IT SEEMS that the great majority of Formula One entrants these days feel that the only incentive to take part in races is when there is the lure of World Championship points. Thus over the past four or five years the number of full-scale non-Championship races has dropped drastically to just the couple at the start of the season in Britain. An attempt to run a non-Championship race in Austria at the end of March failed, simply because a field of cars could not be attracted, although the earlier Race of Champions at Brands Hatch went off well.
However, the BRDC foresaw the situation of a small grid for their main event in the International Trophy meeting and therefore decided to add a Formula 5000 section into this race, which previously has been reserved for Formula One. The Club's major meeting has long been backed by the Daily Express, but further support came this year from the giant industrial group, Guest Keen & Nettlefold. So it was decided to give the spectators real money's worth by putting on a race with no fewer than 16 Formula One cars and 20 Formula 5000s.
Unfortunately the plan did not work out perfectly, for the notably unreliable F5000 contingent were unable to come up with a full 20 cars, and the withdrawal of the three BRMs, following the Jarama disaster, plus a couple of other runners cut down the F1 numbers too.
