Sigma Series for Formula Atlantic Cars Race

Kyalami, 27 Jun 1981

Notes on the cars:

1. March 77B [722-11] (Trevor van Rooyen): New to Brett Lunger, and entered by Space Racing for him in F2 in 1972. Bob Sparshott's partner John 'Ace' Woodington was in charge of the F1 team, with ex-Surtees mechanic Roger Flynn. Lunger also raced the car in the Torneio do Brasil in October and November 1972. March records show that this car was sold to Guy Tunmer in December 1972, although press reports at the time said Tunmer had bought the ex-Ronnie Peterson car. Tunmer (Sandton, South Africa) had acquired the 722 for the new "F2" class of the South African national championship, and had it fitted with an 1800cc Cosworth FVC and raced it through 1973. The car was not seen in 1974, but is believed to have been kept as a spare to Tunmer's new Chevron. In 1975, it was sold to André Verwey (Johannesburg, South Africa) who planned to rebuild it with a BMW F2 engine and Hewland FG400 gearbox, but when Formula Atlantic was announced, he updated it with bright red 74B bodywork and a Nicholson BDA engine. Used in this form by Verwey in two races late 1975, and then into 1976. Sold back to the Tunmers in mid-1976 for Mervyn Tunmer to use, when it was reclothed in March 76B bodywork. Unused in 1977, but then sold to Andrew Thompson in 1978, converted to a Ford V6 engine for the new formula, and raced in that form by Bobby Scott in 1979. At this time it had mostly 77B bodywork but with a front radiator and 79B sidepods, and was sponsored by Rembrandt through its Kronenbräu 1308 Lager brand. After Rembrandt's withdrawal, it was sold to Mel Lahner's Rackrite team for 1980, and raced by Derek Ziman and John McNicol. It was rebuilt with a Mazda engine mid-season. Retained by Rackrite for 1981, when it was entered for McNicol, Ziman and Lahner, then raced by Bernard Tilanus for a few races before he left the team, then by his replacement Trevor van Rooyen, and finally McNicol took it over again. Both Tilanus and van Rooyen won races in it that season. It was retained again for 1982, when Lahner's son Wayne drove it, and by this time it was in standard March 77B bodywork, but with a 79B rear wing. It was retained by the Lahner family until 2004, when it was sold back to Andrew and Stuart Thompson.
2. March 77B [8] (Bernard Tilanus): New to Eddie Pinto and Team Gunston for Roy Klomfass to race in South African Formula Atlantic in 1977, using Swindon BDA engines. Retained by Team Gunston in 1978 for new driver Trevor van Rooyen. Retained again by Team Gunston for the 1978/79 season, when it was a spare car to Van Rooyen's new March 79B and was driven that season by Basil Van Rooyen at Kyalami in October 1978 (when Trevor was unwell), by Dave Charlton at Killarney later that month, and then by Trevor at two races. Later in 1979, it was raced twice by John Love. It was unused in 1980, then sold to Jeff Waberski after his DAW Supplies team's ex-Ian Scheckter March 78B was destroyed in a transporter fire. The 77B was fitted with a Mazda engine and raced by Bernard Tilanus for DAW Supplies from June 1981 onwards. It was raced by Dave Charlton for DAW around March/April 1982, then by Billy Maloney as a DAW entry later in 1982. Maloney crashed the car at some point, and acquired a March 782 to replace it in April 1983. The 77B was sold to Klaus Grogor's House of Sports Cars team for Grogor to drive in the 1983 season, and then retained by Grogor unused through 1984 and 1985. It was then sold to Gary Harrison who intended to convert it into a sports car for the 'Can-Am' series that absorbed Formula SA in 1986, but he only used in single seater form. The car was acquired by Dorino Treccani during the 1990s and sold to Andrew and Stuart Thompson in 2000.
3. March 802 [6] (Dave Charlton): New for Mike Thackwell to drive as part of the ICI March Racing Team in F2 in 1980. After Thackwell moved into F1 in August, the 802 was raced by Jo Gartner, Howdy Holmes and Michael Korten in the last three races of the season. Sold to Jeff Waberski's DAW team in South Africa for 1981, fitted with a Mazda engine and raced by Trevor van Rooyen in Formula SA in 1981. To Fred Goddard's Petromark for 1982, but in mid-season its rear end was used to build up the ex-Scheckter March 822 that Goddard had acquired. The rest of 802-6 was sold to Ken Critchfield, who rebuilt it using the rear end salvaged from his damaged March 802-7. Raced by Critchfield in 1984, and again in 1986. The car was then acquired by Gavin Hards and exported to the UK to John Brannigan in late 1986 or early 1987. Brannigan sold the car, still with its Mazda engine, to Richard Fuller, who used it in libre racing. In late 1989, it was bought from Fuller by Chris Drewett (Harbury, Warwickshire) and refitted with a BMW engine that came with it for hillclimbs. By this time the car had a March 812 nosecone and cockpit, and what Drewett recalled as "very dodgy sidepods". Raced by Roger Ealand in the Jochen Rindt Memorial Trophy historic F2 race at Thruxton in June 1993. Drewett traded the car for a TVR to Clive Greenhalgh (Birmingham) in 1993. The car was offered for sale by the Brooks auction house in June 1999. Subsequent history unknown.
4. Maurer MM80 ["02"] (Vernon Bricknell): Vernon Bricknell acquired a Maurer MM80 for the South African Sigma Series in 1981. The car was identified in at least five different entry lists in early 1981 as "Maurer MM80-02", indicating that it was chassis MM80-02, but the car is believed in South Africa to have been chassis MM80-04. Raced by Bricknell through the 1981 season, and raced again at some events in 1982. The car was then retained by Bricknell in his aircraft hanger until being sold in the mid 1990s to his friend Neil Watson-Smith in Durban, and then on to Gordon Capper. The car was restored by Duncan Thersby. The car was later acquired from Capper by Graham Vos (Johannesburg, Gauteng), and sold by him to Reg Anderson (Cape Town, Western Cape) at some point before 2006.
5. March 792 [79A-27] (Jan du Plessis): New to Team Lexington for Ian Scheckter to drive in South African Formula Atlantic in 1979. The new "wing car" was delivered in time for Scheckter to race it in the Highveld 100 at Kyalami on 27 January, and he won five of his first six races in the car. It was fitted with a Fiat engine for the start of Formula SA but this was quickly replaced with a Mazda rotary engine, and Scheckter won the last four races of the season. The 79A was sold to Bokomo Racing for Tommy Dunne in 1980. It was then sold to Pieter Fouché's Pretoria Brick team, where it was raced by Jan du Plessis in 1981 and by Roy Carr in 1982. In mid-1982, Fouché reorganised the team to focus on a Ralt RT4/82 for Wayne Taylor, and the 79A was sold to Roy Moss. He raced it for the remainder of 1982 and through 1983, during which time he fitted a March 802 rollhoop. It was then sold to Steve Herbst who converted it to flat-bottomed specification by removing the sidepods. He also fitted side-mounted radiators and a March 802 nose. He ran it in this form in 1984 and 1985. The tub and bodywork were later exported by Gavin Hards to John Brannigan, but by the time they arrived the chassis plate was no longer with them. John's stock book from the time shows that he sold it all to Richard Parkin as a kit, but as the car Richard received had no chassis plate but a 1980 nose and 1980 rollhoop, he advertised it as an 80A. He remembers getting no interest in it and believes he may have sold it through the trade, perhaps to Roger Hurst. Subsequent history unknown.
6. Haller Special 81 ['1'] (Peter Haller): Built for the 1981 season by Peter Haller, an engineer of German descent who worked at Herbert Krottenburger’s company Hekro. At the end of 1979, Hekro acquired a pair of Chevrons, Chevron B29 (29-75-15) from Sarel Pienaar and Chevron B34 (34-76-03) from Andrew Thompson, and Haller raced the B34 in 1980 while using components of the B29 to build a new car based on a new spaceframe chassis. The B29 corners were used on the new car. It first raced ay Kyalami in May 1981, and was raced by Haller for the rest of the season and the first part of 1982. Haller then moved back to the B34, then to the team's March 782 in the non-wing class. Haller returned to his self-built car for the 1984 season, running in the wing-car class, but crashed at Welkom in March and died from his injuries. The remaining Chevron B29 components and the original B29 tub were purchased from Haller's widow by Alan Macdonald and Mike Budd. The wrecked Haller spaceframe chassis was thrown away.
7. Maurer MM80 [03?] (Tony Martin): New for Eje Elgh to drive for the MM Mampe Racing Team in Formula 2 in 1980. After Markus Höttinger's death at Hockenheim, Elgh was the team's only driver at the next two races, but was then injured when testing a F2 Tiga F280 at Silverstone. His car was taken over by Patrick Gaillard at Pau in late May and at Silverstone two weeks later. He was then replaced by Beppe Gabbiani, who is believed to have driven MM80-03 for the remainder of the 1980 season. This car is likely to be the "ex-Gabbiani" car sold to Tony Martin in South Africa. Raced by Martin through the 1981 Sigma Series. Martin acquired a newer Maurer MM81 for 1982 and the MM80 was not seen in 1982 or early 1983. It was used by Clive Cooke in the latter part of the 1983 season, and then sold to Keith Horwood later in 1984 for Dermot Leslie to race in 1985, alongside Horwood racing his ex-DAW MM81. The MM80 was exported from South Africa to England at the end of 1986, and was one of the two MM80s acquired by Stuart Ridge in 1988. One of Ridge's cars, used in Historic F2 in 1993, was noted as 'MM80-03'.
8. March 76B [1] (Wayne Taylor): New to Ian Scheckter for South African Formula Atlantic in 1976. Sold to Len Booysen for the 1977 season, then loaned by Booysen to Dave Charlton to drive. During this time it was bought from Booysen by Ken Gillibrand, who then loaned to DAW for Bernard Tilanus to drive in April and May 1978. It was unused in 1979, and advertised by Gillibrand in August. Sold later in 1979 to Soon Weeks who fitted the 2-litre BMW engine from Dave Hart's March 77B and raced it in this form in early 1980. Then swapped with Bernard Tilanus and the DAW team for DAW's Wheatcroft R18, and fitted with a Mazda engine. Raced several times by Tilanus but he then left the team after a disagreement with Jeff Waberski and was replaced by Trevor van Rooyen, who raced the 76B for the rest of 1980. It was sold to Vernon Bricknell at the end of that season, and raced by him in early 1981 until his new Maurer MM80 arrived. The 76B was then sold yet again, this time to the Pretoria Brick team for Wayne Taylor to drive, until Hekro's March 802 was acquired for him. Pretoria Brick retained the 76B for 1982, when it was raced by Basil Mann, Kevin Heath and Roy Carr. It was sold to Alan Dunlop for 1983, and he raced it until 1985. It then passed to Neville Riddell and most of its components were used in a sports car built for Riddell by Lew Baker. All that was left was the tub, and this was sold to Fred Goddard who is believed to have stripped it to keep the bulkheads as spares. At this point the 76B no longer existed.
9. March 77B ['AT'] (Graham Duxbury): Built by Andrew Thompson in South Africa in 1978 using an unused monocoque that had been supplied as a spare for Ian Scheckter's March 77B/7. Thompson acquired the tub and all the other 77B spares from Ken Howes before 77B/7 was sold back to the UK. He built all these into a new car using the Hewland FT200 gearbox from the ex-Dave Charlton/Alex Blignaut March 76B/19. The resulting car was raced by Bobby Scott through the 1978/79 season, sponsored by Rembrandt through its Sportsman Lager and then Kronenbräu 1308 Lager brands. It was rented from Thompson by Graham Duxbury for a race in October 1979, still with its BDA engine, and then sold to Hagen Wulf and Ivor Raasch who fitted a Mazda engine for the 1980 season. It was also raced by Allan McDonald that season. It was then sold to Graham Duxbury who raced it very successfully in 1981. Retained for the first few races of 1982 until Duxbury's new March 82A arrived and then sold to Ivan Moavero who used it for the rest of that season. Sold to Steve Herbst for 1983, but in August he swapped it for Roy Moss's March 792. Raced by Moss until the end of 1984. He then sold it to Terry Moss, who was unrelated, for the 1985 season, but Moss crashed the car at Kyalami in April, destroying the front of the monocoque. Moss built up a March 782 using parts salvaged from the 77B, but the tub was scrapped. The 77B effectively ceased to exist at this point.
10. March 802 [7] (Ian Scheckter): New for Manfred Winkelhock to drive as part of the ICI March Racing Team in F2 in 1980. Sold to Hekro Engineering in South Africa for 1981, fitted with a Mazda engine and raced in Formula SA in early 1981 by Dave Hart. Tommy Dunn then took over the drive, but damaged the car in practice at Kyalami on 9 May. It was repaired but Dunne then also left the team. The 802 was next driven by Ian Scheckter at Kyalami in late June but he declined to start after practice. It was not seen again in 1981 until the final race, when it had been sold to Pretoria Brick Racing and was entered for Wayne Taylor. The car was run by Eddie Pinto in 1982 as a Pretoria Brick Racing entry for Taylor to drive. When the team's new Ralt RT4/82 arrived, the March was sold to Lew Baker in July 1982, and used by him for the rest of 1982 and in 1983. Sold to Ken Critchfield in May or June 1983 and raced by him for the remainder of that season. Believed to have been wrecked early in 1984. Critchfield bought the sister car 802/6 so he could continue racing, and the monocoque from 802/7 was thrown away.
11. March 722 (Dave Hart): Built up in March 74B specification by André Verwey (Johannesburg, South Africa) for Garry Ainscough (Bulawayo, Rhodesia) to race in the South African Formula Atlantic series in 1976. It has been suggested that it was built from a March 722, chassis 722/17, but evidence for this proving elusive, and it is possible that a tub number, such as AM72-17, has been misinterpreted. Ainscough raced the car again at the start of 1977, but it then disappeared again until 1980, when Alan Macdonald bought a March 722 from Tony Martin and updated it with a Mazda engine and wing-car sidepods for the Sigma Series. It was reported to be the "ex-Ainscough" March. Macdonald sold it to Dave Hart's Team Valvoline for 1981 after Hart lost his drive in the Hekro March 802. Kent Dyson bought it from Hart for the last race of the 1981 season and retained it for 1982, intending to update it to 77B specification. Ian Hebblethwaite then reports that it went to Keith Horwood for Michael Bryan in 1985, and then to Lew Baker who was the last to race it. In about 1988, it was sold via Brian Raubenheimer in South Africa to David McLaughlin in England. Its history after 1988 is still to be resolved.
12. Donnelly JD201 ['1'] (André du Plessis): The Donnelly JD201 was built for Formula Atlantic in South Africa by ex-Brabham engineer John Donnelly during 1977 when he was based in Durban, in conjunction with building the JD1 for Formula Ford. The Formula Atlantic car had a stainless steel monocoque with Modus suspension and wedge bodywork inspired by Formula Ford practice. It was first raced by Clive Cooke at Kyalami in February 1978 and proved competitive, with Cooke achieving three good finishes that season. The Donnelly was entered by Team Donnelly Racing for local driver Len Booysen to drive in early 1979, but any firm details of it actually racing are elusive. It was acquired by Piet Fouche's Pretoria Brick team, fitted with a Mazda engine for the new Formula South Africa, and entered for Formula Ford star André du Plessis towards the end of the 1980 season. Du Plessis then drove the car in 1981 alongside brother Jan du Plessis in the team's March 792. By May 1982 the Donnelly had been sold to Lew Baker, who entered it for Piet de Klerk to drive, then for himself, and then for Mike Bucknall. The Donnelly was then stripped so its Modus running gear could be used on a Tiga sports cars that had previously used Maurer MM83 running gear. The Tiga passed to Dorino Trocchani, and the Donnelly monocoque was thrown away by Baker in 1985.
13. Wheatcroft R18 [002] (Steve Herbst): New for Wheatcroft Racing in June 1975, replacing chassis 001 which had been destroyed by Brian Henton while testing at Oulton Park in late May. Raced by Richard Morgan in British Formula Atlantic in Donington Park Collection livery. In August the car was converted to F2 spec and driven by Henton at the Silverstone F2 race, finishing third. Henton then drove it in Formula Atlantic for the rest of the season. Sold to Alex Blignaut for Nols Nieman to drive in the 1976 South African Formula Atlantic series as a spare car to his new chassis 003. Retained for 1977 and 1978, but apparently not raced over these two seasons. Sold to Steve Herbst in 1979, and converted to a Mazda engine for Formula SA. In early 1980, Herbst was involved in a collision with Peter Morrison in the sister R18. Herbst's car's tub was repaired by Mike Domingo, and Herbst continued to race it until mid-1982. In August 1982, it was sold to Trevor Trautmann, again for Formula SA, and in 1983 he had a new monocoque fabricated in South Africa for the car, the original tub apparently being discarded. He did not complete the rebuild and later sold the car's gearbox, suspension and uprights to Dorino Trocchani for a Tiga sports racing car project. The new tub and bodywork were sold off, but quickly located by Roger Pearce and sold to John Hatfield (Pinetown, Kwazulu-Natal), who owned the sister R18-003. Hatfield built up a car on the new tub using parts from both 002 and 003, but using the 002 chassis plate. The resulting car was exported to the UK some time between 1987 and 1993, and in 1996 it was purchased from a dealer in Cheshire by Paul Gardener of Bolton. He noted that it still had the 002 chassis plate. In 2004, Simon Hadfield collected the Wheatcroft from Gardener and delivered it to Mondello for Martin Birrane. It remained in Birrane's collection until about 2016.
14. March 77B [11] (Brian Ferris): New for Rupert Keegan to race in the South African Formula Atlantic series in early 1977, run for him by the Doug Shierson team and entered as Team Uniewinkels. Then run by Martin Flint and Roger Taylor for John Gibb to race for the rest of 1977. Retained by Flint & Taylor's Team Uniewinkels for 1978, when it was driven by Roy Klomfass. Moved to Alex Blignaut's Team Texan for the start of the 1978/79 season, still with Klomfass driving, as a spare car to the team's new March 79B. The 77B was then sold to Dave Hart's Team Valvoline. Hart fitted it with a BMW engine for the new Formula South Africa in 1979, then converted to a Mazda engine for 1980. It was then sold to Brian Ferris, who raced it in 1981 and in early 1982 before his new Ralt RT4/82 arrived. The 77B may have been raced by Ferris's friend Klaus Grogor in the latter half of 1982. In January 1983, it was sold to Fred Goddard who ran it for several drivers as part of his Petromark team over the next two seasons, including Braam Smith, Roy Carr, Derek Irving and Danie Mulder. It was unused in 1985, then driven by Ivano Moavero in 1986. Then retained by Goddard who took it with him to the UK when he emigrated in 1989 to set up Fred Goddard Racing. After Fred's death in July 2007, the 77B passed to his son Earl Goddard, and he sold it to Nick Beer around 2013.

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.

The Formula South Africa race results from 1979 to 1986 have been compiled by Allen Brown and Ian Hebblethwaite using many official results sheets from Ian's archive, as well as race reports in Autosport and Motoring News until their reports stopped in 1979, and then in the Rand Daily Mail and other South African publications. Adri Bezuidenhout's 'Wheels' yearbook, which listed the surnames of the top six finishers at each race but gave no other details, has been useful for races at Aldo Scribante and Goldfields Raceway where it has proved more difficult to find information. Articles in Formula South Africa race programmes have also proved very useful. Please help us complete that collection of scans.

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

Entry list contributed by Ian Hebblethwaite. Rand Daily Mail 29 Jun 1981 p4.