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BP British Formula 3 Championship Race

Thruxton, 29 Oct 1978

ResultsLapsTime/Speed
1 Chico Serra March 783 [14] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#13 Sadia Racing with Project Four
(see note 1)
15 19m 19.3s
109.74 mph
2 Tiff Needell March 783 [12] - Triumph Dolomite Swindon 4
#40 Unipart Racing Team
15 19m 19.6s
3 Derek Warwick Ralt RT1/77 [86] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#1 Warwick Trailers
15 19m 20.2s
4 John Bright March 773 [13] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#51 Twinsocks by McRitchie of Edinburgh
(see note 2)
15 19m 31.5s
5 Huub Rothengatter Chevron B38 [38.77.19] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#19 Docking Racing (see note 3)
15 19m 32.3s
6 Philippe Colonna Chevron B38 [38.77.24] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#32 Docking Racing (see note 4)
15 19m 33.9s
7 Barry Green Chevron B43 [43.78.07A] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#30 Valvoline Fred Opert Racing
15 19m 40.5s
8 Derek Lawrence Chevron B38 [38.77.10] - Chevrolet Vega
#28
15 19m 53.7s
9 Osamu Hatagawa March 783 [21] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#37 March Racing (see note 5)
15 20m 05.9s
10 Wyatt Stanley March 753 [14] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#46 Security Trust (see note 6)
15 20m 07.1s
11 Rob Moores Chevron B38 [38.77.07] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#27 (see note 7)
15 20m 38.5s
R Fernando Jorge Ralt RT1/77 [82] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#17
10 Collision with Serra
R Thorkild Thyrring Ralt RT1/78 [123] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#47 Marlboro
0 Hit by Needell
R Andrea de Cesaris Ralt RT1/76 [16] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#4 Marlboro Team Tiga
0 Hit by Riley
R Rob Wilson Ralt RT1/78 [98] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#31 ICL/Royal Grafton China
0 Hit by de Cesaris
R Brett Riley March 783 [11] - Triumph Dolomite Swindon 4
#39 Unipart Racing Team
0 Collision with de Cesaris
DNS Ian Flux March 773 [U2] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#14 Cloud Engineering (see note 8)
Did not start
(Bent Valve)
DNQ Paul Morton Hawke DL14 - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#55
Did not qualify
DNA Jacques Coulon Martini MK21 [01] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#2 Automobiles Martini
Did not arrive
DNA Fermin Veléz Ralt RT1/77 [58] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#7 Equipo Nacional Español
Did not arrive
DNA John Stokes Chevron B38 [38.77.25] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#23 (see note 9)
Did not arrive
DNA Daniel Herregods March 783 [5] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#34 Racing for Belgium (see note 10)
Did not arrive
DNA Jorge Caton Ralt RT1/77 [57] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#8 Equipo Nacional Espanol
Did not arrive
DNA TBA March 773 [10] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#43 Roy Kennedy Racing (see note 11)
Did not arrive

All cars are 2-litre F3 unless noted.

Qualifying
1 Chico Serra (F3) 2-litre March 783 [14] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.15.5
2 Derek Warwick (F3) 2-litre Ralt RT1/77 [86] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.15.6
3 Fernando Jorge (F3) 2-litre Ralt RT1/77 [82] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.15.7
4 Thorkild Thyrring (F3) 2-litre Ralt RT1/78 [123] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.15.7
5 Huub Rothengatter (F3) 2-litre Chevron B38 [38.77.19] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.15.9
6 Tiff Needell (F3) 2-litre March 783 [12] - Triumph Dolomite Swindon 4 1.16.1
7 Andrea de Cesaris (F3) 2-litre Ralt RT1/76 [16] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.16.1
8 Rob Wilson (F3) 2-litre Ralt RT1/78 [98] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.16.4
9 Philippe Colonna (F3) 2-litre Chevron B38 [38.77.24] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.16.7
10 Brett Riley (F3) 2-litre March 783 [11] - Triumph Dolomite Swindon 4 1.16.8
11 John Bright (F3) 2-litre March 773 [13] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.16.8
12 Barry Green (F3) 2-litre Chevron B43 [43.78.07A] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.17.0
13 Osamu Hatagawa (F3) 2-litre March 783 [21] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.17.5
14 Derek Lawrence (F3) 2-litre Chevron B38 [38.77.10] - Chevrolet Vega 1.18.4
15 Ian Flux * (F3) 2-litre March 773 [U2] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.18.5
16 Rob Moores (F3) 2-litre Chevron B38 [38.77.07] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.21.7
17 Wyatt Stanley (F3) 2-litre March 753 [14] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.25.7
18 Paul Morton * (F3) 2-litre Hawke DL14 - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.32.8
 
* Did not start

Notes on the cars:

  1. March 783 [14] (Chico Serra): Shown in March records for 1978 as delivered to Rushen Green Racing 14 April 1978, colour red, with tub 78M71. This is presumably the car used by Serra at Donington 30 April 1978, where Motoring News describes it as a new and unsorted chassis being readied for Monaco, and at Silverstone the following day where the Autosport report also describes it as new and used the day before at Donington. Sold to Fermin Velez for 1979, run by Brian Lewis Racing, with the chassis number observed by F1R at Snetterton in August 1979.
  2. March 773 [13] (John Bright): Shown in March records as a works car finished February 1977, on tub AM773-28 for Ayron Cornelson Filho. Also used by David Kennedy in 1977. Sold to John Bright in March 1978 to cover for his damaged Wheatcroft. Damaged badly by Bright and rebuilt on new tub in August. Retained by Bright in 1979 until wrecked at Snetterton.
  3. Chevron B38 [38.77.19] (Huub Rothengatter): New to Alan Docking Racing for Ian Grob to race in British F3 in 1977, entered by KVG Racing. Retained by the Docking team for 1978, and probably the car driven by Huub Rothengatter in the last few months of the season. Unknown after 1979 until it reappeared with Jim Yardley in 1984. Later with David Proctor in 1987.
  4. Chevron B38 [38.77.24] (Philippe Colonna): New to Alan Docking Racing for Philippe Colonna to race in British F3 in 1977. Retained by the Docking team for 1978, and raced by Philip Bullman and by Colonna in British F3. Unknown in 1979 but purchased by Eddie Heasell in early 1980 for British F3 and libre. Retained for libre in 1981.
  5. March 783 [21] (Osamu Hatagawa): Shown in March records for 1978 as completed as a team car, 17 March 1978, with tub 78M43. This was the only works car built in 1978 and is the car debuted by Nigel Mansell at Silverstone, 19 March 1978, when race reports describe it as brand new. Used by Mansell in the early part of the season then by Snobeck, van Rooyen, Bullman and Hatagawa.
  6. March 753 [14] (Wyatt Stanley): Originally a car belonging to the B&O team in 1975, when used by Pierre Dieudonné. Chassis number for this car and its sister, driven by Hervé Regout, observed by AF at Oulton Park 4 October 1975. Sold to Ken Silverstone for the 1976 season [Autosport 2 Sep 1976 p33 says his car is ‘ex Dieudonné.) To Wyatt Stanley in mid 1977 and retained by him for the 1978 season.
  7. Chevron B38 [38.77.07] (Rob Moores): New to Derek McMahon for Derek Daly to drive in British F3 in 1977. It was rebuilt a number of times that season, including at least one new tub. Also raced once by Eddie Jordan when Daly was away at a F2 race. According to Motoring News, it was the car driven by Steve Malins for British F3 in 1978, but Autosport said his car was "ex Warwick/Dougall". Malins crashed his B38 in testing, and replaced it with a new B43. The B38 was later rebuilt and raced in libre and F3 by Rob Moores (Bolton) at the end of the 1978 season. Retained in F3 form and later Formula 4 spec by Moores and also used in Formule Libre in 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1982. In 1985, Moores drove the car in the Bangalore and Madras Grands Prix. It was put back to F3 spec for the Toyota F3 championship, where Moores won five titles with it. He then moved to historic racing with it in 2009.
  8. March 773 [U2] (Ian Flux): March works records show this as James King's works car for 1977 built on a lightweight tub AM773-41 with parts from 763-U2. This would be the "ex-King" car sold to Ian Flux early in 1978, and raced by him in the 1978 British F3 series.
  9. Chevron B38 [38.77.25] (John Stokes): New to John Stokes (Birmingham) and raced in British F3 in 1977, sponsored by Bogarts of Birmingham. Retained for 1978 and rented by Philippe Colonna for the Zolder F3 in Zolder after Colonna had wrecked his ex-Stephen South March at Zeltweg. Then raced again by Stokes until the end of August.
  10. March 783 [5] (Daniel Herregods): Shown in March records for 1978 as delivered to Daniel Herregods, 19 January 1978, colour yellow with tub 78M25. To Rob Wilson in 1979 to replace his tiring Ralt RT1 and updated to 1979 specification. Autosport notes ‘ex Herregods’ and chassis number noted by F1R at Snetterton in August 1979. Sold to Gerry Amato for 1980 season, Autosport notes his car as ‘ex Wilson 1979’. Retained by Amato until 1982 then sold to Greg and Tim Atkinson.
  11. March 773 [10] (TBA): According to March records delivered in March 1977 to AFMP Euroracing, and subsequently given to Brett Riley in lieu of his contractual payments when the Euroracing set-up was dissolved. (This does not mean the car was Riley’s early season car in 1977; he used at least two before the team collapsed, neither of which were necessarily this car.) Run by David Price for Riley in the second half of 1977 and used to win the European round at Donington. Chassis number given in Autosport advert late in 1977 by Price. Sold to Roy Kennedy [Motoring News 2 Mar 1978 p15] although Autosport 9 Mar 1978 p41 says the car is ‘ex James King’. (King used a works car - 773-U2 - for most of 1977 but it is possible he had a race in this car early in the season, however his principal car went in 1978 to Ian Flux.) Run by Kennedy for Saed Ali Hodzic until Hodzic was injured in practice at the International Trophy support race; then became a rental car but did very few races. For sale by Kennedy in early 1979, Autosport 22 Feb 1979 p57, but retained and rented to Serge Saulnier for the 1979 race at Monaco.

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 British Formula 3 results have been compiled by Chris Townsend using the main British magazines Autosport and Motoring News but also the US magazine On Track which carried surprisingly good coverage of the British series.

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.