British Sprint Championship Round

Curborough, 8 Jun 1975

Notes on the cars:

1. Lola T100 [SL100/4] (Richard Lester): Believed to be the works Lola T100 entered by Lola Racing for John Surtees to drive in Formula 2 at the start of 1967. Fitted with a Cosworth FVA engine and raced by Surtees at Snetterton and Silverstone in March 1967, then by Chris Irwin at the Nürburgring in April. Sold in May to David Bridges for Brian Redman to drive in F2 for the rest of that season. Retained by Bridges for F2 in 1968, when it was driven by Redman, Chris Williams, Mike Beckwith, David Hobbs and Robin Widdows. Sold to Robin Darlington (Ruaben, Wales) late 1969, and used in libre racing in 1970. He advertised it in January 1971 when it had a twin cam and was prepared for the new 1971 Formula Atlantic category. Robin cannot recall where it went, but it was next seen in Sprints in late 1973, when it was driven by Richard Lester (Yoxall, Staffordshire). The car was run by Lester in the 1600cc class in Sprints and occasional hillclimbs from 1974 to 1977. Lester then acquired a March 73B, and advertised the T100 in January 1978 as "ex-Redman" with an all-steel twin cam and Hewland FT200 gearbox. This is likely to be the red/white 1600cc Lola T100 that Kenneth Brill (Redditch, Worcestershire) raced in libre at Croft in 1978. Subsequent history unknown.
2. Brabham BT35 [35] (David Render): New to Mike Hawley (Solihull, Warwickshire) and fitted with a Hart twin cam engine for the RAC British Hill Climb Championship from August 1971 onwards. Hawley fitted a Cosworth FVA Formula 2 engine for 1972, and was a regular 1600cc class winner in the British championship that year. To Tony Harrison and fitted with a Hart BDA engine, again to 1600cc capacity. To David Render (London) for 1974, and fitted with a 1800cc BDA engine for Sprints, while also running his Brabham BT29X in the 1600cc class. Retained with a 2-litre BDA for 1975, when it became his main car, and for the early part of 1976 before Render borrowed a F1 Lotus 76 instead. It was retained to 1978 and then advertised in October 1978 by Bobby Howlings' AMCO dealership. It then went to Bob Sharrott in the West Indies, before returning via Ted Walker and Peter Watts in the late 1980s. It was with John Harper in 1991, who raced it in historic events with a BDA engine, then sold to Georges Legein (Belgium) in 1993, who converted it to F3 specification. To Jean-Luc Burlion (Belgium) in 2005, then to Cédric Cordemans (Belgium) in 2009. It reappeared when sold in 2012 by Kris Perdu (Belgium) to Kurt Vanderspinnen (Belgium), who raced it as a F3 car in Dutch Historic Monoposto Racing events in 2014 and 2016. Sold by Vanderspinnen to Michael Rasper (Cologne, Germany) in October 2021.
3. Brabham BT30/35 (John Parsons): Tony Street (Wellesbourne, Warwickshire) raced a Brabham BT30 in sprints and hillclimbs in 1973. The origins of the car are currently unknown but Malcolm Orme recalls that the car he and Bob Penzer used in speed events between 1976 and 1978 had previously been driven by Street. Penzer had bought the car from John Hinley (Knowle, Warwickshire) so this would be the BT30 that John Hinley ran at Curborough in 1974 and advertised in May 1974 with a 1930cc BDA. It is also likely that this was the 2-litre "BT30/35" used at Curborough in June 1975 by Tony Sofiano (Harborne, Birmingham) and John Parsons, managers of The Elbow Room nightclub in Aston. Parsons advertised this car with a 1920cc BDG and mentioning BT35 fuel tanks in October 1975. The last known appearance of this car was when driven by Bob Penzer in a sprint at Oulton Park in April 1978. Penzer later sold the Brabham back to Hinley in a deal on the Lola T332C that Penzer drove in 1979. Subsequent history unknown.
4. Brabham BT30/35 (Tony Sofiano): Tony Street (Wellesbourne, Warwickshire) raced a Brabham BT30 in sprints and hillclimbs in 1973. The origins of the car are currently unknown but Malcolm Orme recalls that the car he and Bob Penzer used in speed events between 1976 and 1978 had previously been driven by Street. Penzer had bought the car from John Hinley (Knowle, Warwickshire) so this would be the BT30 that John Hinley ran at Curborough in 1974 and advertised in May 1974 with a 1930cc BDA. It is also likely that this was the 2-litre "BT30/35" used at Curborough in June 1975 by Tony Sofiano (Harborne, Birmingham) and John Parsons, managers of The Elbow Room nightclub in Aston. Parsons advertised this car with a 1920cc BDG and mentioning BT35 fuel tanks in October 1975. The last known appearance of this car was when driven by Bob Penzer in a sprint at Oulton Park in April 1978. Penzer later sold the Brabham back to Hinley in a deal on the Lola T332C that Penzer drove in 1979. 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 Sprint Championship results were originally provided by Paul Parker and Steve Wilkinson and are based on material drawn from Motoring News, Autosport and Speedscene magazines plus results sheets and programmes provided by former competitors and by the organising clubs.

The identification of individual cars is based on the Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 5000 and Formula Atlantic research work presented elsewhere on the site.

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.