenden, GB
 1990 L4 B 20 laps, 20.11,6 2 1.04,8    
11 2 62 Chrysler Dealer Team
Hillman Avenger 1600 GT		 Roger Bell, GB
 1594 L4 A 20 laps, 20.12,0        
12 3 70 Dealer Team Toyota
Toyota Celica GT		 John Markey, GB
 1588 L4 A 20 laps, 20.14,4        
13 4 68 Halesfield Motors (Telford) Ltd.
Hillman Avenger 1600 GT		 Jenny Birrell, GB
 1594 L4 A 20        
14 5 67 Roger Clark Cars/Esso Uniflo
Alfa Romeo 1600 GT Junior		 Stan Clark, GB
 1570 L4 A 20 6      
16 10 43 Penthouse Racing
Mazda Savanna RX-3		 Wendy Markey, GB
 2 x 491 R2 B 20       Spin
17 6 65  
VW Passat TS		 Melvyn Adams, GB
 1470 L4 A 19        
18 11 55  
?BMW 2002 TII		 Jon Mowatt, GB
 1990 L4 B         Overheating
DNF   57 London Sportscar Centre
Ford Escort Mk.I RS 2000		 Tom Walkinshaw, GB
 1993 L4 B   8     Reserve/Halfshaft
DNF   51 Shellsport Arden
Triumph Dolomite Sprint		 Rob Mason, GB
 1998 L4 B         Spin

Touring Cars class C-D
Pos Pos in class # Team / Entrant
Car- Engine		 Drivers, Nationality Engine
vol. (cc)		 Engine
Type		 Group Distance,
time		 Qualifying position Qualifying time Fastest lap Reason out,
remarks
1 1 1 A.J. Rivers Simoniz Racing
Chevrolet Camaro Z28		 Richard Lloyd, GB
 5736 V8 D 20 laps, 19.01,4 3 0.59,6 0.55,6  
2 2 5 VMW Motors - Team Esso Uniflo
Chevrolet Camaro Z28		 Vince Woodman, GB
 5736 V8 D 20 laps, 19.22,0 (including 10 sec penalty for jumping the start) 8      
3 3 2  
Chevrolet Camaro Z28		 Les Nash, GB
 5736 V8 D 20 laps, 19.29,0 11     Puncture
4 1 28 Shellsport
Ford Capri 3000 GT		 Tom Walkinshaw, GB
 2993 V6 C 20 laps, 19.30,4 2 0.58,8 0.57,0  
5 2 27 Dealer Opel Team
Opel Commodore GS/E		 Peter Hanson, GB
 2784 L6 C 20 laps, 19.30,6 5      
6 4 7 Northgate Securities Ltd.
Chevrolet Camaro Z28		 Malcolm Kay, GB
 5736 V8 D 20 laps, 19.45,8 4     Accident
7 3 30 Adlards of Brixton
Ford Capri 3000 GT		 Martin Birrane, IRL
 2993 V6 C 19 laps, 19.19,6 9   0.57,0  
8 4 25 Hermetite Products
Ford Capri 3000 GT		 Holman “Les” Blackburn, GB
 2993 V6 C 19 laps, 19.56,4 10     Puncture
9 5 21 Shellsport/Van Der Steen
BMW 3.0 CSi		 Tony Lanfranchi, GB
 2985 L6 C 16 laps, 19.51,0 6     Accident
10 5 4 Team Castrol
Chevrolet Camaro Z28		 Stuart Graham, GB
 5736 V8 D 12 1 0.57,0 0.55,6 Fuel line at the start
DNF   44  
Ford Escort Mk.I RS 2000		 Gordon Dawkins, GB
 1993 L4 B (!)   12     Puncture
DNF   14  
Chevrolet Camaro Z28		 Bob Ridgard, ZA
 5736 V8 D   7     Accident, handling
DNF   42  
Vauxhall Firenza Magnum 2300		 Dennis Bissell
 2279 L4 B (!)   13      
DNS   31?  
Ford Capri 3000 GT		 Alan Foster, GB
 2993 V6 C          
DNS   6  
Chevrolet Camaro Z28		 Unknown
 5736 V8 D          
DNS   20  
Unknown		 Unknown
     C          
DNS   33  
Unknown		 Unknown
     C          
DNS   34  
Unknown		 Unknown
     C