OldRacingCars.com

Coronation "100"

Roy Hesketh, 14 Apr 1979

ResultsLapsTime/Speed
1 Ian Scheckter March 79A [27] - Ford BDD Nicholson
#1 Team Lexington [Ken Howes] (see note 1)
35 37m 55.02s
99.69 mph
2 Trevor van Rooyen March 79B [2?] - Ford BDD
#3 Team Gunston [Eddie Pinto] (see note 2)

3 Roy Klomfass March 79B [1?] - Ford BDD
#12 Team Texan [Alex Blignaut] (see note 3)

4 Clive Cooke March 78B/79B - Ford BDD
#7 (see note 4)

5 Yunus Domingo March 76B ['MD'/"1A"] - Ford BDD
#8 Team Domingo (see note 5)

6 Geoff Frizell Chevron B29 [29-75-25] - Ford BDA
#18 (see note 6)

R Bobby Scott March 77B ['AT'/"17A"] - Ford BDD
#4 [Kronenbrau 1308/Andrew Thompson]
(see note 7)
20 misfire
UNK Tony Martin Chevron B34 [34.76.08?] - Ford BDD
#5 South Coast Motors/Lucky Strike Racing
(see note 8)
lost four laps in pits

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

Qualifying
Qualifying information not available

Notes on the cars:

  1. March 79A [27] (Ian Scheckter): New to Team Lexington for Ian Scheckter to drive in South African Formula Atlantic in 1979. The new "wing car" was delivered in time for Scheckter to race it in the Highveld 100 at Kyalami on 27 January, and he won five of his first six races in the car. It was fitted with a Fiat engine for the start of Formula SA but this was quickly replaced with a Mazda rotary engine, and Scheckter won the last four races of the season. The 79A was sold to Bokomo Racing for Tommy Dunne in 1980. It was then sold to Pieter Fouché's Pretoria Brick team, where it was raced by Jan du Plessis in 1981 and by Roy Carr in 1982. In mid-1982, Fouché reorganised the team to focus on a Ralt RT4/82 for Wayne Taylor, and the 79A was sold to Roy Moss. He raced it for the remainder of 1982 and through 1983. It was sold to Steve Herbst who converted it to flat-bottomed specification by removing the sidepods. He also fitted side-mounted radiators, a March 802 nose and later an 802 rollhoop as well. He ran it in this form in 1984 and 1985. The tub and bodywork were later exported by Gavin Hards to John Brannigan, but by the time they arrived the chassis plate was no longer with them. John's stock book from the time shows that he sold it all to Richard Parkin as a kit, but as the car Richard received had no chassis plate but a 1980 nose and 1980 rollhoop, he advertised it as an 80A. He remembers getting no interest in it and believes he may have sold it through the trade, perhaps to Roger Hurst. Subsequent history unknown.
  2. March 79B [2?] (Trevor van Rooyen): Trevor van Rooyen raced a March 79B for Team Gunston from December 1978 onwards in South African Formula Atlantic. Blignaut withdrew from racing when the new Formula SA rules came into force in June 1979 and the 79B is believed to have been sold with other South African Formula Atlantic cars to Ted Titmas (Van Nuys, CA). Chris Townsend reports that the car was sold to an owner in Texas. Subsequent history unknown.
  3. March 79B [1?] (Roy Klomfass): Roy Klomfass raced a March 79B for Alex Blignaut's Team Texan from October 1978 onwards in South African Formula Atlantic. It was said to be the first production 79B, so presumably chassis 79B-1. When the Formula SA rules were introduced in June 1979, it was fitted at first with a 2-litre BMW engine but this was not a success and it was quickly fitted with a Ford V6. At the end of the season, it is believed to have been sold with other South African Formula Atlantic cars to Ted Titmas (Van Nuys, CA). Chris Townsend reports that the car was sold to brothers Tom and Steve Shelton (Fort Lauderdale, FL) and is likely to be the car driven by Tom, as Steve had already owned chassis 79B-10 since the start of 1979. The two 79Bs were advertised together at the end of 1981, and the ex-Titmas car went to Ron Levanduski (Elmira, NY) who raced it for the next five seasons. Levanduski sold it to Joe Ostrowski (Trenton, NJ) in July 1987. Ostrowski sold the car at the end of 1989 when he bought a newer March 81A. Subsequent history unknown.
  4. March 78B/79B (Clive Cooke): Ian Scheckter had a new Team Lexington March 78B for the start of the South African Formula Atlantic series. He retained the car for the 1978/79 season (October to May) and by December 1978 it had been updated with the same sidepods as the new March 79B. When Scheckter acquired a new F2-chassis 79A, the 78B/79B was sold to Clive Cooke, who raced it for the first time at Kyalami in January 1979. The car was due to be converted to a BMW engine for the Formula SA series, but Cooke did not appear. Sold to Jeff Waberski's DAW Supplies team in 1980, and fitted with a Mazda engine for Bernard Tilanus to drive. He won three of the first four races of the season, but while the March was being taken to Killarney for the Cape South Easter Trophy in March 1980, the transporter caught fire just outside Parys and exploded. The March was "completely destroyed" according to press reports, and the team's second car, a Wheatcroft R18 that was being towed on a trailer, was also badly damaged.
  5. March 76B ['MD'/"1A"] (Yunus Domingo): A car built up by Mike Domingo at the start of 1977 using a monocoque that Ian Scheckter had damaged when testing 76B/1 after the race at Aldo Scribante in March 1976. Domingo's car is usually referred to as "76B/1 (A)" as it built around the first tub from 76B/1. It was raced by Mike Domingo through 1977, 1978 and 1979. In late 1979 it was converted to use a Mazda engine, and was raced by him in this form in 1980. In August 1980, Dave Charlton drove the car at Kyalami as Domingo was observing Ramadan, but failed to start after being injured in practice for the aloon car race. Domingo continued to drive the car until early 1981, when it was sold to Ivano Moavero and raced by him in 1981 and part of 1982. Then in mid-1982, Moavero bought the highly-developed ex-Duxbury 77B, and sold the 76B to Michele ('Mike') Peters who raced it through to July 1985. At some point during this time, it was rebuilt using the monocoque from 76B/19, which had last been raced in 1979. Peters sold the resulting car to Terry Moss, to replace the 77B that Moss had wrecked. However, instead if racing the 76B, Moss stripped the car and used its components to build up a March 782. The 76B tub was put aside until 2010, when it was acquired from a friend of Moss by Bernard Tilanus. The tub number showed that the tub was from 76B/19, not from 76B/1, so it was reunited with its original chassis plate and fully rebuilt.
  6. Chevron B29 [29-75-25] (Geoff Frizell): The Rapid Movements Chevron B29 driven by Matt Spitzley is believed to have suffered a testing accident at some point early in 1975, and it was rebuilt with a new monocoque. At the Oulton Park race on 26 May, it was noted as having chassis plate 75-25, but exactly when the rebuild took place is still unclear. Gunnar Nilsson took over the car from Spitzley in August, and recorded five successive wins in it, four of them from pole. In January 1976 it was sold to John Gibb (Randburg, South Africa), to be raced in the new South African Formula Atlantic series, entered by Team Mum for Men with backing from Pioneer Hi Fi. It was sold to Geoff Frizell (Durban, South Africa) for 1977, and returned with Frizell in 1979, when it was described as a B34. It then went to Manny Pinto, and was raced by him from 1980 to 1984, and then reappeared two years later with Trevor Trautmann who raced it in 1986. Trautmann exhanged it for Alan Dunlop's Lant, and the Chevron then went to Alan McDonald and Mike Budd. Budd restored it for Mark du Toit, who owned it in 2000. It was purchased by Anthony Corin (Malmesbury, South Africa) in 2004 and was still owned by him in June 2008. By 2019 it was owned by Colin Frost.
  7. March 77B ['AT'/"17A"] (Bobby Scott): Built by Andrew Thompson in South Africa in 1978 using an unused monocoque that had been supplied as a spare for Dave Charlton's March 77B/7. Thompson acquired the tub and all the other 77B spares from Ken Howes before 77B/7 was sold back to the UK. He built all these into a new car using the Hewland FT200 gearbox from Alec Blignaut's March 76B/19. This car was raced by Bobby Scott through the 1978/79 season. It was rented from Thompson by Graham Duxbury for a race in October 1979, still with its BDA engine, and then sold to Hagen Wulf and Ivor Raasch who fitted a Mazda engine for the 1980 season. It was also raced by Allan McDonald that season. It was then sold to Graham Duxbury who raced it very successfully in 1981. Retained for the first few races of 1982 until Duxbury's new March 82A arrived and then sold to Ivan Moavero who used it for the rest of that season. Sold to Steve Herbst for 1983, but in August he swapped it for Roy Moss's March 792. Raced by Moss until the end of 1984. He then sold it to Terry Moss, who was unrelated, for the 1985 season. Moss built up a March 782 using parts salvaged from the 77B, but the tub was scrapped. The 77B effectively ceased to exist at this point.
  8. Chevron B34 [34.76.08?] (Tony Martin): New to Basil van Rooyen for the South African Formula Atlantic series, sponsored by Wrangler Jeans. Van Rooyen significantly modified the car during the season, with a March nose and side radiators. Retained for 1977, again with Wrangler Jeans sponsorship. Van Rooyen recalls that he sold the car to Tony Martin, and it was at some point during this time that the car was raced by Desiré Wilson in the first few races of the 1978 series. It was raced by Tony Martin at some races in 1979 as an alternative to his unsatisfactory B45, but Bernard Tilanus recalls that "the tub was damaged when Tony fell asleep and went off the road writing the trailer and car off". Tilanus explained that Martin bought a replacement tub from Chevron and built a standard B34. It was entered for some late-1980 races as a spare car for Martin, and retained in early 1981 as a spare to Martin's new Maurer MM80. The B34 was then sold to Roley Nöffke, who raced it in 1981. At the end of the season, Mike Needell took over the drive, still entered by Nöffke's Roray Racing, and he drove it through the 1982 season. Tilanus reports that it later went to Keith Horwood. Tilanus then bought the car and sold it to Mike Fergusson, but the restoration was still incomplete when Fergusson died. It was then bought by Colin Frost, who took it to Andrew Thompson to complete the restoration.

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 South African race results were originally compiled by Chris Townsend based on material in Autosport and Motoring News plus information supplied by a wide range of contributors. One of the contributors was later found to have used erroneous information, and the results have in some places been reworked using reports and results in South African newspapers such as the Rand Daily Mail.

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

No report found in Autosport. Rand Daily Mail 16 Apr 1979 p1. Laps, race time and speed from 'The Winners Book' by James O'Keefe.