British Formula Atlantic Championship Race

Mallory Park, 31 May 1982

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

Notes on the cars:

1. 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.
2. Lola T760 [HU1] (Geoff Byman): New to Alo Lawler (Newton le Willows, Lancashire) for the 1979 British Formula Atlantic series, using Alan Smith engines and sponsored by L&B Excavations Racing. Lawler won the opening round at Mallory Park in the rain, but at other races the car proved uncompetitive. Sold to Geoff Byman (Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire) late 1980 and used in Formula Atlantic in 1980 and 1981, and also in The Donington Open series and other Formula Libre. Retained for Formula Atlantic and Formula Libre in 1982 and 1983. Following the cancellation of British Formula Atlantic, the car was taken out to India and was raced by Jim Crawford there in 1986. It was then owned and raced by Harish Samtani in India from 1987 to 1989. It returned to the UK in early 1989 and was used by John Russell and John Malley in sprints and hillclimbs. Jeremy Bouckley then used it in hillclimbs in 1991. Its history is then unknown until 2006, when it was bought by Dermot Healy for a customer. It then passed to Martin Walker (Notts) later in 2006. It was with Peter Hiscocks by 2009, and then with Martyn Donn by 2012, who used it in HSCC and other historic events until 2017. It was then sold to George Coghill (Halkirk) who used it in historic hillclimbs in 2018 and 2019. It was offered for sale by Steve Worrad in May 2020. It then moved to Lothar Oberlaber (Austria) for Histo Cup events. Advertised by Oberlaber in December 2023.
3. 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.
4. Chevron B56 [56-82-01] (Masanori Sekiya): New to Team Sanada for Masanori Sekiya to drive in the 1982 British Formula Atlantic series. After just a few races, he moved over to the Ehrlich RP5A instead, and Robin Smith took the B56 to Ireland for Gary Gibson, who was then using the B53 with success in the Irish series, to race at Phoenix Park in August. Gibson soon decide the B56 was unsuited to the circuit and raced his B53, with Smith himself racing the B56. Gibson then came to Scotland to race the B56 in a libre race at Ingliston in October, and then drove it at Oulton Park a week later and at the Macau GP in November. He then raced it in the Irish series in 1983, after which it was not seen again. Chevron records indicate that it was sold to Mike Gue's Essex Racing in the US. Subsequent history unknown.
5. March 782 [6] (Dave Hoban): 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.
6. McLaren M21 (Tony Dunne): One of two cars entered by Astor Club Racing International in British Formula Atlantic in 1975, this car was raced by Roberto Alvarez at Silverstone on 13 April, and then by Tony Trimmer later in the season. This car was next seen when acquired by Tony Dunne, who raced it in the British Formula Atlantic series in 1982. Dunne then entered Alo Lawler in Dunne's McLaren M30 in BRSCC libre in 1984 and 1985, and traded the M21 back to McLaren International in 1986 for the spare M30 monocoque. McLaren International rebuilt the car to Scheckter's F2 configuration, and the car was on display in the Donington Museum for many years. When the other two cars were restored in the late 1990s and none were found to have a chassis plate, McLaren International issued this car with a '1' chassis plate.
7. Barton JTB3 (Dave Muter): In May 1977, Andy Barton (Newcastle upon Tyne) bought a Sana tub and parts from John Thompson, who had fabricated the San RD9 and RD11. He built these up with his usual 2-litre BDA engine as the Sana JTB2 and raced it with great success in Formula Libre in 1977 and 1978. For 1979, it was sold to David Muter (Seghill, Northumberland), who raced it in libre in 1979, 1980, 1981 and early 1982. 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

Autosport 10 Jun 1982 p63, Programme with lap chart (DR).