Rand Spring Trophy

Kyalami, 10 Oct 1978

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

Notes on the cars:

1. March 78B (Ian Scheckter): 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-chasis 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 the car was then burned out in a trailer fire.
2. 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 though 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.
3. March 77B [8] (Basil van Rooyen): New to Eddie Pinto and Team Gunston for Roy Klomfass to race in South African Formula Atlantic in 1977, using Swindon BDA engines. Retained by Team Gunston in 1978 for new driver Trevor van Rooyen. Retained again by Team Gunston for the 1978/79 season, when it was a spare car to Van Rooyen's new March 79B and was driven that season by Basil Van Rooyen at Kyalami in October 1978 (when Trevor was unwell), by Dave Charlton at Killarney later that month, and then by Trevor at two races. Later in 1979, it was fitted with a Ford V6 engine for the new 'Formula South Africa', and was raced twice by John Love. It was unused in 1980, then sold to Jeff Waberski after his DAW Supplies team's ex-Ian Scheckter March 78B was destroyed in a transporter fire. Raced by Bernard Tilanus for DAW Supplies from June 1981 onwards. It was raced by Dave Charlton for DAW around March/April 1982, then by Billy Maloney as a DAW entry later in 1982. It was then sold to Klaus Grogor's House of Sports Cars team for 1983, and then retained by Grogor unused through 1984 and 1985. It was then sold to Gary Harrison who intended to convert it into a sports car for the 'Can-Am' series that absorbed Formula SA in 1986, but he only used in single seater form. The car was acquired by Dorino Trochanni during the 1990s and sold to Andrew and Stuart Thompson in 2000.
4. Wheatcroft R18 [003] (Bernard Tilanus): New to Alex Blignaut for Nols Nieman to drive in the 1976 South African Formula Atlantic series, sponsored by Benson & Hedges. The team had the older R18/002 as a spare car. Retained for 1977, when it was also driven by Royce Love and Grant Maben. Sold to Jeff Waberski's DAW Supplies team for Bernard Tilanus to drive in 1979. When the new Formula SA rules were introduced, the car was fitted with a Mazda engine. Driven by Peter Morrison in early 1980, but Tilanus took over the car again after his newer March 78B was destroyed. Later in 1980, Tilanus swapped the car for Soon Weeks' March, and Weeks continued with the Wheatcroft in 1981. The car is believed to have returned to the UK but its post-South Africa history is unknown.
5. March 76B ['MD'/"1A"] (Mike 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. The 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 and early 1981. It was then sold to Ivano Moavero and raced by him in 1981. Then in 1982, Moavero bought the ex-Duxbury 77B, and sold the 76B to Michele ('Mike') Peters and raced by him 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 [29-75-15] (Sarel Pienaar): New for Jim Crawford at Oulton Park in late May when his early-season development car was rebuilt on a new monocoque, effectively becoming a new car with chassis number 29-75-15. Crawford raced this car seven times in the British Formula Atlantic series, winning two races, and also raced it in F2 specification at Silverstone in August, using a Geoff Richardson BDA engine. Richard Morgan (Purley, Surrey) then hired the car for a few races at the end of the season. To Len Booysen (Randburg, South Africa) for the 1976 South African Formula Atlantic series, entered by Golden-Flo Racing with Kenitex. Then to Dorino Trochanni, and raced by him in a few late 1977 and early 1978 races before it passed to Sarel Pienaar, who raced it for the rest of 1978 and in 1979. According to Chris Townsend's research, the car went subsequently to Peter Haller and Alan McDonald, was owned by Mike Rudolph in 1985, then to Mike Budd who restored the car, and then Mike Ward. Subsequent history unknown, but the car was owned by Colin Frost by July 2014.
7. March 77B [11] (Roy Klomfass): New for Rupert Keegan to race in the South African Formula Atlantic series in early 1977, run for him by the Doug Shierson team and entered as Team Uniewinkels. Then run by Martin Flint and Roger Taylor for John Gibb to race for the rest of 1977. Retained by Flint & Taylor's Team Uniewinkels for 1978, when it was driven by Roy Klomfass. Moved to Alex Blignaut's Team Texan for the start of the 1978/79 season, still with Klomfass driving, as a spare car to the team's new March 79B. The 77B was then sold to Dave Hart's Team Valvoline. Hart fitted it with a BMW engine for the new Formula South Africa in 1979, then converted to a Mazda engine for 1980. It was then sold to Brian Ferris, who raced it in 1981 and in early 1982 before his new Ralt RT4.82 arrived. The 77B may have been raced by Ferris's friend Klaus Grogor in the latter half of 1982. In January 1983, it was sold to Fred Goddard who ran it for several drivers as part of his Petromark team over the next two seasons, including Braam Smith, Roy Carr, Derek Irving and Danie Mulder. It was unused in 1985, then driven by Ivano Moavero in 1986. Then retained by Goddard who took it with him the UK when he emigrated. Still with him in 2003.
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. This car "was sold to Rolly Nofke, then 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.
9. Modus M3 ['MD'/"022A"] (Yunus Domingo): Mike Domingo built up a Modus M3 for 1976 using the first monocoque from Modus M3/022, which was replaced after an accident in July 1975. Raced by Mike Domingo in the South African Formula Atlantic series in 1976. Sold to John Simpson for 1977, but he crashed the car in practice at Welkom, his second event. The car returned to Team Domingo and was eventually repaired. It was raced by Yunus Domingo at least twice in 1979, and then by Jan Klinkert at Kyalami in May 1979. Subsequent history unknown.
10. March 77B [8] (Trevor van Rooyen): New to Eddie Pinto and Team Gunston for Roy Klomfass to race in South African Formula Atlantic in 1977, using Swindon BDA engines. Retained by Team Gunston in 1978 for new driver Trevor van Rooyen. Retained again by Team Gunston for the 1978/79 season, when it was a spare car to Van Rooyen's new March 79B and was driven that season by Basil Van Rooyen at Kyalami in October 1978 (when Trevor was unwell), by Dave Charlton at Killarney later that month, and then by Trevor at two races. Later in 1979, it was fitted with a Ford V6 engine for the new 'Formula South Africa', and was raced twice by John Love. It was unused in 1980, then sold to Jeff Waberski after his DAW Supplies team's ex-Ian Scheckter March 78B was destroyed in a transporter fire. Raced by Bernard Tilanus for DAW Supplies from June 1981 onwards. It was raced by Dave Charlton for DAW around March/April 1982, then by Billy Maloney as a DAW entry later in 1982. It was then sold to Klaus Grogor's House of Sports Cars team for 1983, and then retained by Grogor unused through 1984 and 1985. It was then sold to Gary Harrison who intended to convert it into a sports car for the 'Can-Am' series that absorbed Formula SA in 1986, but he only used in single seater form. The car was acquired by Dorino Trochanni during the 1990s and sold to Andrew and Stuart Thompson in 2000.

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.

The South African race results have been compiled by Chris Townsend based on material in Autosport and Motoring News plus 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.

Individual sources for this event

Autosport 19 Oct 1978 p8, Rand Daily Mail 10 Oct 1978 p2, 11 Oct 1978 p2. There were only seven cars on the grid, and the "much-vaunted" March 79B of Klomfass had a last-minute change of sponsor from the United Tobacco Company's Benson & Hedges brand to Texan. Sy Symons in the RDM mentioned that Scheckter's 78B had been modified to "near" 79B specifications, Klomfass had the new 79B and that Tony Martin was driving his Chevron B34. Race speed from 'The Winners Book' by James O'Keefe.