OldRacingCars.com

Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières

Trois-Rivières, 14 Sep 1969

ResultsLapsTime/Speed
1 Rex Ramsey LeGrand Mk 11 - Chevrolet V8
#122 (see note 1)
60 1h 00m 05.3s
2 Don Merriman (FB) 1.6-litre Lotus 59C [59-FB-23?] - Ford twin cam
#22 Donald G Merriman (see note 2)
59
3 Craig Hill (FB) 1.6-litre Lotus 61 - Ford twin cam
#70
58
4 Tony Simms Kiki Mk 6 - Chevrolet V8
#53 Team Trillium (see note 3)
57
5 Roger McCaig McLaren M10A [300-07] - Chevrolet V8
#55 (see note 4)
57
6 Frank Salem Ferret Mark 3 (McLaren M1A) [20-10] - Chevrolet V8
#121 Frank M Salem
56
7 Réal Desrosiers (FB) 1.6-litre Moleba - Alfa Romeo
#80 Enterprises J. Fortin
56
8 Reg Scullion (FB) 1.6-litre Caldwell - Ford twin cam
#95
55
9 Peter Morgan (FB) 1.6-litre Lotus 51 - Ford
#67
55
10 Eppie Wietzes Lola T142 [SL142/29] - Chevrolet V8
#94 Formula Racing (see note 5)
53
11 Keith Powell (FB) 1.6-litre Lotus 51 - Ford
#45
42
R Bill Brack Lola T140 [SL140/3] - Chevrolet V8
#85
52 broken suspension
R Claude Marcil (FB) 1.6-litre unknown
#69 Claude Marcil
44
R Ray Gray (FB) 1.6-litre unknown
#106
42
R Bruce Jensen (FB) 1.6-litre Brabham BT16 [F2-1-65] - Ford twin cam
#41 Jean-Mac Racing (see note 6)
41
R Dave Ogilvy (FB) 1.6-litre Lotus 35 - Ford twin cam
#9 Dave Ogilvy Racing Team
37
R Ian P Motley (FB) 1.6-litre Merlyn - Ford twin cam
#52
36
R Gerrard Cellier (FC) Manic-Grac
#14
29
R John Cannon (FB) 1.6-litre Lotus 59 [59-FB-9] - Ford twin cam
#6 Starr Racing (see note 7)
26
R Howard Cazaly (FB) 1.6-litre Lotus 41C - Ford twin cam
#19
25
R Eligio Siconolfi (FB) 1.6-litre Crosslé 12F [C12F/67/34] - Ford twin cam
#49 Downtown Datsun
25
R Brian McDonald (FB) 1.6-litre Lotus 51 - Ford
#68 Brian McDonald [sic]
20
R Jacques Couture (FB) 1.6-litre Lotus 59 [59-FB-13?] - Ford twin cam
#18 Jacques Couture (see note 8)
14
R Randy Fraser (FB) 1.6-litre Merlyn Mk 11A - Ford Kent
#54
12
R Tom Moore (FB) 1.6-litre EM Mk 1 (Brabham) - Ford twin cam BRM
#23
5
R Michael Brodie (FB) 1.6-litre Brabham BT21 - Ford twin cam
#15 (see note 9)
2
R Horst Kroll Lola T142 [SL142/38] - Chevrolet V8
#37 Altona Motors (see note 10)
0 accident - hit barrier
  Jack Boxstrom (FB) 1.6-litre Lotus 59 - Ford twin cam
#6 Jack Boxstrom Racing [Starr Racing]
On entry list
  Wayne Spears (FB) 1.6-litre Brabham BT21 - Ford twin cam
#7 Roberts & Co (see note 11)
On entry list
  Peter W. Broeker (FB) 1.6-litre Stebro 'Mk 5' [Chevron B14]
#21 Stebro Racing Team (see note 12)
On entry list
  Nat Adams (FA) unknown
#44 [Nat Adams]
On entry list
  Mike Serveau (FB) 1.6-litre Cooper
#562 Mike Serveau
On entry list

All cars are 5-litre F5000 unless noted.

Qualifying
1 Horst Kroll (F5000) 5-litre Lola T142 [SL142/38] - Chevrolet V8 58.9s

Notes on the cars:

  1. LeGrand Mk 11 (Rex Ramsey): Raced by Rex Ramsey in late 1969, winning at Trois-Rivières in September, but well off the pace in the L&M series. Jim Paul raced the car in 1970, with a best result of eighth in the Pro race at Laguna Seca, and appeared a few times in 1971 and early 1972. To Keith Saunders (Albuquerque, NM) for SCCA racing later in 1972, then to Bill Swope (Albuquerque, NM) for 1973. Swope advertised it late 1975, and it seems likely that this was the LeGrand used by JB Walton in SCCA Regionals in Utah Region in 1978. The next time it was seen was when Harold Janke owned it in Nebraska in the late 1990s. To Kirk Severson and racing in historic events by 2001. To Marty Fidrich (Elisabeth, CO) by 2007.
  2. Lotus 59C [59-FB-23?] (Don Merriman): Donald G. Merriman (Willowdale, Ontario, Canada) raced a Lotus 59 (or 59C) in Formula B in 1969, appearing in both SCCA and Canadian races. He was second at the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières in September, and picked up several other good placings. He returned with the car in 1970, but his last known appearance was at Westwood at the end of May. Merriman told later owner Joe Griffin that he sold the car to Jack (Jackie) Burnett, so this would be the car Burnett drove at Trois-Rivières in August 1971. It was then in Brian Stewart's shop for a while, showing signs of race damage, perhaps from Trois-Rivières, and was then bought by Tommy Meecham (Oshawa, Ontario), who converted the car some time around 1973 to Formula Ford specification, and fitted Lotus 69 bodywork. He raced the car in the Bulova Formula Ford Series in Canada in 1974 and 1975. Meecham later crashed the car at Shannonville, and it was still in rough condition when bought from him by Ron Fellows in 1977. He had the car rebuilt by Wayne Pinney, of ASH Engineering, who designed his own bodywork for the car and named it ASH 001. Fellows and Pinney's customer Randy Packham raced the car from 1978 to 1980, until Packham crashed the car heavily at Shannonville, and Pinney rebuilt it again as the ASH 002. Fellows started to rebuilt it again, but this was not completed and the car hung in the rafters of Derek Harkema's workshoip in Toronto from 1981 to 1986. It is then unknown until John Lindsey acquired it in the 1990s, and he retained it until his death in 2015. Lindsey's widow sold the part-restored car to Joe Griffin in 2018.
  3. Kiki Mk 6 (Tony Simms): Doug McArthur (Toronto, Canada) built a number of one-off racing cars in the late 1960s. These included a Mk 2 that raced in Formula C, a Mk 3 which had a Ford 289 engine and was said to resemble an overgrown Lotus 7, and a Mk 4 that ran in Formula B until Doug Durrell demolished it at Mont Tremblant in July 1969. For 1968, local papers noted that McArthur was planning a Formula A car with a spaceframe chassis and Chevrolet engine. The car was first seen in Canadian Formula A in 1969, when it was driven by Tony Simms (Willowdale, Ontario). It had a mild steel space frame with a few stressed aluminum panels around the cockpit plus the undertray, and used a Hewland LG gearbox and McLaren wheels. The Chevrolet V8 engine was prepared by Dave Billes at Performance Engineering. Simms returned with the car in 1970, but its only documented appearance was at Trois-Rivières in September. It was then sold to John Powell, who was moving up from racing a MGB. Unfortunately, the car got airborne while testing at Harewood Acres and was destroyed. Some surviving components were being used in a Kiki Mk 8 until Powell's budget ran out.
  4. McLaren M10A [300-07] (Roger McCaig): See full history: McLaren M10A 300-07.
  5. Lola T142 [SL142/29] (Eppie Wietzes): See full history: Lola T142 SL142/29.
  6. Brabham BT16 [F2-1-65] (Bruce Jensen): Driven by Alan Rees for Roy Winkelmann Racing in 1965. Presumably Rees raced the same car all season. Bought in 1966 from Winkelmann by Bob Fuller (Connecticut), fitted with a Cosworth Mk 12 and raced in FB in 1967. To Steve Brownstein (New York) for 1968 and raced again in FB with the Mk 12. Then traded to Fred Opert for a new Chevron. To Bruce Jensen and raced in Canadian FB in 1969 and then to Bill Pickthorne (Ottawa, Ontario) who raced it in 1970 and at the beginning of 1971. It was then stored for 18 years until bought by Murray Wivell (Brantford, Ontario) in October 1989. Restored and used in US vintage racing for ten seasons, initially with the Ford twin cam engine and then with a Cosworth SCA for the last two seasons. Sold to Ivan Scotti (Zurich, Switzerland) November 2004. This is presumably the ex-Alan Rees BT16 run at the 2013 Solitude Revival by Bruno Weibel of Schaffner Racing.
  7. Lotus 59 [59-FB-9] (John Cannon): Malcolm Starr (Union City, NJ) bought a new F2-spec Lotus 59 from Lotus East (Millerton, NY) for 1969 and raced it in Pro Formula B events that season. Malcolm recalls selling to to "a fellow named Woodbury from Virginia" which would be the William J. Woodbury Jr (Springfield, Virginia) who raced a Lotus "69" at Mid-Ohio in September 1970, and at least one SCCA National in early 1971. Woodbury retained the car when he stopped racing, and still had it when he died in early 2022. The car was offered for sale in August 2022 on behalf of his widow.
  8. Lotus 59 [59-FB-13?] (Jacques Couture): Jacques Couture (Laval, Montréal, Quebec, Canada) raced a Lotus 59 in Formula B in 1969, appearing in the Quebec Region's Molson Championship events in Canada, and in two SCCA Pro events at Lime Rock. He won four Molson Championship races, finishing second in the championship. In 1970, Couture raced one of the pair of new Lotuses entered by the new Jim Russell Racing Driver School which had just opened at Mont Tremblant, but may have used his 1969 car in one or two races at the start of the year. Subsequent history unknown.
  9. Brabham BT21 (Michael Brodie): Mike Brodie (Mill Valley, CA) ran a red Brabham BT21 in a handful of 'Pro' FB races in 1969. He had acquired the car directly from Brabham, and recalls that it was a BT21, not a BT21A or BT21C. It replaced a Lotus 35 that he had raced in 1968. Later that season, he took the car to the east coast, where it was raced by Jon Woodner at Road America and Lime Rock. Mike cannot recall who he sold it to. Subsequent history unknown.
  10. Lola T142 [SL142/38] (Horst Kroll): See full history: Lola T142 SL142/38.
  11. Brabham BT21 (Wayne Spears): New to Peter Roberts (Granby, Quebec) and his mechanic Wayne Spears (Chomedey, Quebec), and raced in Formula B in 1968 and 1969, when it was described simply as a BT21. Spears drove the car again in 1970 when it was listed at Harewood Acres as a BT21C. Nothing more known.
  12. Stebro 'Mk 5' [Chevron B14] (Peter W. Broeker): Canadian veteran Peter W. Broeker (Pt. Claire, Quebec) bought a Chevron B14 for 1968 and surviving Chevron records imply that it was chassis number FB-68-10. Used in SCCA pro events and also in Canadian Eastern Zone Formula Championship and Championnat de Formule du Québec races in 1968. Retained for 1969 and raced in the Canadian Road Racing Championship and the Molson Championship, often entered as a Stebro-Chevron. Then apparently retained by Broeker until 1974, when he used it in a few races. After Broeker's death in late 1980 the B14 was bought from his estate by Gerry Jones. Jones sold it to Roger Fountain who moved to England in 1988, and sold the car to Chris Ball who had it restored for HSCC racing in the UK.

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.

Results for this series originally proved very difficult to complete, due in part to the poor coverage in Canadian magazines such as Track & Traffic. Wolfgang Klopfer provided Autoweek reports, Don Markle uncovered material in the archives then maintained by the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame (CMHoF), Jim Ibey found what he could from Track & Traffic, Tom Johnston provided scans of entry lists and reports from a variety of sources, and Michael Gee transcribed motor sports news articles at Vancouver's main library.

Since those early efforts, Mike Adams and Dominic St-Jean have provided official results sheets uncovered in the CMHoF and Trois-Rivières archives, and complete results have now been found for R1 Mosport 18 May 1969 (official results), R2 St Jovite 25 May 1969 (Autoweek), R6 Harewood Acres 17 Aug 1969 (official results), R9 Mosport Park 13 Oct 1969 (official results), R2 Westwood 31 May 1970 (Autoweek), R3 Edmonton 14 Jun 1970 (Autoweek and also the official results), R4 Rockcliffe 1 Jul 1970 (Autoweek and the official results), R5 Harewood 9 Aug 1970 (Wheelspin 27 May 1970 edition and the official results), R6 Trois-Rivières 06 Sep 1970 (official results) and R7 Mosport Park 11 Oct 1970 (official results).

Please email Allen if you can add anything.

Individual sources for this event

The program for this event has two entry lists, one for the main race (race 6) for the Molson Grand Prix and another for a supporting race (race 4) for the Molson championship. A surpringly large number of cars are on the GP entry list but do not appear in results of the race. Not all of those are included here: those left out include Philippe Loth in a #11 "Formula F", Peter C Moreau in a #67 Huronia Trailer Service Formula Ford, Paul Morrison in a #331 Lotus S1 and Wilson M Southam in a #58 Formula Ford. Conversely, several cars appear in the GP results but are only on the Molson series entry list. Réal Desrosiers' entry details have been taken from that entry list. Many of the main runners, including Ramsey, Brack, Cannon, McCaig and Hill do not appear on either list.