John Player (British) Formula Atlantic Series Race

Mondello Park, 15 Sep 1974

All cars are 1.6-litre F/Atl unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. March 74B [U1] (Alan Jones): New to Harry Stiller Racing and entered for Bev Bond in a few late-season 1973 Formula Atlantic races, but only appeared once. Rebuilt by March to 74B specification over the winter and appeared as 74B chassis 'U1' for Bond in 1974, until he announced his retirement in June 1974. Alan Jones took over the drive for the rest of the season and won three races. Advertised by AW Brown (London) in January 1975. Briefly to Frank Blanchard in early 1975 but then to Bill Gowdy (Belfast, Northern Ireland) for Irish Formula Atlantic. To Gerry Kinnane for Des Donnelly to drive in 1976, then to Eddie Jordan (Dundrum, County Dublin, Republic of Ireland) for 1977. Subsequently to Colin Simpson (Dundee, Scotland) for Scottish hillclimbs in 1978 and 1979, when it was fitted with a 1800cc Cosworth BDE. It was then sold to Graham Brown, a Scot who emigrated to Australia and took two Formula Atlantic cars with him. Brown raced it in Scottish hillclimbs in 1980 before it went. Raced by Geoff Nicol in Australian Formula Pacific in 1981, and by John Blennerhasset in 1982. Then to Michael Miller, brothers Peter and Terry Simms, then the Kendall family, then to Bryan Miller in 2002. Sold by Bryan to Richard Carter (Berry, NSW) in September 2018, and shortly afterwards sold to Richard Ellingworth.
2. Chevron B25 [25-73-08] (Patsy McGarrity): New to George Silverwood and entered by his Central Garage (Mirfield) Ltd for John Lepp in British Formula Atlantic in 1973. Also used by Lepp in the first European F2 round at Mallory Park, with the 1.6 BDA still in it. Lepp's sports car racing took priority from July and the B25 was sold to Patsy McGarrity (Belfast, Northern Ireland) for Formula Ireland racing. Loaned by him to Chevron cars for John Watson to use in the F2 race at Albi. Converted back to Formula Atlantic for McGarrity to race in the 1974 Irish season, winning eight races and the All-Ireland championship. Sold on to Pat Woods (Newcastle, County Wicklow, Ireland) for 1975, and retained for two further seasons. Last seen when Woods crashed heavily in practice at Phoenix Park in September 1977, when the car was described as wrecked. Woods' daughter later told James Murray that he sold the wreckage of the B25 to Bobby Howlings. Subsequent history unknown.
3. March 74B [1] (Ted Wentz): New to Ted Wentz (Philadelphia, PA) and raced in the 1974 British Formula Atlantic season. To New Zealander Alan Crocker, who had moved to England to race in the 1975 British series, but a blown engine curtailed his season. Used occasionally in the 1976 Indylantic series and in libre racing. Croker took the car to New Zealand and raced it in the 1977 Formula Pacific series, then sold it there to Ken Smith, who rented it to Ken Sager to drive in the 1977/78 Gold Star series, and to Robbie Booth for the 1978/79 season. It reappeared with Robbie Hislop in 1981/82, then to Tony Batchelor for 1982/83. Last seen when raced by Keith Laney in 1984/85, and sold by him back to Kenny Smith some time before 1988. Later sold by Smith to Richard Carter in Australia to donate parts to Carter's rebuild of March 73B/8. The remains of the car were sold with the 73B to George Makin (Melbourne, Australia) about 2005.
4. Surtees TS15 [06] (Peter Wardle): New to Peter Wardle (Wimbledon, London) and raced in British Formula Atlantic in 1973, winning from pole position at one race Brands Hatch in August. Retained for 1974, again in British Formula Atlantic, and then retained for a third season in 1975. However, towards the end of 1975, Wardle was entering Steve Carvill (Wimbledon, London) in some races, and it is unclear whether the team had a second TS15 by this point, as the pair never appeared together in the same race. Wardle acquired sponsorship from Radio Luxembourg and Applied Racing Techniques for 1976, and both Wardle and Carvill appeared in Indylantic and in Shellsport G8 during that season, presumably both still in chassis 06. Wardle advertised a TS15 in 1983, with FG400 but no engine and a mountain of spares. According to researcher David McKinney, chassis 06 and chassis 07 were with Tony Collinson in 1990, and chassis 06 appears to stayed with its sister through the ownership of Gerry Wainwright, John Elliott, Mark Griffiths and Crispian Besley, who had both cars in 2010. Beesley sold chassis 06 to Dean Forward in 2019, still in unrestored component form.
5. March 73B ['SDC1'] (Jim Crawford): Over the 1973/74 winter, Jim Crawford built up Steve Choularton's March 73B spares in to a second car. He raced the car with great success in the two British Formula Atlantic series in 1974, winning two John Player races and narrowly losing the title to John Nicholson after the two collided at the last race. He also won one race in the Southern Organs series, before crashing at Brands Hatch at the end of September, which resulted in the car being rebuilt on a new tub from March. The car was then raced at least once by Choularton, while Crawford moved over to Fred Opert's Chevron B27 for the last two races, winning both, and taking the title. The 73B that appeared for Cyd Williams in May 1975 is thought to be Choularton's 73B/1. The ex-Crawford car was sold to Derek Cook (Wath-upon-Dearne, Rotherham, South Yorkshire) in July 1975 but in practice for his first race, the British GP support race, Cook spun off and hit Val Musetti's March, writing off both cars.
6. Lotus 69 [71/69.3.F2] (Ken Fildes): New to J&J Stanton for Gerry Birrell to race in F2 in 1971. Hired to José Ferreira for the Torneio Brasiliero at the end of the year. To Brian Small in 1972, and fitted with a Cosworth BDA for Formula Atlantic races late 1972, and a handful of appearances in 1973. To Roy Baker (Ferndown, Dorset) July 1973, but again only seen in a handful of races. This is likely to be the "F2 chassis" with Hart BDA advertised by MRE (Bourne End, Buckinghamshire) in November 1973. To Ken Fildes (Clonskeagh, Dublin) for the new Irish Formula Atlantic series 1974 and 1975. Entered by Fildes for a young local lad Eddie Jordan in 1976. To Mark Birrell (Liverpool) in 1977. Acquired from Nick Overall by Richard Hinton (Albury, Hertfordshire) in early 1978, who started the restoration. Sold in 1985 via Chuck McCarty to Richard Spelberg (Dusseldorf, Germany) and retained in his collection until his death in the late 1990s. Subsequent history unclear, but this car was owned by Hermann Unold by 2005, when he raced it in HSCC DBT events. It was bought from him by Eric Peterson (Germany) in 2014, and advertised by him in April 2018. Bought in 2018 by Paul Matty and owned by him until 2021, when it was sold to Malcolm Thorne (Stanford Bridge, Worcestershire).
7. Chevron B20 [72-4] (Nelson Todd): To Bob Howlings Racing Team for John Lepp (Altrincham, Cheshire) to race in British Formula Atlantic in 1972. Won at Croft in August and had several other good placings. Last seen in the UK at Oulton Park on 30 September 1972, and then unknown until early 1974 when sold by Howlings to Nelson Todd (Lisburn, Northern Ireland), and raced in Irish Formula Atlantic, winning at Kirkistown in October 1974. To Jim Sherry (Lisburn, Northern Ireland) for a couple of races at Mondello Park in 1975. This must be the "little used" Chevron B20 advertised by Gerry Kinnane in Belfast in June 1976. Raced by Mike Nugent (Cookstown, County Tyrone) a couple of times later that year. Then to Dick Parsons (Dundonald, County Down, Northern Ireland) for 1977, when it was described as a ex-Kinnane. Sold to Tom McMillan in Scotland, then on to Bill Lord for 1978 and used in Scottish hillclimbs, reputedly with a Hart 420R Formula 2 engine, but this seems unlikely. Retained for 1979 and presumably the Chevron B20 with Cosworth FVC engine advertised from Dunfermline, Fife in November 1979.
8. March 73B [8] (Des Donnelly): New to Colin Vandervell (Purley, Surrey) and raced with great success in the Formula Atlantic in the UK in 1973, winning four races, and securing the Yellow Pages Championship. Sold to Des Donnelly (Naas, County Kildare, Ireland) for the Irish Formula Atlantic series, and raced by him in 1974 and 1975. This must be the March "74B" advertised by Gerry Kinnane in Belfast in June 1976. There is then no mention of the car in 1976 or 1977, but in 1978, the car was raced by Ken Fildes (Clonskeagh, Dublin), and it had been owned by Kinnane for part or all of this period. Sold to Graham Brown, who took it to Australia when he emigrated in 1979, and raced by him in Western Australia in 1980 and 1981. Also raced by Joe Ricciardo in 1981. To Rod Housego, and raced by him in Western Australia in 1982 and 1984. Acquired by Richard Carter in 1988, and restored. Raced by Carter in HSRCA events from 1999 to 2002. Later to George Makin (Melbourne), and raced by Andrew Makin in historic events from 2003 onwards.
9. March 73B [1] (Stephen Choularton): Stephen Choularton (Hale Barns, Cheshire) acquired the first production March 73B and raced it in libre events and in the British F/Atlantic series with support from Autovita Developments Ltd. His mechanic Jim Crawford also raced this car in a libre race that year. Choularton continued with the car in 1974 when it was driven by Crawford in one round, at Brands Hatch in September, after Crawford had damaged his usual car. The car was next seen in May 1975 when Choularton dusted it off for Cyd Williams to drive after Williams had wrecked Graham Eden's Brabham BT40. Choularton retained the car, unused, until 1977 when it was sold to Paul Gardner (Preston, Lancashire) and used in libre racing in 1977. It then travelled out to the West Indies, quite possibly via Manchester-based racing car dealer Bobby Howlings, who would have known Gardner well, and was a regular visitor to the West Indies series. Raced by Mark Moodie in 1978 and 1979, winning the 1979 Jamaican National Championship. Subsequent history unknown, but it may have gone to Gordon Gonsalves in Trinidad.
10. Brabham BT30 [20] (Bill Gowdy): New to Alistair Walker Racing and entered for Robin Widdows in F2 in 1970. Also driven by Walker later in the season, and by Richard Scott at Phoenix Park in September. Then sold to Kevin Murphy and used in Irish hillclimbs and at Mondello Park raced by Frank Keane (Mt Merrion, Dublin, Ireland). Retained by Murphy's Irish Racing Team for 1971 and raced by Brian Cullen in F2 and in libre events in Ireland and Scotland. Retained again for 1972 when it was loaned to Patsy McGarrity for a few races, only for him to hit a skip at Phoenix Park. Sold to Bill Gowdy (Banbridge, County Down, N. Ireland), rebuilt, and raced in Irish libre in 1973. Converted to F/Atlantic specification for the 1974 season and then sold less engine to a racing car dealer in the south of England, maybe MRE, in exchange for two BDA engines. Subsequent history unknown. Unlikely to be the "ex-Walker" BT30 advertised from Witney, Oxfordshire in March 1976 as that still had its FVA. The car raced by Marcus King in HSCC events in 1985 has been said to be BT30/20, but is now believed to be BT30/15. Also a car with the number BT30/20 observed with Michael Baudouin (France) in 1993.
11. Chevron B27 [27-74-16] (Peter Williams): Sold to Peter Williams (Brentwood, Essex) in June 1974 for British Formula Atlantic; and retained for the 1975 season. To Porsche racer and driving instructor Mike Franey (London) later in 1975 and raced in F/Atlantic with Samatco Ltd backing. Unknown in 1976, but in early 1977, novice racer Martin Murphy (London) won a Formule Libre race at Thruxton in the "ex-Peter Williams Coin Monthly" B27. The car remained in Franey's possession until September 1979, when it was sold to Jeremy Bouckley (Sutton Coldfield, West Midands) as a rolling chassis. Bouckley cannot recall what happened to it, but this car was reportedly owned by Phil Sharp for hillclimbs in 1984. Subsequent history unknown.
12. Lotus 69 [71/69.1.F2] (Walter Kinnear): New for Tetsu Ikuzawa in F2 in 1971, and prepared by his mechanic Yoshiatsu Itoh. Hired from Ikuzawa by Ronni Rossi for the Torneio Brasiliero at the end of the year. Sold via MRE to Johnny Blades in 1972, although Blades did not race it, then sold to Walter Kinnear (Gilford, County Down, Northern Ireland) for Irish libre racing in 1973, when it was fitted with a Cosworth FVC engine. Then fitted with a Cosworth BDA for Kinnear to drive in Irish Formula Atlantic in 1974, 1975 and 1976. It then went to Barclay Bingham for Irish hillclimbs, and then to Robin Dunbar, who did not use it. It was then sold to Bill Patterson (Belfast) in 1984 and restored for historic racing with the HSCC. Raced by Mike Pendlebury (Higham, Suffolk) in HSCC events from 1986 onwards. It later went to Freddy Kumschick (Schötz, Switzerland) who raced it in European Historic Formula 2 in 2000 and 2001, and then via Hall & Fowler to Irvine Laidlaw by 2003. Laidlaw sold it to Mark Davenport some time after 2006, and he raced it in the HSCC Derek Bell Trophy at Croft in 2011. It was next seen when acquired from Hall & Hall by French historic driver Jean-Marc Bussolini and entered in Historic F2 in 2013.

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.

The British race results have been compiled by Chris Townsend based on material in Autosport and Motoring News reports in the UK plus the information supplied by a wide range of contributors.

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.