British Formula Atlantic Championship Race

Mallory Park, 12 Jul 1981

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

Notes on the cars:

1. Argo JM9 [057-FA] (Desiré Wilson): New to Colin Lees (Magherafelt, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland) and raced in the British Formula Atlantic series, run by Ivor Goodwin's Goodwin Racing with backing from Carcover. After Lees left the team, it was raced later in the season by Desiré Wilson and John Lewis. It was next seen in sprints and hillclimbs, driven by Neil White in 1987 and 1988, when it used a 2-litre BD-series engine. Then to Barry Goode (Malvern, Worcestershire) for 1989 and 1990, and sold by him to Simon Frost (Brechin), who raced it in 1994 and 1995 with a Vauxhall engine and with the sidepods removed. Then run by Mick Lancashire (Jersey) between 1996 and 1998 in the 1600cc class. Then hillclimbed by Laurie Ritchie (Studley, Warwickshire) between 2000 and 2013 using a QED-built 2-litre Vauxhall engine. Advertised by Ritchie in December 2013 and January 2014.
2. March 81A [15] (Phil Dowsett): New to Phil Dowsett (Chelmsford, Essex) and raced in the British Formula Atlantic championshipmin 1981, with sponsorship from Pinch Plant and Industrial Control Services. Dowsett won two races and finished third in the championship. Sold to Theodore Racing and raced by Vern Schuppan at the Macau GP in November. Then sold to Graham Brown in Western Australia in April 1982 and raced in Australian Formula Pacific. To Michael Moylan in March 1985, then to Jeremy Kenyon (NSW) in January 1991. Sold to Clive Osborne (NSW) in August 1996 and raced by him in 2000, then to Robert Foster (NSW) by 2007 and raced by him from 2007 to 2019. To Barry Wise (QLD) in 2020, and raced by him in 2021 and 2022.
3. Ralt RT1/75 [9] (Richard Hawkins): New to Teddy Yip's Theodore Racing Team and fitted with a Hart 420R for Vern Schuppan to race at the JAF Grand Prix in November 1975. Then converted to Formula Atlantic specification for the Macau Grand Prix but vital parts did not arrive in time for Schuppan to use it. It was next raced at the Macau GP a year later, when Schuppan won the race. Yip himself drove it at the Malaysia Grand Prix meeting in April 1977, but did not start the race. It was then driven by Alan Jones at Macau in November 1977 but he retired. After that, it sat idle for nearly two years until it was taken to Ireland for the Phoenix Park Formula Atlantic race in September 1979, where it won in the hands of David Kennedy. It then returned to Macau for the 1979 race, when Geoff Lees took over the drive and won. Lees took the Ralt to its third Macau GP victory in 1980, in only its sixth known race start. It was then sold to Richard Hawkins, who drove it in the British Formula Atlantic championship in 1981. He sold it to dealer Roger Cowman who ran it for Vivian Candy at Phoenix Park in August and at Mondello Park in September. It stayed in Ireland and in late 1983 was sold by Jim Flynn to Tony Skinner.
4. March 792 [31] (Kim Mather): New to John Cooper to drive in the Aurora AFX series in 1979, using Hart engines. Also raced by Eddie Jordan in the Donington Park F2 race in August. Not seen in 1980, but reappeared in 1981 when it was used by Kim Mather in F2 and Formula Atlantic. Also driven by Jim Evans that year in libre racing. To John Travis for libre in 1982.
5. Chevron B29 [29-75-06] (Bobby Howlings): New to Alo Lawler (St Helens, Merseyside) and raced in the 1975 British Formula Atlantic championship, sponsored by L&B Excavations Ltd. Also used in the Irish championship that year, and in libre racing. Retained by Lawler for 1976, when he raced it in the Shellsport G8 championship, the Irish Formula Atlantic championship, the British Indylantic championship, and in libre racing. Sold to John Eastwood and raced in the Irish Formula Atlantic series. To Joe Greenan (Belfast, Northern Ireland) for 1978, and entered by Irish Racing Cars in Irish Atlantic, then raced by Ken Fildes (Clonskeagh, Dublin) in 1979 and 1980. Sold to English wheeler dealer Bobby Howlings (Congleton, Cheshire) for 1981, and raced by Howlings in rounds of the reintroduced British Formula Atlantic championship. Sold to Stuart Harte (Littleborough, Greater Manchester) and fitted with a 2.2-litre Hart 420R engine for sprints and hillclimbs. After Harte's death, the car was retained by his family until 2011, when it was sold to Jon Waggitt. Waggitt sold it to Chris Porritt in July 2011, and he spent some years returning it to running condition. He first raced it at Laguna Seca in March 2020, then brought it back to the UK later that year.
6. March 782 (Martin Mansell): Martin Mansell (Middlesex) acquired a large number of March 782 parts including a monocoque from a West Midlands hillclimber, and had these built up by an ex-March employee. It seems likely that these parts came from Godfrey Crompton (Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire) of Douglas & Gavin (Stourport, Worcestershire), who had acquired two March 782s from Bob Salisbury Racing for himself and Chris Cramer in 1979 and 1980. Duncan Bain (Luton, Bedfordshire) bought into Mansell's project, and the pair ran the car in British Formula Atlantic in 1981, usually entered as a 78B. Bain bought Mansell out at the end of 1981, and ran the car through 1982 with Abdex Engineering Ltd sponsorship. Sold to David Newall (Slough, Berkshire) for 1983, when it was sponsored by Staggers Jeans and run by McDonald Engineering. When the series was cancelled, Newall sold the car to a Frenchman who was planning to use it for hillclimbs. Newall recalls the car being collected by engine builder Geoff Richardson, who was going to rebuild the BDA engine before it went to France, but cannot remember the Frenchman's name. Subsequent history unknown.

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.