Crosslé 14F car-by-car histories
Mal Donaldson in his Crosslé 14F at Lime Rock in 1970. Copyright Ham Donaldson 2003. Used with permission.
Built in 1968 and 1969, the Formula B Crosslé 14F was supplied with a Vegantune engine, but was otherwise very similar to the preceding Crosslé 12F. Only two were built, for Mal Donaldson and Jim Mederer, and both were retained by their original owners for at least 40 years.
Mal Donaldson's was the first car to arrive in the US, but was too late for the main 1968 SCCA season. He had been expected to race the new car at the Lime Rock FB race on Labor Day, but his first known appearance was in an SCCA Regional at Thompson Speedway on 20 October. All Donaldson's racing in the car was at those two circuits over the next two seasons, including the SCCA Continental Championship races at Lime Rock on 2 August 1969 and at Thompson Speedway on 21 September 1969, the annual SCCA Nationals at both tracks, and in Regional races for the Area 1 Championship. He won at least seven Regionals in the car, and also went very well in Nationals, finishing second behind Steve Durst's Formula A Vulcan at Thompson in June 1969, and finished third in two other Nationals in 1970.
On the opposite coast, Jim Mederer's 14F arrived in time for the 1969 season. After winning a couple of SCCA Regionals, former Cobra racer Mederer qualified his car for the SCCA Runoffs in 1969 thanks to a very impressive performance in an SCCA National at Riverside in September, splitting the Brabham BT21Cs of Don Delamore and William Monson to take second place. Those six points were the only ones he scored, but were enough to tie for sixth place out of 17 drivers who scored points that season.
Unusually, neither owner sold their car, and both remained in their possession for decades.
If you can add to our understanding of these cars, or have photographs that we can use, please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com.
The Donaldson family's Crosslé 14F in February 2024. Copyright Ham Donaldson 2025. Used with permission.
New to Mal Donaldson (Bedford Village, NY) and raced by him in SCCA Regionals and Nationals, and in one or two SCCA Continental Championship races at Thompson Speedway and Lime Rock in late 1968 and through 1969. Retained by Donaldson for 1970, when he raced it mainly in the Area 1 Championship. In 1974, former Crosslé distributor Roger Barr entered Donaldson's 14F for a few SCCA Nationals, finishing an impressive third at Bryar in September. Donaldson retained the car thereafter, and by 2010 it was owned by his son Hamilton Donaldson.
Driven by: Mal Donaldson and Roger Barr. First race: Thompson Speedway, 20 Oct 1968. Total of 14 recorded races.
New to Jim Mederer (Anaheim, CA) and raced in SCCA Regionals and Nationals at Phoenix, Orange County Raceway and Riverside in 1969. Mederer's six points at the Riverside National in September put him in a tie for sixth place in the Southern Pacific Division Formula B. That qualified Mederer for an invitation to the SCCA Runoffs, where he retired. He raced the car again in 1970. After he retired the car, he put it on the wall of his home, and it remained there until his death in December 2016. It was purchased from his estate by James Lovett (UK) in August 2017.
Driven by: Jim Mederer. First race: Phoenix International Raceway, 3 May 1969. Total of 5 recorded races.
Other Crosslé 14F references
As only two 14Fs were built, and both were retained by their original owners, any other 14F references are likely to be updated 12Fs. For example, Jim Bandy of Grandview, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City, drove a "14F" in the SCCA Continental Championship race at Mosport Park in September 1970. The official Mosport entry list calls it a "Crossle 14F/Lotus Ford", but this would have been Bill Johnson's Crosslé 12F.
According to a later advertisement for this car, it was "built in 1969 by Crossle in the Northern Ireland factory and subsequently raced in period by Crossle engineer Steve Patton". It was then "restored and raced in the early 90's by Bill Gowdy". From there it was sold to Tom Claridge (Fremont, CA) in 1996 and raced by him in US historic racing. Its next US owner was Patrick Donnelly (Wisconsin). It was then acquired by John Hutchinson in the UK, and raced by him in HSCC Classic Racing Cars Championship races, and by David and Sarah Hutchinson (Newmillerdam, Wakefield, West Yorkshire) in hillclimbs. At this stage it had a Craig Beck Lotus twin cam engine and Hewland Mk 9 gearbox.
This car uses the chassis number "C14F/69/42", which duplicates the number '42' used on one of the Formula A 15Fs. Ham Donaldson noted that it "differs from the other two as it has the oil tank in the back" as well as having modern style halfshafts from the gearbox to the uprights "rather than the Triumph-style halfshafts" of the original 14Fs. The car was advertised by Paul Matty Sports Cars (Bromsgrove, Worcestershire) in December 2020.
Acknowledgements
Ham Donaldson, owner of chassis 14F/68/38, has done a huge amount of work on these cars and my thanks to him for making available all his research. Thanks also to James Lovett, owner of the sister car.
If you can add to our understanding of these cars, or have photographs that we can use, please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com.
These histories were last updated on .