Rand Autumn Trophy

Kyalami, 12 May 1979

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

Notes on the cars:

1. 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.
2. Chevron B34 [34-76-02] (Evan Boddy): New to Tony Martin for the 1976 South African Formula Atlantic championship, entered by Team Bic/South Coast Motors. Retained by Martin for 1977 as a spare car to his new B39 and raced only once that season, as a South Coast Motors entry for Evan Boddy at Kyalami in October. Raced by Boddy during 1978, entered again by South Coast Motors Racing. Raced again by Boddy in 1979, again entered by South Coast Motors.
3. Chevron B34 [34-76-03] (Abel d'Oliveira): A works-backed Formula Atlantic development car entered for Bill Brack in STP livery in the opening two rounds of the 1976 South African Formula Atlantic championship. Then to Guy Tunmer (Sandton) who ran it for the rest of the 1976 season, entered by Paradise Beach/National Radio. Tunmer did not continue in Formula Atlantic in 1977, and in 1978 Andrew Thompson recalls buying a Chevron B34 from the Tunmers on behalf of Rembrant. Entered by Thompson for Abel d'Oliveira for a couple of races in early 1979. Then to Peter Haller, who fitted a 3-litre Ford Essex V6 for the new Formula South Africa. After Haller died in a racing accident, the B34 was bought from his widow Hettie by Michael Rudolph, who raced it in 1986. The car is reported to have later gone to Alan Macdonald. In 2012, it was being restored by Davey Leeding in Johannesburg. He was still working on it in 2020.
4. Chevron B34 [B29 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 1983, and then reappeared two years later with Trevor Trautman who raced it in 1986. It remained in South Africa after that, but its ownership history is not fully resolved. Bernard Tilanus reported that it went from Pinto to Alan Dunlop then to Mike Budd, who restored it, then to Mark du Toit who owned it in 2000. It was purchased by Anthony Corin (Malmesbury, South Africa) in 2004 and was still owned in him in June 2008, but by 2019 it was owned by Colin Frost.

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.