The Shadow DN5 was designed by Tony Southgate. A development of the previous year's DN3, the DN5 was more aerodynamically refined and had its weight distribution rearranged. It was updated into a 'B' specification for the following season, prior to which Universal Oil Products, the team's major sponsor, withdrew its financial support.
Racing history
1975
The DN5 proved to be a fast car, which qualified well several times. In fact, for the first race of the season, the Argentine Grand Prix, Jarier, the team leader qualified the DN5 on pole. However, on race day, the car failed to complete the warmup lap due to a crown wheel and pinion failure in the gearbox. Jarier took pole again for the following Brazilian Grand Prix, but retired on lap 32, having led for most of the race. Ultimately, the poor reliability of the car meant that Jarier finished only two races during the season. The best of these was fourth at the Spanish Grand Prix, for which he was awarded half points due to the race being stopped as a result of a bad crash. He also switched to a Matra V12 powered DN7 for two races towards the end of the season. An updated version of the previous year's DN3 was driven by Tom Pryce for the first two races of the year before he switched to the DN5. Pryce fared better than Jarier with the DN5 and managed several finishes; he finished sixth three times, finished fourth in Germany and third in Austria. He had qualified on pole for the British Grand Prix, but like Jarier in Brazil, retired from the lead in the race itself.
1976
The DN5 was updated into a 'B' specification for the 1976 Formula One season. However, while the reliability of the DN5B was much improved from its parent, it was not as competitive, at least during the latter part of the year. Jarier qualified his DN5B third on the grid in the Brazilian Grand Prix and ran second for much of the race before crashing. This left Pryce to take third place, the best result for the team during the year. While both drivers regularly finished in the top ten, there was only one other finish in the points for the DN5B, this being Pryce's fourth place in the British Grand Prix. From the Dutch Grand Prix, Pryce switched to Shadow's new car, the Shadow DN8, while Jarier continued with the old car.
1977
The DN5B continued into the 1977 Formula One season, driven by Shadow's new driver, Renzo Zorzi, in the two first races of the year. While he retired from the Argentine Grand Prix, Zorzi scored an attrition assisted sixth place in the last race for the DN5B, the Brazilian Grand Prix.
