Race Report: Brands Hatch, 7 September 1975

Although this wasn’t a championship round Polydor Records had put up a £1000 prize fund which assured most of the usual front runners were in attendance. Pole position went to the works Ralt of Larry Perkins from the Swan Song Records March of Bob Arnott. The two works Marches of Gunnar Nilsson and Alex Ribeiro were languishing back on row three with handling problems.

Arnott found himself in trouble before the start with a misfire, a quick plug change failing to cure the problem. Dick Parsons made the best start chased by Perkins and by lap 5 the two of then had opened out a gap on Rupert Keegan and Danny Sullivan. Arnott was in fifth but his misfire was worsening and on lap 9 he pulled into the pits, he went out again without any change, he pitted again and the problem was discovered, a rotted fuel line.
Keegan had just been advised he had a ten second penalty for a jump start so he was trying to open out a gap to Sullivan. On lap 14 Perkins took the lead at Paddock and immediately began to edge away from Parsons, by the finish he was 4.8 seconds ahead. Keegan’s efforts to get away from Sullivan came to naught when his clutch began to fail on lap 21, he soon began to fall back through the field and on the last lap he pitted and retired. Ribeiro and Nilsson took fourth and fifth behind Sullivan with Chris Barnett next up. Barnett had been having a good battle with Pierre Dieudonné until the Belgian spun off at Clearways. Donald MacLeod did well to finish seventh in his GRD 375 after starting last on the grid.

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