Riding pillion at Zwartkops – Passion for Speed on the 1st February 2020. Some fortunate people will get the opportunity to experience what if was like to race a Formula 5000 in the seventies.
They were beautiful, in 1969 as fast as many Formula One cars, but brutal.
Formula 5000 originated in USA as a Formula to be competitive with F1, but at a National level and using Formula One design but with US drivetrain technology, hence 5 litre American V8’s.
All the leading F1 producers and teams built F5000 cars. McLaren, Lola, Lotus, Chevron and even Cooper in their last days. In South Africa F5000 were a major component of our F1 grid. Bobby Olthoff, Paddy Driver, John McNicol, Dave Charlton, Jackie Pretorius and Spencer Schultz.
