Introducing Mr Tom Pryce
Author
- Mattijs Diepraam
Date
- 8W November 1998 issue
Related articles
- 1954 International Trophy - Ferrari's chassis doubts during the early 2.5-litre era, by Mattijs Diepraam
- 1966 International Trophy - The start of the 3-litre era, by Mattijs Diepraam
- 1970 International Trophy - JYS practising the De Tomaso, by Mattijs Diepraam
- 1978 International Trophy - Keke's miracle win, by Mattijs Diepraam
- Token - Taking up Ron Dennis' first failed entry into F1, by Marc Ceulemans
- Trojan - Ron Tauranac's other marque, by Mattijs Diepraam
Who?Tom Pryce What?Token-Cosworth RJ02 Where?Silverstone When?1974 International Trophy |
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Why?
The BRDC International Trophy was a traditional non-championship spring fixture which ran almost uninterruptedly from 1949 until 1978 at the Northamptonshire airfield track of Silverstone. Apart from the first two International Trophies and the 1957 edition, which were run in August, the Silverstone event was invariably held in late April or early May - or at least thereabouts.
Its winners list includes some very famous names: Ascari, Farina, Hawthorn, Behra, Collins, Ireland, Hill, Clark, Stewart, Parkes, Hulme, Fittipaldi, Hunt, Lauda and of course poor Chris Amon, who was a popular winner in 1970 but missed out on a World Championship victory on many occasions. Jack Brabham won the event three times, while several local stars like Reg Parnell and Lance Macklin also grabbed their chance to shine on an international podium. British drivers featured on and off in this often well-entered event, which by the seventies gave several leading teams and debuting teams the opportunity to test new equipment in a racing situation.
One of the new British outfits to enter the F1 scene at the International Trophy was Token, a project of Tony Vlassopoulo and Ken Grob, from whose first names the name was derived. The 1974 International Trophy saw the international debut of the strangely shaped Token RJ02. The car - originally designed under the guidance of Ron Dennis... - proved no exception to the popular rule that bad looking cars are bad cars to drive.
Even for the talented Tom Pryce it proved a handful and after crashing the car on its Championship debut at Nivelles he decided to take his lot to the rather more organized Shadow team. At the hands of erstwhile and future LEC driver David Purley, the RJ02 reappeared at Silverstone for the British GP but Purley failed to qualify. For Germany and Austria Ian Ashley was drafted in and although he just scraped in on both events he finished quite a large number of laps down.
The project was subsequently dismantled. The car later reappeared as a Safir.