Race of Champions

Brands Hatch, 18 Mar 1973

All cars are 3-litre F1 unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Chevron B24 [24-73-02] (Peter Gethin): New for 1973 season. Doug Shierson for Peter Gethin: raced in UK 1973 (won Race of Champions) and US 1973. To Roger Bighouse (Eastlake, OH): raced in US 1974 (7 races); US 1975 (4 races + 1 DNS) - Pat McGonegle (Cincinnati, OH): raced in US 1976 (1 race) and Can-Am 1977 (4 races + 1 DNS); probably the car entered by McGonegle as 'Mannix MX-2' in Can-Am 1978; advertised April 1979 - Danny Johnson (Kewanee, IL) 1979: raced in Can-Am 1979 (1 race), Can-Am 1981 (5 races), Can-Am 1982 (6 races) - Brian R Taylor (now Clive, Iowa) for Mike Engstrand (Des Moines, Iowa): raced in Can-Am 1985 (3 races) - Chuck Haines (St Louis, MO) - Anthony Taylor (Blackburn, UK) 2001: due to be rebuilt and raced in FORCE Historic F5000 series (UK) 2001. Then unknown until owned by Greg Thornton in 2011 and raced in UK and New Zealand 2011/12. Badly damaged in a fire at Thornton's garage in June 2012 but completely reconstructed.
2. Chevron B24 [24-73-01] (Tony Dean): Built for 1973 season. Tony Dean: raced in UK 1973, US 1973, UK 1974 (crashed at R1 - Dean then buys B24-73-08), also used to settle a bet at the BARC Harewood hill climb 4 Aug 1974; UK 1975 (driven by Dean 3 races, Alain Peltier 1 DNS, Roelof Wunderink 1 DNS). Presumably the car raced by Dean at the Easter Rufforth meeting, winning the libre event. Raced by Dean at Aintree 19 Apr 1975, setting a new circuit record as he won the libre race by over a lap. Crashed and written off by Wunderink Zandvoort (practice) 17 May 1975. Wreckage scrapped.
3. Lola T330 [HU2] (Tom Belsø): See full history: Lola T330 HU2.
4. Surtees TS8 [007] (Ray Allen): New for Peter Revson at the 1971 Questor GP then for Alan Roillinson in UK series. To Alan Brodie 1972 and raced by Brodie and by Steve Thompson. To Servis Appliances Racing Team 1973 and raced by Ray Allan early in the season. Then possibly the Robin Darlington car in Sep 1973 Reappeared with Colin Andrews (Banbury, Oxfordshire) 1974, then to Steve Cuff (Frome, Somerset) 1975 for hillclimbs. To Alan Richards (Cheltenham) and used in sprints and occasional hill climbs in 1976 and 1977. Used in sprints and occasional hill climbs by Bob Clapham in 1978 and 1979. Then unknown until sold by Brian Redman to Dave Swigler (Panama City, FL) in 1986. Dave believes Brian got it from Richard Attwood about two years earlier. Retained until Swigler sold his collection to Harin De Silva (Palos Verdes Estates, CA) in 2009. Restored by Virtuoso Performance and first raced at Laguna Seca in August 2011. Also raced in New Zealand in the 2011/12 Tasman Revival series and at the Phillip Island Classic in March 2013.
5. Lola T330 [HU17] (Ian Ashley): See full history: Lola T330 HU17.
6. Chevron B24 [24-73-03] (Bobby Brown): Built for 1973 season. Bobby Brown: raced in UK 1973 (borrowed by Gethin at Oulton 13 May) and US 1973. Brown's season was curtailed by illness and a family bereavement (the B24 was advertised in Autoweek from 25 Aug 1973 to 16 November 1974) - Bob DeNuzio (Long Island, NY, US) 1974: raced in SCCA FA races in 1976 - Phil Halbert 1976: raced in SCCA events; crashed at Willow Springs 1978 - Todd Gerstenberger (Manhattan Beach, CA) 1987: rebuilt and restored 1987-1991; used extensively in historic racing since 1992. (At one point, Gerstenberger described this car as "24-72-04".)
7. Lola T330 [HU18] (Gijs van Lennep): See full history: Lola T330 HU18.
8. McRae GM1 [003] (Jock Russell): Built for 1972 season as a Leda LT27 and entered by Leda Cars for Trevor Taylor in the UK series until Graham McRae bought the Leda Cars operation. Rebranded as a McRae GM1 (plated "LT27 GM3") and sold to Jock Russell (Midlothian, Scotland) July 1972. Raced by Russell in the 1972 UK series (also raced by Brett Lunger at two races). Raced again by Russell in the UK series in 1973. From Russell to Noel Butler (Birmingham), then to Roy Lane 2000, and restored in Lane's orange colours. To Peter and Aaron Burson (New Zealand) Oct 2006, and raced regularly by Peter in the F5000 Tasman Revival series from 2007/08 onwards. More information about Leda LT27-003/McRae GM1-003
9. McRae GM1 [005] (Graham McRae): See full history: McRae GM1/005.
10. Lola T330 [HU12] (Brett Lunger): See full history: Lola T330 HU12.
11. Trojan T101 [101] (Keith Holland): See full history: Trojan T101/101.
12. Lola T330 [HU16] (Guy Edwards): See full history: Lola T330 HU16.
13. Lola T330 [HU15] (David Hobbs): See full history: Lola T330 HU15.
14. Chevron B24 [24-72-01] (Steve Thompson): Built for 1972 season. Works for Brian Redman: raced in UK 1972 (debut at Oulton Park 29 May 1972 - 5 races 3 wins) and US 1972 (Redman 4 races 1 win, Gethin 1 race) - Keith Holland for John Player Challenge Trophy at Brands Hatch 22 Oct - Alan Brodie for Steve Thompson: raced in Tasman 1973 and UK 1973. Badly damaged in a severe testing accident at Silverstone on 24 May when a tyre burst at Woodcote at 140 mph, and Thompson was lucky to escape with bruising. The car was written off, and Brodie acquired a brand new 1973 B24.
15. McLaren M18/M22 [500-01] (Teddy Pilette): See full history: McLaren M18 500-01.
16. March 73A [1] (John Gunn): Built for 1973 season (white). John Gunn: raced in US 1973, US 1974 (last race September 1974) - Les Hudelson mid-1974: raced by John Cannon US for the two Californian races in October 1974. Car then "put away"; retained by Hudelson in storage for nearly 20 years - Greg Wold (Maple Grove, MN) about 1993: restored to 1973 specification over next six years; raced in the SVRA series 2002. To Nick Smith (San Diego, CA) Feb 2007. To Roger Williams (New Zealand) Jan 2010. To Clark Proctor (Auckland, New Zealand) later in 2010 and raced in the Tasman Revival series in 2010/11, 2011/12, 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15.
17. McLaren M10B [400-06 (B)] (Clive Baker): Keith Holland's replacement car. Used in the 1971 British F5000 series during which time it was modified along the lines of McRae's successful car. Retained for 1972 but crashed at Brands in April, after which the car was even further modified and dubbed "M10H". By July 1972, it had side radiators, a wedge nose and had been lengthened by 3½in. Sold to Clive Baker August 1972 and raced in the British series in 1972 and 1973. Then via Chris Oates to Spencer Elton (Westbury, Wilts) late 1973 and advertised. To Stephen Cuff (also Westbury, Wilts) late 1973 and advertised with a 5.7-litre Chev Jan to Apr 1974. To Bob Leckie (Aberdeen) for libre racing that summer. Advertised by Leckie in July 1974 but not seen again. Spencer Elton recalls that Leckie converted the M10B to a Skoda Super Saloon. Subsequent history unknown.
18. Trojan T101 [104] (Bob Evans): See full history: Trojan T101/104.
19. Lola T142 [SL142/35] (Chris Shaw): See full history: Lola T142 SL142/35.
20. McLaren M10A/B [300-16] (John Bowtell): See full history: McLaren M10A 300-16.
21. Trojan T101 [103] (Jody Scheckter): See full history: Trojan T101/103.
22. Lola T330 [HU6] (Colin Hyams): New to Australian Colin Hyams who raced it in the UK series in early 1973. To Trevor Twaites June 1973, and raced by him in the UK series in 1973, 1974 and 1975. Later to John Jordan (UK), who entered it for Tom Belso in 1977, and raced it himself in libre in 1978. Entered by Jordan for Dave Williams in libre racing 1983, and then for Tony Trimmer in the BRSCC Libre Championship from 1984 to 1989, winning the championship in 1986 and finishing second in 1987 and in 1988. At some point between 1985 and 1988, the T330 was dismantled and parts used by Dave Finnigan (Biggleswade, UK) to construct T332 "HU42" for Jordan's team. The original HU6 chassis remained with Finnigan until early 2000 when sold to Richard Lines (UK), then to Kevan McLurg (UK) 2005 and built into a complete car by McLurg and then by John Crawford's Motorsport Solutions NZ Ltd by July 2009. Owned by this time by Lindsay Willis of Wilco Racing (Rotorua, NZ), and raced by his son Brett Willis (Rotorua, NZ) in the F5000 Tasman Revival series every season from 2010/11 to 2017/18. More information about Lola T330 HU6

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.

3-litre Formula 1 Non-championship events 1966-1983

These results were initially compiled by Allen Brown, but these were in the very basic form required to track individual car histories. Since then further details, such as laps completed, qualifying times and so on, have been added from Rob Ryder's extensive database.

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

Individual sources for this event

Autosport 22 Mar 1973 pp35-39 (by Richard Feast, Autosport Editor). Motoring News 22 Mar 1973 pp13-14 (by 'AH' Alan Henry). Motor Sport April 1973 pp344-345 (by 'ARM', Andrew Marriott).

Motor Sport described 16 British-based F1 cars and mentioned that the DNAs were all three Shadows, the Ensign, and Carlos Pace's Surtees. The entries were two Lotus 72s, three BRM P160s, a new M23 and a M19C from McLaren, one Surtees TS14A plus a TS9B loaned to Hesketh Racing, the striking new Brabham BT42 to be tested by John Watson plus an older BT37 for Graham Hill, and both the Williams FX3s. MS gave very few chassis numbers but Alan Henry in MN gave chassis numbers for all 13 that turned up.