Aurora AFX British F1 Championship Round

Silverstone, 5 Oct 1980

All cars are 3-litre F1 unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. March 782 [2-2] (Paul Smith): After Paul Smith wrecked his ex-Toleman March 782-2 at Mallory Park in March 1979, he built up a new car using a tub fabricated by Mo Gomm. As the "782-2" plate remained on the original tub, and this was later repaired, this Gomm-built car is regarded here as a new car 'PS1'. The new 'PS1' was used by Smith in Formula Atlantic and F2 in 1979 and 1980. It was sold together with the remains of 782-2 to Bernard Tilanus "in the autumn of 1981" and shipped to South Africa. Tilanus converted 'PS1' to use Sigma Mazda engines and raced it in early 1982. It was sold mid-season to Hekro for Ian Scheckter to race, but he did not like the car, and it was taken over by his Hekro teammate Peter Haller. At some point in 1983, probably at Kyalami on 30 April 1983 where Haller retired, 'PS1' was damaged and the unrepaired tub ended up with Keith Horwood. It passed via Ivan Glasby to a hotel owned by one of the Toleman brothers in the Eastern Transvaal, where it was hung on the wall of the bar. The tub was thrown away around 2005, when the hotel changed hands.
2. Chevron B45 [45-78-04] (Jim Crawford): New to Fred Opert Racing for North American Formula Atlantic as a second car. Used as a spare by Keke Rosberg and as his race car at Lime Rock. Also raced by Eje Elgh and by Arturo Merzario at Trois-Rivières. Raced by Rosberg at Macau in November 1978. Advertised by Opert from ATS Engineering, where he had moved to become team manager, in March 1979 as a lightweight B45 with 1979 rear suspension and F2 fuel tanks. Then sold to Mike Peers and entered in the revived British series for Jim Crawford in 1979, winning five races and finishing second in the championship. Fitted with a BDX engine for 1980 and run by Plygrange Racing for Crawford in the F2 class of the Aurora series. Stayed with Plygrange for 1981 when raced by Vin Malkie (Northwich, Cheshire) in libre racing. Reappeared in 1983 when raced by Duncan Gray in the British Formula Atlantic series. It was entered by Peers himself in libre in 1984. Then to Steve Raine for Sprints, co-driven by Robin Boucher, and then hired to Bob Fearnley's RK Racing for Tiff Needell to drive in a pair of races in India in early 1985. Then reportedly to Stuart Ridge for 1986. To John Lloyd then to Simon Hadfield (Shepshed, Leicestershire) but damaged in an accident at Mallory Park. Restored with original Excita condoms bodywork and sold in 1998 to Jeff Wright, a Scotsman then living in Canada. Still with Wright (Wilmington, NC) in 2014 and raced regularly in vintage racing. By 2019, the car had moved to Scotland and was owned by George Coghill (Halkirk, Highland) and was prepared by Steve Worrad (Whitchurch, Shropshire) for sprints.
3. March 792 [3] (Divina Galica): New to Divina Galica for F2 in 1979. Retained for F2 and Aurora British F1 in 1980.
4. Chevron B40 [40-77-08] (Ron Harper): New to Fred Opert Racing and used for guest drivers in Formula 2 in 1977, using Hart 420R engines. Its primary driver was to be Jacques Laffite, who drove it at Hockenheim, Pau and Nogaro. Alan Jones drove it the 'Ring, and then American Gregg Young hired the car for Mugello and a few other races. When Young was committed to a Formula Atlantic race, Maurizio Flammini took it over for the Rouen race with Gulf sponsorship. It was also driven by Alex Ribeiro at Misano, Eje Elgh at Estoril with Marlboro backing and Tiff Needell at Donington Park with Unipart support. Retained for 1978, and raced by Alan Prost at Pau in May. Sold to Paul Gibson later in 1978, and used in libre at Croft. Retained by Gibson for 1979, then to Ron Harper (Middlesbrough) for libre and Aurora in 1980, and for libre in 1981. Sold to Peter Himsworth (Ware, Hertfordshire) late 1981 but reportedly little used. Sold to Richard Ames (Cirencester, Gloucestershire) for sprints in 1984 and 1985, and again for 1986, when he used a 2.5-litre Hart engine. To David Keer (Woking, Surrey) for 1987 and used in speed events, mainly in South West England. Then to Chris Hill (Hertfordshire) for sprints in 1988, 1989 and 1990. Sold to Ray Rowan (Walsall, West Midlands) who used it at two events in 1992, in the new 2-litre class, and raced once by his nephew Martin O'Connell at Thruxton's 25th anniversary meeting in 1993. To John Crowson (Horsforth, Leeds, West Yorkshire) in 1998 and used in Historic F2 in 2003. Repainted to Opert's blue livery in 2007 and raced by Richard Evans at Oulton Park in August 2007, then by Crowson from 2008 to 2011. To Sandy Watson and raced by Martin O’Connell using a BDG engine from 2012 onwards.
5. Toleman TG280 [03] (John Lewis): New to Docking Spitzley Racing for Huub Rothengatter to race in F2 in 1980. Raced once by John Lewis in the Aurora series at the end of that season. Retained by Docking Spitzley for 1981 when it was run by Bob Salisbury for Ricardo Londoño. Retained by Docking Spitzley for 1982 when it was rebuilt with new rear suspension and "totally new bodywork" for Thierry Tassin to drive. Sold to Eddie Wachs' Ausca Racing at the end of the F2 season, and converted to Can-Am specification for Horst Kwech to drive. Retained for 1983, when it was raced by Wachs. Retained again for 1984, when it was driven by Wachs, Bill Alsup, and Enrique Mansilla. Subsequent history unresolved.

Sources

Note that the identification of individual cars in these results is based on the material presented elsewhere in this site and may in some cases contradict the organisers' published results.

These results were compiled primarily from the race reports in Autosport during the season, with some additional information from the results section of Autocourse, and some details compiled by Jeremy Jackson from a variety of sources, including Autosport, Motoring News and the Formula One Register books. All the chassis identities were taken from research elsewhere on this site.

All comments, clarifications, corrections and additions are most welcome. Please email Allen (allen@oldracingcars.com) if you can help in any way with our research.

Individual sources for this event

Autosport 9 Oct 1980 pp26-27. Marcus Pye's report gave the full practice times, chassis numbers (for all except Edwards' Arrows), all finishers and all retirements. The series ended on a high with a huge grid and 17 cars still running at the finish. As Pye said, "why, oh why…".