OldRacingCars.com

British Formula Atlantic Championship Race

Silverstone, 4 May 1981

ResultsLapsTime/Speed
1 Ray Mallock Ralt RT4/81 [218] - Ford BDA Swindon
#6 Cliff Smith Racing
32 28m 44.11s
107.44 mph
2 Alo Lawler Ralt RT4/80 [199] - Ford BDA Smith
#1 L&B Excavations Ltd
32 28m 54.17s
3 Phil Dowsett March 81A [15] - Ford BDA Nicholson
#5 Industrial Control Services/Pinch Plant
(see note 1)
32 29m 01.97s
4 Ian Flux Ehrlich RP5B [1] - Ford BDA Ehrlich
#15 Dr J. Ehrlich
32 29m 12.03s
5 Colin Lees Argo JM9 [057-FA] - Ford BDA Smith
#7 Car Cover with Goodwin Racing
(see note 2)
32 1' pen
6 David Duffield Ralt RT4/80 [185] - Ford BDA Swindon
#20 Caledon Coal Co.
31
7 Kim Mather March 792 [31] - Ford BDA Swindon
#21 Aycliffe New Town (see note 3)
31
8 Mike Catlow Ralt RT1/77 [71?] - Ford BDA Hart
#17 Mike Catlow
31
9 Geoff Byman Lola T760 [HU1] - Ford BDA Smith
#9 Geoff Byman
30
10 Carlos Ulibarri March 80A [18] - Ford BDA Hart
#19 Carlos Ulibarri
30
11 Martin Mansell March 782 - Ford BDA Hart
#11 [not on entry list] (see note 4)
28
R Ian Taylor Tiga FA81 [164] - Ford BDA Nelson
#3 Queensgate Racing
24 Handling
R Richard Hawkins Ralt RT1/75 [9] - Ford BDA Nicholson
#22 The Lep Group of Companies (see note 5)
23 Suspension
DNA Tony Westwood March 79B - Ford BDA Swindon
#2 Datamatic (see note 6)
Did not arrive
DNA Malcolm Hull March 782 - Ford BDA Richardson
#18 TRS/Neil Fletcher Engines
Did not arrive
DNA Daniel Lebacq Lebacq FA4 - Ford BDA Swindon
#25 Daniel Lebacq
Did not arrive
DNA Charlie Kirby March 78B [782-14] - Ford BDA Nicholson
#31 Charlie Kirby (see note 7)
Did not arrive

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

Qualifying
Qualifying information not available

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. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. March 782 (Martin Mansell): 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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
  7. 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.

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

Programme, full qualifying times and full race results provided by Marcus Pye from BRDC archives.