International Gold Cup at Oulton Park (May 29th)

Brought forward to the Spring Bank Holiday, the annual Gold Cup race at Oulton Park drew a small but select group of Formula One cars and drivers, supported by a field of F5000 cars. A last-minute decision on tyres handicapped Emerson Fittipaldi in the John Player Lotus 72D/R5, as Team Lotus thought rain was coming and it did not materialise. This helped Hulme to win the race for the Yardley McLaren team in M19A/1, as they had gambled on it staying dry. The race was run over 40 laps of the Cheshire circuit and in winning Hulme set up a new outright circuit record. Schenken came home third in the Surtees he has been driving all season, rebuilt after its Monaco accident, and Redman brought the new F5000 Chevron B24 home into fourth place, comfortably ahead of all the other 5-litre cars.

Australian Vern Schuppan had his first try in Formula One with the Marlboro-BRM P153B/03 and drove neatly and tidily into fifth place. Peterson kept up his record for hairy driving by colliding with Wisell at the start, eliminating his March 721X/2B and damaging his Swedish compatriot’s BRM P180/02 and causing him a broken finger. The other Formula One entries were Walker with the Lotus 72D/R6 he crashed at Silverstone, now repaired, and Gethin with BRM P160/03, but both retired with mechanical trouble.