Hitachi Formula Atlantic Series Race

Mallory Park, 5 Apr 1980

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

Notes on the cars:

1. Ralt RT1/77 [66] (Alo Lawler): New to Giancarlo Minardi's Scuderia Everest F2 team and fitted with a Ferrari Dino 206 V6 engine for Lamberto Leoni and later Elio de Angelis to drive in F2 in 1977. Unknown in 1978. To Ray Mallock (Roade, Northamptonshire) for British Formula Atlantic in 1979, run for him by Mario Deliotti Racing and later by Cliff Smith Racing. To Alo Lawler (St Helens, Lancashire) for British Formula Atlantic in 1980. Lawler won the Phoenix Park Irish Formula Atlantic race in August, and sold the car in Ireland to Tom O'Leary (Dalkey, County Dublin). Raced by O'Leary in the Irish Formula Atlantic series from 1980 to 1983. Subsequent history unknown.
2. March 79B [782-6] (Phil Dowsett): Alex Ribeiro's Hart-engined car at Thruxton 27 Mar 1978 and presumably all season. Hired by Wolfgang Locher for Hockenheim 26 Sep. To Phil Dowsett (Maldon, Essex) for British Formula Atlantic in 1979, converted to 79B specification and supported by Pinch Plant and Martin the Newsagent. Retained by Dowsett for 1980, then unraced in 1981. Advertised by Dowsett as a 782/79B in September 1981. To Dave Hoban (Horncastle, Lincolnshire) for libre racing and British Formula Atlantic in 1982, then retained for libre racing in 1983 and in 1984.
3. March 78/79B [782-13] (Andy Barton): Ingo Hoffmann's car at Thruxton 27 Mar 1978 and presumably all season. Raced by Cheever at Rouen. Believed to be the car then bought by Andy Barton and used in libre racing and Formula Atlantic until the end of 1981.
4. Ralt RT1/77 [72] (Ian Briggs): New to Graham Eden Racing for Tony Rouff to race in the ShellSPORT Group 8 Championship in 1977, using Ford BDG engines and sponsored by Harrisons of Birmingham. Rouff won in this car at Thruxton in June. Retained by Eden for 1978, and raced by Mike Wilds in what was then the Aurora AFX British F1 Championship. Sold to Ian Briggs (Reading/Farnham) and fitted with a Swindon BDA for the British Formula Atlantic series. Believed to be the car borrowed by Theodore Racing for Desiré Wilson to drive at Macau at the end of that season. Subsequent history unknown.
5. March 782/79B (Roger Orgee): Roger Orgee (Bristol) raced a March 782/79B in British Formula Atlantic, sponsored by Baric Computing Services (Modern Engineers) and using Richardson BDA engines. He recalled in 2023 that the car was built for him "by Paul Smith of BMTR using mainly Toleman spares and March supplied bits". He wrecked the car at Oulton Park on 28 June, and rebuilt it on a replacement monocoque acquired from Andy Barton. Subsequent history unknown.
6. March 77B [Bowtell] (John Bowtell): In September 1978, John Bright (Leicester) advertised a March "77P" which he described as being a F2 rolling chassis and "same as Giacomelli's". He also advertised his 773 Formula 3 car which had been rebuilt on a new monocoque in August 1978. It is therefore possible that the "77P" had been built using the 773's repaired original monocoque. The car was sold to John Bowtell (Witney, Oxfordshire), who fitted it with a 2-litre BDX bought from Ray Mallock and ran it in libre in 1979. He then fitted it with a 1600cc Swindon BDA and raced it in the British Formula Atlantic series in 1980. He then retired from racing, and advertised the car in January 1981. Subsequent history unknown.
7. Ralt RT1/78 [145] (David Duffield): New to Bernard Hunter (Edinburgh, Scotland) in December 1978, and raced in the 1979 British Formula Atlantic series. Also used extensively in libre racing in the north of England in Scotland. Sold to David Duffield for 1980 British Atlantic races and for libre at Ingliston. Then sold to Australian Charlie O’Brien and raced by him in the New Zealand Formula Pacific series in December 1980 and January 1981. Then raced by O'Brien in the National Panasonic Formula Pacific series in Australia later that year. To Ron Barnacle for the Australian Grand Prix in November 1981 and the Australian National F1 Championship in 1982. Subsequent history unknown. In 2011, Grant Martin (Auckland, New Zealand) advertised the ex-O'Brien RT1 No 145.
8. March 782 [2(B)] (Paul Smith): After Paul Smith wrecked his ex-Toleman March 782-2 at Mallory Park in March 1979, he built up a new car using a tub fabricated by Mo Gomm. As the "782-2" plate remained on the original tub, and this was later repaired, this Gomm-built car is regarded here as a new car 'PS1'. The new 'PS1' was used by Smith in Formula Atlantic and F2 in 1979 and 1980. It was sold together with the remains of 782-2 to Bernard Tilanus "in the autumn of 1981" and shipped to South Africa. Tilanus converted 'PS1' to use Sigma Mazda engines and raced it in early 1982. It was sold in March or April 1982 to Hekro for Ian Scheckter to race, but he did not like the car, and it was taken over by his Hekro teammate Peter Haller. At some point in 1983, probably at Kyalami on 30 April 1983 where Haller retired, 'PS1' was damaged. It is believed that the unrepaired tub ended up with Keith Horwood. It passed via Ivan Glasby to a hotel owned by one of the Toleman brothers in the Eastern Transvaal, where it was hung on the wall of the bar. The tub was thrown away around 2005, when the hotel changed hands.
9. March 80A [1] (Bernard Hunter): New to Bernard Hunter (Edinburgh, Scotland) and raced in the British Formula Atlantic series and libre racing, entered by Colin Bennett Racing. Retained for the first libre races at the start of 1981, then raced by Stuart Lawson and Ted Dzierzek in Scottish libre in April and May. To Tony Brown, and raced in hillclibs in early 1982, but Brown soon returned to the Martin BM16 that he had run from 1979 to 1981. The 80A was acquired by Stewart Phillips (Enfield, Middlesex) and raced in libre races from July 1982 onwards, entered by Winchmore Hill Garage.
10. Argo JM5 [036-FA] (Dave Rackham): Built late in the 1979 season and invoiced to Nick May, who drove it in the Brands Hatch Formula Atlantic race in October 1979. Then to Dave Rackham and tested by him, but remained unused until Rackham advertised it in August 1980. It was finally raced by Nick Adams, and run for him by Colin Bennett Racing, in two races in September and October 1980. Sold to Jim Blackwell (Seattle, WA) and raced by him in ICSCC events in 1981, then advertised in June 1982. Raced once more by Blackwell in 1985 after his newer Argo JM9 was damaged at Portland. Also raced by Larry Dunn (Lake Stevens, WA) in local WCAR events in 1987.
11. March 78B (Tony Westwood): Tony Westwood (Cardiff/Caerphilly/Eaton Hastings) raced a March "78B" or March "79B" with Swindon engines in British Formula Atlantic in 1980 and early 1981. He was sponsored by Datamatic Limited ("Pacemakers in Continuous Print") and entered as #6 in 1980 and #2 in 1981. He was last seen in April 1981. Subsequent history unknown
12. March 742 (Geoff Byman): Paul Brooks (Selby, North Yorkshire) drove a March 742 in libre races at Croft in 1977 and 1978. Its engine was described as a 1600cc Swindon BDA in its first race, but later as a 2-litre Swindon BDX. It was sold to Geoff Byman (Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire), who raced it in the revised British Formula Atlantic series in 1979, describing it as a March 75B. There are no confirmed appearances of Byman with the car after Mallory Park in July 1979, but entries continued until April 1980. Byman reappeared later in 1980 with the Lola T760 previously raced by Alo Lawler. The subsequent history of the March 742/75B is unknown.
13. Ralt RT1/77 [71?] (Mike Catlow): Mike Catlow (Dulwich, London/Charing, Kent) drove a Ralt RT1 in British Formula Atlantic from 1980 to 1983. The car was later acquired by Jackie Harris for hillclimbs in Ireland, at first with a 1600cc BDA engine in 1986 and later with a 2-litre BDG from 1987 to 1990. It then went to Andy Kittle, who ran it in hillclimbs around 1993. In 1996 he sold it via Simon Hadfield to Tom Calicchio (Erie, PA). 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 race results have been compiled by Chris Townsend based on material in Autosport and Motoring News reports in the UK plus the 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

Official grid sheet contributed by Richard Page of the Formula One Register .