RAC Sports Car Championship Race

Thruxton, 12 Apr 1971

All cars are 2-litre Sports racing unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Chevron B19 [71-9] (John Lepp): Sold to Central Garage (Mirfield) Ltd for John Lepp to drive in the 1971 European 2-litre series. Sold to James Gray for 1972 with Peter Gaydon as co-driver and then to Ian Harrower and James Bell for 1973 and 1974. Sold to Tony Wadsworth and rebodied with an Imp body as the Special Saloon "Chimp" and driven by Jonathan Buncombe. Banned almost immediately and sold to Paul Howarth for historic racing in 1977. Then raced by Vin Malkie from 1978 to 1982 after which is was raced by James Wallis (Edenbridge, Kent) in 1983 and 1984. The next part of the car's history is increasingly cloudy but it appears to be the car owned by Kevin Wilkins in 2009.
2. Lola T212 [HU18] (Jo Bonnier): One of two cars delivered to Ecurie Bonnier and raced under the Scuderia Filipinetti banner. HU18 is identified by Sport Auto as Jo Bonnier's personal car and is likely to be the car used at Paul Ricard April 1972 by Claude Ballot-Léna. A surviving Bonnier invoice shows that HU18 was sold to Enzo Osella in May 1972 and a 2011 advert by Marcel Roks quotes a 1985 HVIF which identifies HU18 as the car then owned by Roberto Filannino and Pasquale Barberio. Barberio raced a 1300cc Lola T212-Abarth in Italian domestic racing in 1973 and the Roks advert says he kept the car until 1976. Later owners are given as a Mr. Girollami 1976, Stefano Sebastiani 1982, Victor Myette 1994, Andy Wolfe (Cambridge, UK) 1998 and the current owner in 2001.
3. Chevron B16 [DBE-4] (Brian Robinson): Brian Robinson ran a Chevron B16 in 1970 and 1971 before upgrading to a Chevron B21 for the 1972 season. He sold the B16, still complete with its early FVC, to John White (Byfield, MA) who raced it in BSR racing for several seasons.
4. Chevron B8 [CH-DBE-71] (Tony Charnell): Paul Vestey bought one of the earliest 1969 B8s, a blue and white car that would be sponsored by Road & Racing Holborn Ltd. Raced by Vesty and by Tim Schenken but heavily damaged in Schenken's practice accident at the BOAC 500 at Brands Hatch on 13 April. Extensively rebuilt and sold to James Tangye in July 1969 who raced it as part of the Worcestershire Racing Association. Retained for another season of European 2-litre racing in 1970 and then sold for 1971 to Tony Charnell who raced mainly in northern English club racing. Believed to be the car used in British hillclimbing by a young John Cleland in 1973.
5. Gropa CMC Mk 2 [CH-DBE-53] (Mike Gribben): Whitley Bay tailor Johnny Blades bought a Chevron B8 for 1968 but fitted with a F2 Cosworth FVA engine for 1600cc Group 6 racing instead of GT racing. He raced this to the end of 1969 and then sold it to Mike Gribben who raced it in standard form in 1970 and then had it converted to a Gropa for 1971. John Markey bought it in 1972, converted it to BMW power and raced it in the Motoring News Sports/GT series in 1973. In 1975, Markey sold it to Colin James who fitted a 2-litre Martin V8 engine and raced it a few times in 1975 and 1976. Its subsequent history is currently unknown - one of very few Gropas still missing.
6. Lola T210 [SL210/14] (Terry Croker): Terry Croker bought SL210/14 in August 1970 to replace his Lola T70 for use in the Interserie championship. Croker used it in the 1971 European 2-litre series, sharing with Guy Edwards at the Nürburgring in September. It was sold to Rolf Skoghag for 1972 who continued to race it until June 1973. It is then reported to have passed through the hands of Mike Gue and John Webb before reaching Bill Sainsbury (Vancouver, Canada) for 1976. After racing in DSR in 1976 it is reported to have passed via MacKenzie Racing 1977 and at least one other Canadian owner to Robert Grant (UK) in 1985 who sold it to Bengt Ljungbergh (Sweden) later that year. Ljungbergh retained it to 2007 when it was sold via Chris Fox to Geoff Lister. It was for sale in November 2010.
7. Lola T212 [HU18] (Peter Westbury): One of two cars delivered to Ecurie Bonnier and raced under the Scuderia Filipinetti banner. HU18 is identified by Sport Auto as Jo Bonnier's personal car and is likely to be the car used at Paul Ricard April 1972 by Claude Ballot-Léna. A surviving Bonnier invoice shows that HU18 was sold to Enzo Osella in May 1972 and a 2011 advert by Marcel Roks quotes a 1985 HVIF which identifies HU18 as the car then owned by Roberto Filannino and Pasquale Barberio. Barberio raced a 1300cc Lola T212-Abarth in Italian domestic racing in 1973 and the Roks advert says he kept the car until 1976. Later owners are given as a Mr. Girollami 1976, Stefano Sebastiani 1982, Victor Myette 1994, Andy Wolfe (Cambridge, UK) 1998 and the current owner in 2001.

Sources

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' original results.

With grids declining for both sports/racing and GT racing in Britain, the two categories were merged for UK racing from 1972. The only Sports GT championship was the Motoring News/Castrol title but a significant number of club races were also held.

Classes for 1972 were up to 1150cc, 1151 to 1600cc, 1601cc to 2500cc and over 2500cc. In 1973, the lower two class boundaries were changed to 1300cc and 1650cc.

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.