Grande Prémio do Estoril

Estoril, 9 Mar 1975

All cars are 2-litre F2 unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. March 742L [743-5] (Jo Vonlanthen): Invoiced to Obermoser, but instead of being used in Formula 3, this car was rebuilt to Formula 2 specification for Jo Vonlanthen (Frauenfeld, Switzerland) after he wrecked his new 742 at the opening race of the F2 season. It remained in standard 742 short-nose specification, even after Vonlanthen's 742 was repaired and converted to long-nose specification. The 743 was raced by Vonlanthen at Hockenheim in April, by Dieter Basche at Hockenheim in June, by Vonlanthen at Mugello in July, by Jean-Pierre Jaussaud at Nogaro in September. It may also have been the car used by Vonlanthen in Swiss and German domestic events during 1974. It was converted to long-nosed specification over the close-season, and was raced by Vonlanthen at Estoril, the opening round of the 1975 season. The car then went to Hans Walther (Guntalingen, Switzerland) and was raced by him in Swiss national events during 1975. Walther retained the car for 1976, again using it in Swiss events but failing to qualify for three of his four F2 races. Subsequent history unknown but according to Wisu Willimann, it later went to Edmond Veigel (Lausanne, Switzerland) who fitted a Cosworth FVC engine. At the end of the 1990s it was bought from Veigel by Hans-Markus Huber (Berne, Switzerland) and restored with a BMW engine. It was sold by Huber to another owner but finances for a restoration ran out and the car has been in limbo since then.
2. March 752 [3] (Lamberto Leoni): Entered by Giancarlo Minardi's Scuderia del Passatore for Lamberto Leoni in F2 in 1975. Also for Diulio Truffo at one late-season race. Retained by Minardi as a spare car for his Scuderia Everest in 1976 and raced by Gianfranco Brancatelli at Mugello in July. Unknown after 1976.
3. Osella FA2/75 [001] (Giorgio Francia): New for Arturo Merzario to race for Osella Squadra Corse at Vallelunga in October 1974. Rebuilt to 1975 specification and raced by Giorgio Francia in the early part of the season, then by Diulio Truffo, and then my Merzario for the last three races. Rebuilt to 1976 specification and raced by Gianfranco Trombetti at the start of that season. Subsequent history unknown.
4. March 742L [21] (Diulio Truffo): New to the CSAI's Equipe Nationale, then managed by Eugenio Dragoni, for Diulio Truffo to drive in F2 in 1974. After Dragoni's sudden death in April 1974, the team was managed by Ottorino Maffezzoli, the Monza circuit director. Run by Osella Squadra Corse for Truffo until his new Osella was ready, then to Gianfranco Trombetti for the rest of the 1975 season.
5. March 752 [15] (Giancarlo Martini): New to Masami Kuwashima for Formula 2 in 1975, prepared by Roy Kennedy's team in London, and entered by Masami Kuwashima Racing. After just two races, Kuwashima returned to Japan, and the 752 was sold to Tom Walkinshaw.who had it converted by Kennedy to F5000 specification, with the installation of a 3.4-litre Ford V6 engine. Raced by Walkinshaw in the 1975 Shellsport F5000 Championship. To Val Musetti, and raced in Shellsport G8 in 1976 and 1977. Converted to F1 specification for 1978, with a Cosworth DFV engine, and referred to as a 761 that season. Wrecked at Mallory Park in August but rebuilt again for 1979, when it was described as a 771, but wrecked at Zolder at the start of the Aurora season and finally written off.
6. March 742L [15] (Alberto Colombo): Sold to Trivellato Racing Team and raced by Gabrielle Serblin in F2 in 1974. Retained by Trivellato as a spare car for 1975 and raced by Alberto Colombo, Francesco Cerulli-Irelli, Serblin and "Gimax" (Carlo Franchi). Raced by Gimax at a few Italian F2 races in 1976 and 1977 then to Richard Jones and Robin Smith for the Aurora AFX series in mid-1978, using the Cosworth BDG (or BDA) engine from the pair's Chevron B31 sports car that had been wrecked at Le Mans. Also raced by fellow sports car racer Tony Charnell at the end of 1978. The car is then unknown for two years, until an "Atlantic March" 742 with 772 bodywork was advertised by Ralph Halley, an Opel dealer in Milngavie, a suburb of Glasgow. It was bought from Halley by Jim McGaughey (Lochgilphead, Argyll and Bute, Scotland) and rebuilt as a Renault 5GT special saloon for 1981, using bodywork modelled on the new Renault 5 Turbo by Graham Kelly, a 1930cc Cosworth FVC acquired from Jimmy Jack, and a Hewland FT200 gearbox. It debuted in this form at Ingliston in April 1981, and won McGaughey the 1981 Scottish GT Championship. He then fitted an ex-F2 BMW M12 engine acquired from hillclimber Barrogill Angus, and raced it again in 1982 and 1983. When the special saloon's career ended, it was acquired by the Higgins Brothers of Lincolnshire, and was bought from them by Ian Jones in 1990, by which time it was in a very sorry state. Jones reskinned the monocoque using the original bulkheads, fabricated new suspension parts, and fitted late-1974 (long-nose) F2 bodywork. Jones sold it to Richard Evans in 2010, and by 2012 it was completed with a Gathercole BDG in Stebel livery and was raced in the Derek Bell Trophy races at the HSCC Superprix at Brands Hatch. Shared by Evans and Andrew Smith in Historic F2 from 2013 onwards.
7. Elf (Jabouille) 2J [7501] (Jean-Pierre Jabouille): New for the Elf Switzerland team in 1975, based on the Alpine A367 chassis 3671. The car was completed in time for 50 km of testing at Dijon before the first race of the 1975 F2 season at Estoril on 9 March. Jean-Pierre Jabouille placed it fourth on the grid at that race, but struggled in the wet race conditons and finished eighth. He qualified scond at Hockenheim in April, then won the non-championship race at Magny Cours in May. He was second on the grid again at Pau, Hockenheim again in June and Salzburgring, winning the latter race. He took the 2J's first pole position at Rouen-les-Essarts two weeks later. The second 2J was then completed, so this car was handed over to Gérard Larrousse, who finished a fine second at Silverstone but retired with engine problems at Zolder and Nogaro. This car was consumed in the creation of new cars with Renault V6 engines for 1976. Whether chassis 7502 became the new chassis 7602 remains unresolved.
8. March 752 [10] (Hans Binder): Sold to Jorg Obermoser and run by Obermoser's Team Warsteiner Eurorace for Hans Binder in European F2, and later for Alain Peltier and Ewald Boisitz. To Alois Muller for 1976, still with its B Schnitzer BMW engine and used in the European F2 race at Salzburgring in May 1976, where it was entered by BMW Dienst Rischer Wien, and in Austrian national events. Unknown after 1976.
9. March 742 [24] (Jorg Siegrist): New to Jacques Laffite (Paris) using BP France money and prepared by Tico Martini for F2 in 1974. Extensively modified by Martini during the season. To Jorg Siegrist (Lucerne, Switzerland) for 1975 and entered for him in F2 events by Schweizer Auto Rennsport. It was then sold to Bernhard Wissler (Ebringen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany) in mid-1975 and raced by him at the Preis Der Nationen at Hockenheim at the end of August and at Ulm-Mengen two weeks later. He also raced it in the F2 race at Hockenheim in April 1976, when it still had its Martini nose from 1974. One distinct possibility is that this car was acquired by French Martini enthusiast Jacques Terrien (France) who had raced an ex-F3 MK12 in 1974-75 and would run a pukka F2 MK19 in 1977 but had a March 742-Ford for the latter half of 1976. Terrien's car went to Jean-Pierre Perrin (Beaucourt, northeastern France) for 1977. Subsequent history unknown but the remains of a car believed to be the ex-Laffite car were bought from French dealer Christian Hollinger (Lyon, Rhône-Alpes, France) via Gérard Billaud (Toulouse, France) in the late 1990s by Philippe Demeyer (Liège, Belgium). Demeyer sold these parts to Matt Slinn (UK) and they form the basis of the car later raced in historics by Martin Stretton.
10. March 742L [27] (Loris Kessel): New to Jean-Claude Favre (Switzerland) and raced in European F2 rounds but rarely qualified. Sold mid-season to Loris Kessel (Lugano, Switzerland) and entered for him by Jo Vonlanthen Racing Team at Vallelunga at the end of the year. Retained for 1975 and impressively quick, finishing fourth at Hockenheim in April and then qualifying second at the Nürburgring. It was crashed at that race and rebuilt on the monocoque from the ex-Hans Stuck 742/17. Prior to the Mugello race in July, Kessel heavily modified the March, including a wide nose, front radiator and modified rollhoop shroud. He crashed during practice and although the tub was undamaged, the modifications meant it could not be repaired. That evening, he bought Markus Hotz' March 752, and used that for the rest of the season. The 742's unique rollhoop shroud, together with references to it being "ex-Stuck", identify this as the car sold to Romain Feitler (Luxembourg) and used in hillclimbs in Luxembourg, France and Germany during 1976. A photograph shows that it was back in normal long nose specification and appeared to have a Schnitzer BMW engine. Sold to Helmut Kalenborn (Euskirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) and used in hillclimbs across Europe in 1977 and 1978. It was described by Autosprint at Ecce Homo in 1978 as "ex-Stuck". The same unusual rollhoop shroud identified this as the Schnitzer-engined 742 acquired by Henri Nussbaum (Luxembourg) and used in hillclimbs in 1979 and 1980. Subsequent history unknown.
11. Chevron B29 [29-75-03] (Héctor Rebaque): New to Fred Opert Racing as a Formula 2 car for Hector Rebaque. Raced by Rebaque in the first five races of the season and then hired to Maxime Bochet for Pau in May. The car was next seen in September when it was raced by Rebaque at Zolder and Nogaro, and it was very probably the car then driven by Tom Bagley at Vallelunga in October. It was then converted to Formula Atlantic specification and sold to Carl Liebich (Plymouth, WI) and used in the IMSA and Players Formula Atlantic series. In August, Liebich acquired a new Lola T460, and the Chevron was advertised by Lola importer Carl Haas in November 1976. The history of the Chevron is then unknown until it was advertised by David Klutsenbaker (Nashville, TN) in February 1984. Klutsenbaker had owned a 1972 Brabham BT38B until January 1983, so it likely that he had only had the Chevron for one season. The B29 was bought by Ted Voruz (Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin) in 1990. It was bought from Voruz by Howard Blight (Sydney, NSW) in late 2005, and raced in a few events in 2008. Then to David Kent, and raced by him from 2013 to 2016.

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.

Individual sources for this event

Motoring News (13 Mar 1975 pp10-11) gives chassis numbers for all 16 cars at the Estoril circuit. Most numbers agree with other sources but three worthy of mention are the March 742 of Jorg Siegrist, "the 29-year-old Renault dealer from Lucerne", which was identified as "the Martini-modified March 742 raced last season by Laffite" but given as 742/24, not 742/19 as March records state; Jo Vonlanthen's 742, said to be "his 742 March from last year" but given as 742/5, a car that March records say went to Japan; and Loris Kessel who was "back in the March 742 he drove at Vallelunga" and "managed by Jean-Claude Favre, the man who raced the car in several F2 races last year". This latter car is given as 742-27 which appears in March records as having been ordered by Silvio Moser. It is interesting that all three of these are Swiss drivers and the famously strict Swiss customs may have some bearing on this situation. Reasons for retirement are also taken from MN; entry numbers are from photographs in MN.