Aurora AFX British F1 Championship Round
Mallory Park, 29 Jul 1979
Results | Laps | Time/Speed | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | David Kennedy | Wolf [WR4] - Cosworth DFV V8 #11 Theodore Racing |
75 | 52m 44.17s 115.20 mph |
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2 | Ricardo Zunino | Arrows A1 [4] - Cosworth DFV V8 #17 Charles Clowes Racing |
75 | 53m 06.36s incl 1m penalty |
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3 | Guy Edwards | Fittipaldi F5A [3] - Cosworth DFV V8 #4 RAM Racing |
74 | ||||||
4 | Kim Mather | (F2) 2-litre March 772P/782 [U2] - Ford BDG Eden #15 Pontin Racing (see note 1) |
72 | ||||||
5 | Carlo Franchi ("Gimax") | Williams FW06 [002] - Cosworth DFV V8 #10 Team Agostini |
70 | ||||||
6 | Emilio de Villota | Lotus 78 [1 JPS15] - Cosworth DFV V8 #3 Madom F1 Team |
70 | ||||||
7 | Richard Jones | Surtees TS19 [04] - Cosworth DFV V8 #33 Smith & Jones (see note 2) |
69 | ||||||
R | Brian Robinson | (F2) 2-litre Chevron B42 [42-78-17] - Hart 420R #19 A. G. Dean (Racing) |
66 | Running, not classified | |||||
R | Hervé Regout | (F2) 2-litre Chevron B42 [42-78-09] - Hart 420R #25 RAM Racing |
64 | Running, not classified | |||||
R | Norman Dickson | (F2) 2-litre March 792 [20] - Hart 420R #30 Dicksons of Perth (see note 3) |
63 | Running, not classified | |||||
R | Tiff Needell | Chevron B41 [41-79-01] - Cosworth DFV V8 #6 Graham Eden Racing |
25 | Throttle | |||||
R | Giacomo Agostini | Williams FW06 [001] - Cosworth DFV V8 #9 Team Agostini |
21 | Drive shaft | |||||
R | Rupert Keegan | Arrows A1 [2] - Cosworth DFV V8 #16 Charles Clowes Racing |
20 | Fuel pump | |||||
R | Desiré Wilson | Tyrrell 008 [3] - Cosworth DFV V8 #1 Melchester Racing |
15 | Drive shaft | |||||
R | Bernard de Dryver | Fittipaldi F5A [2] - Cosworth DFV V8 #5 RAM Racing |
14 | Drive shaft | |||||
R | Neil Bettridge | Tyrrell 008 [5] - Cosworth DFV V8 #2 Melchester Racing |
8 | Gearbox | |||||
DNS | David Leslie | Chevron B41 [41-79-01] - Cosworth DFV V8 #6 Graham Eden Racing |
Did not start (DNS: Car driven by Needell) |
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DNS | Kenneth Brill | (F2) 2-litre Chevron B42 [42-78-14] - Ford BDG #28 Kenneth Brill |
Did not start (DNS: Engine) |
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T | Norman Dickson | (F2) 2-litre March 772P [U1] - Hart 420R (see note 4) |
(Only used in practice) | ||||||
T | Guy Edwards | Fittipaldi F5A [4] - Cosworth DFV V8 RAM Racing |
(Only used in practice) |
All cars are 3-litre F1 unless noted.
Qualifying | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Emilio de Villota | (F1) 3-litre Lotus 78 [1 JPS15] - Cosworth DFV V8 | 0:39.49 | ||
2 | Ricardo Zunino | (F1) 3-litre Arrows A1 [4] - Cosworth DFV V8 | 0:39.72 | ||
3 | David Kennedy | (F1) 3-litre Wolf [WR4] - Cosworth DFV V8 | 0:40.20 | ||
4 | Guy Edwards | (F1) 3-litre Fittipaldi F5A [3] - Cosworth DFV V8 | 0:40.46 | ||
5 | Giacomo Agostini | (F1) 3-litre Williams FW06 [001] - Cosworth DFV V8 | 0:40.54 | ||
6 | Bernard de Dryver | (F1) 3-litre Fittipaldi F5A [2] - Cosworth DFV V8 | 0:40.93 | ||
7 | Desiré Wilson | (F1) 3-litre Tyrrell 008 [3] - Cosworth DFV V8 | 0:41.14 | ||
8 | Neil Bettridge | (F1) 3-litre Tyrrell 008 [5] - Cosworth DFV V8 | 0:41.15 | ||
9 | Carlo Franchi ("Gimax") | (F1) 3-litre Williams FW06 [002] - Cosworth DFV V8 | 0:41.57 | ||
10 | Norman Dickson | (F2) 2-litre March 792 [20] - Hart 420R | 0:41.75 | ||
11 | David Leslie * | (F1) 3-litre Chevron B41 [41-79-01] - Cosworth DFV V8 | 0:42.35 | ||
12 | Kim Mather | (F2) 2-litre March 772P/782 [U2] - Ford BDG Eden | 0:42.44 | ||
13 | Hervé Regout | (F2) 2-litre Chevron B42 [42-78-09] - Hart 420R | 0:42.68 | ||
14 | Richard Jones | (F1) 3-litre Surtees TS19 [04] - Cosworth DFV V8 | 0:44.09 | ||
15 | Brian Robinson | (F2) 2-litre Chevron B42 [42-78-17] - Hart 420R | 0:44.22 | ||
16 | Rupert Keegan | (F1) 3-litre Arrows A1 [2] - Cosworth DFV V8 | 1:02.70 | ||
17 | Tiff Needell | (F1) 3-litre Chevron B41 [41-79-01] - Cosworth DFV V8 | None | ||
* Did not start |
Notes on the cars:
- March 772P/782 [U2] (Kim Mather): New for Marc Surer to race in the final F2 race of the 1977 season, at Donington Park in October 1977. Then to Patsy McGarrity (Belfast, Northern Ireland) for Irish Formula Atlantic in 1978, using a Fred Smith BDA engine. To Kim Mather (St Helens, Lancashire) for 1979 and raced in F2 and Aurora British F1 that year. Also raced by sponsor David Ward (Hesketh Bank, Lancashire) in libre racing. Crashed heavily by Ward at Aintree in July, and rapidly rebuilt on a 782 or 783 tub for Mather to use for the rest of the season. Mather recalls that the 783 was sold to Jim Evans, but Evans has no recollection of this. The damaged 772P tub is claimed to have been sold to the Seattle area and rebuilt into a car that was later owned in Canada. Neither of these stories has yet been confirmed.
- Surtees TS19 [04] (Richard Jones): Alan Jones received a new car, Surtees TS19/04, in time for the 1976 Austrian GP, and raced this for the rest of the season. It was raced by Vittorio Brambilla in the South American races at the start of 1977, before being sold to Olympus Cameras for Divina Galica to race in Shellsport Group 8. It was acquired by Alo Lawler in 1978, but was quickly sold to John Cooper, then to Robin Smith. Smith updated it to "TS20S" specification in 1980, and added sports car bodywork for a couple of Can-Am events in 1981. It was sold to Ken Moore and then Rod Tolhurst, both of whom ran it in HSCC F1 in 1983 for Willie Green and John Narcisi. Its next seven owners did not race it, but it returned to competition in TGP in 1999, then raced regularly until 2012. It returned for Monaco in 2016.
- March 792 [20] (Norman Dickson): New to Norman Dickson (Perth, Scotland) and raced in the F2 section of the 1979 British F1 series, prepared by Colin Bennett. Due to be raced by Angelo Piccione at the Misano in August but he was too slow in testing. Sold to Paul Gibson in October 1979 and used mainly in libre racing at Croft but also appeared in rounds of the British series at Thruxton and Monza. Sold to Bob Leckie (Aberdeen, Scotland) for libre racing in 1981 but sold on in mid-season to John Bothamley who used it in the last few races of the Ingliston season. Taken to John Maguire in Coventry that winter who used the engine, gearbox, suspension, uprights, brakes and other components in the construction of a GT car for 1982, with Maguire's space frame chassis and Lotus Esprit bodywork. The tub, nose, rear wing, sidepods and rear bodywork were returned to Scotland and sold to Norrie Galbraith who planned to fit the running gear off his March 782 and put it in the 792 tub. Unfortunately Galbraith was killed in the 782 just weeks later. The 782 tub was scrapped but 792 tub and the remains of the 782 were sold to Bobby Howlings who eventually sold them to Willy Widar in Belgium. The 782 parts and 792 tub were evidently then built into a car which took the identity of 782-26. With its components scattered, the 792 has effectively ceased to exist.
- March 772P [U1] (Norman Dickson): New for the works March F2 team in 1977, fitted with a works BMW engine, and raced by Patrick Neve in the opening F2 race at Silverstone, qualifying and finishing third. Then raced by Alex Dias Ribeiro at Thruxton, taking pole position and again finishing third. Jochen Mass took over the drive for Hockenheim and the Nürburgring, winning both races, after which Ribeiro drove it once more at Vallelunga. Bruno Giacomelli, who had been racing a works March 772-Hart, then took over the 772P-BMW for the next six races, winning at Mugello in June. Driven again by Ribeiro at Donington Park in October. Sold to Norman Dickson (Perth, Scotland), fitted with a Hart 420R, and used with great success in libre, Retained by Dickson as a hire car in 1979. To George McMillan (North Berwick, Scotland) for 1980, and fitted with a Swindon BDX engine for libre over the next three seasons. Retained unused in 1983 when McMillan raced a Ralt RT2, and then sold to someone "down south" to use as a GT or Special Saloon. The car reappeared in France a little later, having been acquired by hillclimber Jean-Jacques Lecorre. It was stored briefly in the garage of Alain Prat, and then sold to Jean-François Pelletier (Chinon, France), fitted with a Cosworth BDD, and raced by him from 1984 to 1990. This car was advertised in France in January 2016, with no explanation of where it had been since 1990. By this time it had been restored to Giacomelli's SCAINI livery. It was next seen in 2019, when raced by Pascal Gerbout in Hstoric F2.
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.
These results were compiled primarily from the race reports in Autosport during the season, with some additional information from the results section of Autocourse, and some details compiled by Jeremy Jackson from a variety of sources, including Autosport, Motoring News and the Formula One Register books. All the chassis identities were taken from research elsewhere on this site.
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 2 Aug 1979 pp28-30, Motoring News 2 Aug 1979 p4. Autosport lists the chassis numbers of all 17 cars to take part in qualifying. Kim Mather's March 772P had been "rebuilt as a 782 around a newly acquired tub". According to the results section, it was fitted with an Eden-prepared Ford BDG. MN reckoned it was a 782-Hart.