That first race was oversubscribed, with a full entry of 20 cars plus five reserves – a blend of purpose-built chassis from Lola, McLaren and Surtees, plus a number of repurposed F1 cars in the hands of privateers (and the four-wheel-drive Hepworth). In the end only 15 turned up, two failed to start, 12 seconds covered the top 10 cars on the grid and Peter Gethin (McLaren M10A) won comfortably from David Hobbs (Surtees TS5), with Keith Holland (Lola T142) four laps adrift in third. Mike Walker completed 21 of the 37 laps in his Lola… and is the same Mike Walker who competes in Formula Junior events to this day.
From this stuttering start it took a season or three for the category to find its feet in Britain, with a small group of ultra-committed racers at the front and a band of decreasingly competitive rivals in their slipstream. There might not always have been many of them, but the cars had a sense of purpose – and a soundtrack like nothing else. One on its own could be heard from the adjacent county, and quite possibly country: when a dozen or more swept by in close proximity during the opening laps, the trackside spectator banks quite literally shook. F1 cars might have been a little more sophisticated, but were no match in terms of sensory overload.
As F1 teams began to take less interest in the non-championship races that were once abundant on the British calendar, so F5000 drivers would be invited to make up the numbers – though their cars were invariably outclassed. The balance of power shifted briefly at Brands Hatch in March 1973, when a healthy F5000 field supplemented 16 F1 cars entered for the annual Race of Champions. Covering the event for Motor Sport, Andrew Marriott wrote: “The Formula 5000 entry was terrific – at last this class has suddenly found its feet in Britain. There were about 14 brand-new 5000s in the paddock and the remainder were nearly all reasonably competitive. Some new cars are destined for the USA, but more than enough will be remaining in Britain to make the category very exciting this year.”
Gethin qualified his works Chevron B24 eighth, ahead of many F1 cars, and in the race ran sixth on merit. With a few laps to go he looked set to finish third, courtesy of other drivers’ misfortunes, but then Mike Hailwood’s leading Surtees suffered suspension failure, handing the advantage to Denny Hulme’s McLaren… which slowed with clutch trouble on the final lap and allowed Gethin to sweep to an unexpected victory – the only time an F5000 car would beat F1 opposition in a top-level international race.