Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières

Trois-Rivières, 24 Aug 1980

All cars are 5-litre Can-Am unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Lola T530 [HU2] (Patrick Tambay): Built March 1980. New to Haas Racing for 1980 and raced by Patrick Tambay, winning the Can-Am championship. Retained for 1981 when it was fitted with a taller rollhoop and raced by Jeff Wood but wrecked in practice at Watkins Glen in July 1981. Race reports say that Haas acquired VDS's backup T530 to replace it, so this car effectively ceased to exist at this point.
2. Lola T332 [T330 HU2] (Horst Kroll): See full history: Lola T330 HU2.
3. March 744/CF1 [74B-10] (Bob Roy): The early history of this car is unknown, but it may be the car raced by Gilles Léger (Lachute, Quebec) from Mosport Park in July 1974 onwards. By 1980 it was owned by Bob Roy ( Montréal, Quebec, Canada) and was being used in Can-Am. The car later went to Mauro Lanaro (Montréal, Quebec), and was raced by him in Can-Am then CAT races from 1984 to 1987. At some point, Lanaro found the monocoque had bent due to the Can-Am car's downforce, and replaced the tub with that of 74B/12. The tub and associated parts from 74B/10 remained with Lanaro until he sold his remaining stock to David Clubine (Brantford, Ontario) in 2018.
4. Brabham BT38B [13] (Cliff Dawson): New to Eligio Siconolfi (Montréal, Quebec, Canada), who raced in the Canadian FB series in 1972, sponsored by Downtown Datsun Ltd. To Peter Overing (Montreal, Quebec) for 1973, but only seen at Sanair in June. Entered by Overing for Reg Scullion (Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Montréal, Quebec) in the Players Canadian Formula Atlantic series in 1974, but still with a Ford twin cam engine. Overing then acquired a March 74B for Scullion, and the Brabham was sold to Cliff Dawson (Mount Royal, Quebec), who fitted a BDA engine and raced it in Formula Atlantic in 1975, 1976 and 1977. After racing it in Regionals in the late 1970, Dawson converted the car to Can-Am specification with a body built in Montreal by Francis Cordolle and ran it in this form in Can-Am from 1980 to 1983, still with the 1600cc Cosworth BDA engine. According to Doug Waters, it was "sold in July 1984 to Martin Handforth in Ottawa, who soon sold it to Pennsylvania". (Note that Handforth had owned and raced a different BT38 in Quebec events in 1981.) Subsequent history unknown.
5. Chevron B27 (Bertil Roos): Having raced a Chevron B27 with a 1.6-litre Cosworth BDD and fenders in Can-Am in 1979, Bertil Roos (Blakeslee, PA) acquired another Chevron B27 for 1980, and fitted a full sports car body and a 2-litre Hart 420R engine. He raced this six times in Can-Am in 1980, finishing in the top 10 every time. According to Doug Waters, this 1980 car was sold to someone in Pennsylvania for regional racing. Subsequent history unknown.
6. Sorbello GM5 [005] (Tony LaRosa): See full history: McRae GM1/005.
7. Lola T530 [HU6] (Ricardo Londoño): Built April 1980. New to Ricardo Londoño (Medellín, Columbia) and raced in nine out of ten of that season's Can-Am Challenge races. He almost always qualified in the top ten, and his best results was fifth place at Mosport Park in June. Londoño progressed, briefly, to F1 for 1981, and the Lola went to an unknown Columbian, spenind some time abandoned and used as a flower bed. It was rescured in the late 1980s by Oswaldo Farjado and restored for racing by 1990. Farjado and José Clopatofsky Londoño (Bogotá, Colombia) raced it in the Bogotá Six Hours in 1990, 1991 and 1992, with guest drivers Rob Wilson the first two years and David Sears in 1992. The team won the race in 1991, but retired the other two years.
8. Lola T530 [HU9] (Danny Sullivan): Built July 1980. New to Garvin Brown Racing for driver Danny Sullivan, replacing the Intrepid GB1. Raced for the rest of 1980 but Garvin Brown then acquired the ex-Rosberg car from Newman Racing and Sullivan raced that car instead at the start of 1981. Assumed for now that HU9 remained as Sullivan's backup car through the 1981 season. Sold to Mike Freberg (Toronto, Ontario) and raced by him through the 1982 Can-Am season but heavily damaged at Laguna Seca in October 1982. Mike Brayton is reported to have bought this car, repaired it and sold it to Burke Ratcliffe but the exact details are not known. Subsequent history unknown.
9. Lola T530 [HU5] (Elliot Forbes-Robinson): Built April 1980. New to Budweiser Newman 1980 and raced by Elliot Forbes-Robinson as the team's #2 Budweiser entry. Unknown after 1980 until sold by Mike Brayton to Burke Ratcliffe (UK) 1986 to be used in the Thundersports series. Referred to as one former Burke Ratcliffe crew member as "the Budweiser show car", it is unclear when this car was raced. Sold with the other BRR cars to Mike McComas (Pampa, TX) in 1989 and then via Michael Duncan (Los Altos, CA, later Colchester, CT) to Shayne Windelburn (Auckland, New Zealand).
10. Lola T530 [HU4] (Geoff Brabham): Built April 1980. New to VDS Racing for 1980 and used as Geoff Brabham's T-car for the first part of the season, becoming his race car after HU3 was destroyed in a practice accident at Road America in July. Retained for 1981 and raced by Brabham until the team's new T530-based VDS-001 was ready. Sold to Rex Ramsey 1982 but very heavily damaged in an accident at Laguna Seca in October. The damaged and disassembled car sold to Mike McComas (Pampa, TX) 1988 and sold by him to Paul Sauer (Woodside, CA). In 2002, the car was still completely apart with the new tub still under construction.

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.

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.