opened with the Race of Champions. March Engineering made its Formula One-winning debut when Jackie Stewart won driving Ken Tyrrell's March-Cosworth 701. The British Grand Prix returned to Brands Hatch on 19 July and saw victory go to Jochen Rindt by less than 33 seconds from Jack Brabham, who had run out of fuel. The Austrian driver of the Lotus was then disqualified following a protest over an aerofoil, but was reinstated before the evening was out. Third place went to Denny Hulme in the McLaren from the Ferrari of Clay Regazzoni; a lap down in fifth spot with the March of Chris Amon with Graham Hill sixth in the other Lotus. Rindt's winning speed was . Although the World Championship sports race was now BOAC 1000, but measured in kilometres, not miles, it was another Porsche benefit, the fearsome 917s taking the first three places from a 908; the first car home was the Pedro Rodríguez/Leo Kinnunen car from Vic Elford/Denny Hulme and Richard Attwood/Hans Herrmann. The 908 was driven by Gijs van Lennep and Hans Laine. The race was run over 235 laps at a speed of . By 1971, the ownership of Brands Hatch was in the hands of Motor Circuit Developments (MCD), which saw the arrival of another MCD-inspired single-seater formula in the shape of Formula Atlantic. The BOAC 1000 saw Alfa Romeo take their first major success in 20 years, with the chequered flag being taken by the 33TT3 of Andrea de Adamich and Henri Pescarolo, who completed the 235 laps at a speed of . They were followed home by the Ferrari 312PB of Jacky Ickx and Clay Regazzoni, with the Porsche 917 of Jo Siffert and Derek Bell a further three laps down in third. Motor Racing is a dangerous game and there had been some fatalities at Brands including the deaths of George Crossman, Tony Flory and Stuart Duncan in the mid-60s. But in October 1971, the season drew to its close with the death of a major driver. Jo Siffert died in an accident in the Rothmans World Championship Victory Race. This non-championship event for Formula One and Formula 5000 cars was arranged to mark Jackie Stewart and Ken Tyrrell's joint World Championships. The race was 40 laps in length; 'Seppi' lost control of his BRM P160 on lap 15, hit the bank at Hawthorn Hill, the car was engulfed in