OldRacingCars.com

British Formula Atlantic Championship Race

Brands Hatch, 19 Apr 1981

ResultsLapsTime/Speed
1 Ray Mallock Ralt RT4/81 [218] - Ford BDA Swindon
#6 Cliff Smith Racing
30 22m 07.29s
97.94 mph
2 Alo Lawler Ralt RT4/80 [199] - Ford BDA Smith
#1 L&B Excavations Limited
30 22m 08.27s
3 Phil Dowsett March 81A [15] - Ford BDA Nicholson
#5 Industrial Control Services/Pinch Plant
(see note 1)
30 22m 18.42s
4 Ian Flux Ehrlich RP5B [1] - Ford BDA Ehrlich
#15 Dr J.Ehrlich
30 22m 18.95s
5 Ian Taylor Tiga FA81 [164] - Ford BDA Nelson
#3 Queensgate Racing
30 22m 47.17s
6 Kim Mather March 792 [31] - Ford BDA
#21 Aycliffe Newtown Racing (see note 2)
30 22m 50.05s
7 David Duffield Ralt RT4/80 [185] - Ford BDA Swindon
#20 Caledon Coal Co.

8EQ Carlos Ulibarri March 80A [18] - Ford BDA Hart
#19
29
8EQ David Mercer Chevron B42 [42-78-15] - Ford BDA Smith
#14
29
R Colin Lees Argo JM9 [057-FA] - Ford BDA Smith
#7 Carcover with Goodwin Racing
(see note 3)
29 NRF
R Geoff Byman Lola T760 [HU1] - Ford BDA Smith
#9

R Charlie Kirby March 78B [782-14] - Ford BDA Nicholson
#31 (see note 4)

DNS Tony Westwood March 79B - Ford BDA Swindon
#2 Datamatic Ltd (see note 5)
Did not start
(Accident)
DNS Duncan Bain March 78B - Ford BDA
#11 (see note 6)
Did not start
DNA Richard Piper Wimhurst - Ford BDA Cosworth
#12
Did not arrive
DNA Mike Catlow Ralt RT1/77 [71?] - Ford BDA Hart
#17
Did not arrive
DNA Richard Hawkins Ralt RT1/75 [9] - Ford BDA Nicholson
#22 Richard Hawkins Racing (see note 7)
Did not arrive
DNA Daniel Lebacq Lebacq F14 - Ford BDA Swindon
#25
Did not arrive

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

Qualifying
1 Alo Lawler (F/Atl) 1.6-litre Ralt RT4/80 [199] - Ford BDA Smith 0.43.50
2 Ray Mallock (F/Atl) 1.6-litre Ralt RT4/81 [218] - Ford BDA Swindon 0.43.51
3 Phil Dowsett (F/Atl) 1.6-litre March 81A [15] - Ford BDA Nicholson
4 Ian Flux (F/Atl) 1.6-litre Ehrlich RP5B [1] - Ford BDA Ehrlich 0.43.79
5 Colin Lees (F/Atl) 1.6-litre Argo JM9 [057-FA] - Ford BDA Smith
6 Kim Mather (F/Atl) 1.6-litre March 792 [31] - Ford BDA 0.44.54
7 Ian Taylor (F/Atl) 1.6-litre Tiga FA81 [164] - Ford BDA Nelson
8 David Duffield (F/Atl) 1.6-litre Ralt RT4/80 [185] - Ford BDA Swindon
9 Charlie Kirby (F/Atl) 1.6-litre March 78B [782-14] - Ford BDA Nicholson
10 Geoff Byman (F/Atl) 1.6-litre Lola T760 [HU1] - Ford BDA Smith
11 David Mercer (F/Atl) 1.6-litre Chevron B42 [42-78-15] - Ford BDA Smith
12 Tony Westwood * (F/Atl) 1.6-litre March 79B - Ford BDA Swindon
13 Carlos Ulibarri (F/Atl) 1.6-litre March 80A [18] - Ford BDA Hart
14 Duncan Bain * (F/Atl) 1.6-litre March 78B - Ford BDA
 
* Did not start

Notes on the cars:

  1. March 81A [15] (Phil Dowsett): New to Phil Dowsett (Chelmsford, Essex) and raced in the British Formula Atlantic championshipmin 1981, with sponsorship from Pinch Plant and Industrial Control Services. Dowsett won two races and finished third in the championship. Sold to Theodore Racing and raced by Vern Schuppan at the Macau GP in November. Then sold to Graham Brown in Western Australia in April 1982 and raced in Australian Formula Pacific. To Michael Moylan in March 1985, then to Jeremy Kenyon (NSW) in January 1991. Sold to Clive Osborne (NSW) in August 1996 and raced by him in 2000, then to Robert Foster (NSW) by 2007 and raced by him from 2007 to 2019. To Barry Wise (QLD) in 2020, and raced by him in 2021 and 2022.
  2. March 792 [31] (Kim Mather): New to John Cooper to drive in the Aurora AFX series in 1979, using Hart engines. Also raced by Eddie Jordan in the Donington Park F2 race in August. Not seen in 1980, but reappeared in 1981 when it was used by Kim Mather in F2 and Formula Atlantic. Also driven by Jim Evans that year in libre racing. To John Travis for libre in 1982.
  3. Argo JM9 [057-FA] (Colin Lees): New to Colin Lees (Magherafelt, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland) and raced in the British Formula Atlantic series, run by Ivor Goodwin's Goodwin Racing with backing from Carcover. After Lees left the team, it was raced later in the season by Desiré Wilson and John Lewis. It was next seen in sprints and hillclimbs, driven by Neil White in 1987 and 1988, when it used a 2-litre BD-series engine. Then to Barry Goode (Malvern, Worcestershire) for 1989 and 1990, and sold by him to Simon Frost (Brechin), who raced it in 1994 and 1995 with a Vauxhall engine and with the sidepods removed. Then run by Mick Lancashire (Jersey) between 1996 and 1998 in the 1600cc class. Then hillclimbed by Laurie Ritchie (Studley, Warwickshire) between 2000 and 2013 using a QED-built 2-litre Vauxhall engine. Advertised by Ritchie in December 2013 and January 2014.
  4. March 78B [782-14] (Charlie Kirby): Eddie Cheever's car at Thruxton 27 Mar 1978 and presumably all season. To Dick Bennetts Racing and converted to Formula Atlantic for Eje Elgh to race in New Zealand in January 1979. Then to Charlie Kirby as a 78B and raced in Atlantic from 1979 to 1981. Offered for sale in On Track in 1981 by Kirby's Transatlantic Racing Services (Norcross, GA). Next seen with Andy Falbo (Detroit, MI) who raced it in US Formula Atlantic in 1983, and again in 1986 and 1988. Retained by Falbo and still owned by him in 2015.
  5. March 79B (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
  6. March 78B (Duncan Bain): Martin Mansell (Middlesex) acquired a large number of March 782 parts including a monocoque from a West Midlands hillclimber, and had these built up by an ex-March employee. It seems likely that these parts came from Godfrey Crompton (Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire) of Douglas & Gavin (Stourport, Worcestershire), who had acquired two March 782s from Bob Salisbury Racing for himself and Chris Cramer in 1979 and 1980. Duncan Bain (Luton, Bedfordshire) bought into Mansell's project, and the pair ran the car in British Formula Atlantic in 1981, usually entered as a 78B. Bain bought Mansell out at the end of 1981, and ran the car through 1982 with Abdex Engineering Ltd sponsorship. Sold to David Newall (Slough, Berkshire) for 1983, when it was sponsored by Staggers Jeans and run by McDonald Engineering. When the series was cancelled, Newall sold the car to a Frenchman who was planning to use it for hillclimbs. Newall recalls the car being collected by engine builder Geoff Richardson, who was going to rebuild the BDA engine before it went to France, but cannot remember the Frenchman's name. Subsequent history unknown.
  7. Ralt RT1/75 [9] (Richard Hawkins): New to Teddy Yip's Theodore Racing Team and fitted with a Hart 420R for Vern Schuppan to race at the JAF Grand Prix in November 1975. Then converted to Formula Atlantic specification for the Macau Grand Prix but vital parts did not arrive in time for Schuppan to use it. It was next raced at the Macau GP a year later, when Schuppan won the race. Yip himself drove it at the Malaysia Grand Prix meeting in April 1977, but did not start the race. It was then driven by Alan Jones at Macau in November 1977 but he retired. After that, it sat idle for nearly two years until it was taken to Ireland for the Phoenix Park Formula Atlantic race in September 1979, where it won in the hands of David Kennedy. It then returned to Macau for the 1979 race, when Geoff Lees took over the drive and won. Lees took the Ralt to its third Macau GP victory in 1980, in only its sixth known race start. It was then sold to Richard Hawkins, who drove it in the British Formula Atlantic championship in 1981. He sold it to dealer Roger Cowman who ran it for Vivian Candy at Phoenix Park in August and at Mondello Park in September. It stayed in Ireland and in late 1983 was sold by Jim Flynn to Tony Skinner.

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.