The British Formula One Championship, often abbreviated to British F1, was a

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

motor racing An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

championship held in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It was often referred to as the Aurora AFX Formula One series due to the

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

company's sponsorship of the series for three of the four seasons. The long established

Cosworth DFV The DFV is an internal combustion engine that was originally produced by Cosworth for Formula One motor racing. The name is an abbreviation of ''Double Four Valve'', the engine being a V8 development of the earlier four-cylinder FVA, which had f ...

engine helped make the series possible between 1978 and 1980. As in the

South African Formula One Championship The South African Formula One Championship, was a national Formula One motor racing championship held in South Africa between 1960 and 1975, including races in Rhodesia and Portuguese Mozambique. The front-running cars in the series were recen ...

a decade or so before, second hand cars from manufacturers like Lotus and

Fittipaldi Automotive Fittipaldi Automotive was a Formula One racing team and constructor that competed from to . The cars were officially called Copersucar until the end of 1979 and Fittipaldi from the beginning of 1980 onwards. It was the only Formula One team to ...

were run by many entrants, although some, such as the March 781, were built specifically for the series. In 1980

Desiré Wilson Desiré Wilson (), born 26 November 1953, is a former racing driver from South Africa and one of only five women to have competed in Formula One. Born in Brakpan, she entered one Formula One World Championship Grand Prix in with a non-works ...

became the only woman to win a Formula One race. She won at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hosts ...

driving a

Wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, includin ...

Origins

The British Formula One Championship was a successor to the older Group 8 Shellsport Championship, which had previously run for

Formula 5000 Formula 5000 (or F5000) was an Open-wheel car, open wheel, single seater auto-racing formula that ran in different series in various regions around the world from 1968 to 1982. It was originally intended as a low-cost series aimed at open-wheel ...

cars. In 1977 the series was opened up to allow Formula One cars to race and the

BRSCC The British Racing and Sports Car Club (BRSCC) is one of the major organisers of motorsport events in the United Kingdom. The club currently runs around thirty circuit racing championships for cars as diverse as Citroën, BMWs and Mazda. Formed i ...

upgraded it to a full Formula One championship a year later.

Formula Two Formula Two (F2) is a type of Open-wheel car, open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009 FIA Formula Two Championship season, 2009 to 2012 FIA Formula Two C ...

cars were also present on the grid to make up the numbers.

Champions

^† x/y: Competed in x races of the season total y.

References

External links

GEL Motorsport Information Page: The Formula One Archives
1978 establishments in the United Kingdom 1982 disestablishments in the United Kingdom {{F1-stub