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1971 Spring Trophy

Motor car race

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
2 min read
Source updated July 19, 2025
Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

The Rothmans/Daily Express Spring Trophy was a non-championship Formula One race held on 9 April 1971 at Oulton Park.

Only twelve cars took part. Team Lotus entered three different chassis types - a 49C, a 72D and the Pratt & Whitney gas-turbine-engined 56B. Local favourite and Formula 3 driver Cyd Williams was entrusted with a Frank Williams Racing Cars March but crashed heavily during untimed practice and did not start the race. Jackie Stewart set pole position in the spare car but in the race itself he struggled with his regular car's handling. Pedro Rodriguez won ahead of Peter Gethin, the two of them sharing fastest lap. Stewart finished third.

01Classification

Qualifying

Pos. No. Driver Entrant Car Lap Gap
1 16 Jackie Stewart Elf Team Tyrrell Tyrrell 001 1:25.8 ,
2 6 Peter Gethin Bruce McLaren Motor Racing McLaren M14A 1:25.8 + 0.0
3 3 Pedro Rodriguez Yardley Team BRM BRM P160 1:27.0 + 1.2
4 4 Jo Siffert Yardley Team BRM BRM P153 1:27.4 + 1.6
5 5 John Surtees Brooke-Bond-Oxo/Rob Walker/Team Surtees Surtees TS9 1:27.6 + 1.8
6 2 Howden Ganley Yardley Team BRM BRM P153 1:28.2 + 2.4
7 10 Emerson Fittipaldi Gold Leaf Team Lotus Lotus 72C 1:29.4 + 3.6
8 8 Mike Beuttler Clarke-Mordaunt-Guthrie Racing March 701 1:32.2 + 6.4
9 11 Reine Wisell Gold Leaf Team Lotus Lotus 56B 1:33.6 + 7.8
10 17 Tony Trimmer Gold Leaf Team Lotus Lotus 49C 1:34.6 + 8.8
11 14 Cyd Williams Motul/Frank Williams Racing Cars March 701 1:37.2 + 11.4
12 15 Alan Rollinson Jo Siffert Automobiles March 701 1:38.0 + 12.2
DNA 1 Jo Bonnier Ecurie Bonnier McLaren M7C , ,
DNA 7 Denis Hulme Bruce McLaren Motor Racing McLaren M19A , ,
DNA 12 Ronnie Peterson STP March Engineering March 711 , ,

Race

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid
1 3 Pedro Rodriguez BRM 40 57:33.4 3
2 6 Peter Gethin McLaren-Cosworth 40 + 4.6 2
3 16 Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Cosworth 40 + 12.2 1
4 2 Howden Ganley BRM 39 + 1 lap 6
5 15 Alan Rollinson March-Cosworth 36 + 4 laps 12
6 17 Tony Trimmer Lotus-Cosworth 31 + 9 laps 10
7 10 Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Cosworth 27 + 13 laps 7
Ret 11 Reine Wisell Lotus-Pratt & Whitney 17 Puncture 9
Ret 8 Mike Beuttler March-Cosworth 16 Nose cone 8
Ret 4 Jo Siffert BRM 13 Ignition 4
Ret 5 John Surtees Surtees-Cosworth 5 Engine 5
DNS 14 Cyd Williams March-Cosworth Practice Crash 11
DNS 9 Jackie Stewart1 Tyrrell-Cosworth Drove No. 16
Source:

1 Stewart practiced in the spare Tyrrell 002 but opted to race Tyrrell 001.

Watch videos about 1971 Spring TrophyExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “1971 Spring Trophy”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

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