Cape South Easter Trophy

Killarney, 6 Feb 1982

Notes on the cars:

1. Ralt RT4/81 [272] (Trevor van Rooyen): New to Rack Rite Racing for Trevor van Rooyen to race in the 1982 Formula South Africa series. When van Rooyen moved to the team's new Lant RR82 in May, the Ralt was retained as a spare car and was raced at least once by Andre du Plessis. It is thought to have been the "Lant" raced by du Plessis at Kyalami on 24 July 1982 and by Roy Klomfass at Kyalami on 4 Sep 1982, but this remains uncertain. Then raced as a Lant during 1983 and early 1984 until damaged in Wayne Lahner's accident with Peter Haller at Goldfields on 3 March 1984. The monocoque was thrown away at this point, and the gearbox and other salvaged parts used in a sports car project.
2. 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.
3. March 802 [7] (Wayne Taylor): 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.
4. March 76B [1] (Basil Mann): 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.
5. 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.
6. March 792 [79A-27] (Roy Carr): 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.
7. March 78B [782-2(B)] (Bernard Tilanus): After Paul Smith wrecked his ex-Toleman March 782-2 at Mallory Park in March 1979, he built up a new car using a tub fabricated by Mo Gomm. As the "782-2" plate remained on the original tub, and this was later repaired, this Gomm-built car is regarded here as a new car 'PS1'. The new 'PS1' was used by Smith in Formula Atlantic and F2 in 1979 and 1980. It was sold together with the remains of 782-2 to Bernard Tilanus "in the autumn of 1981" and shipped to South Africa. Tilanus converted 'PS1' to use Sigma Mazda engines and raced it in early 1982. It was sold in March or April 1982 to Hekro for Ian Scheckter to race, but he did not like the car, and it was taken over by his Hekro teammate Peter Haller. At some point in 1983, probably at Kyalami on 30 April 1983 where Haller retired, 'PS1' was damaged. It is believed that the unrepaired tub ended up with Keith Horwood. It passed via Ivan Glasby to a hotel owned by one of the Toleman brothers in the Eastern Transvaal, where it was hung on the wall of the bar. The tub was thrown away around 2005, when the hotel changed hands.
8. Maurer MM81 [02?] (Tony Martin): Ian Martin's BP-backed South Coast Motors team acquired a Maurer MM81 for the start of the 1982 Formula South Africa season, to be raced by Tony Martin. Martin won four races in the car and finished third in the championship. It was then sold to John Moni, who raced it through the 1983 Formula SA season with Duckhams sponsorship. The car is believed to have been sold to Switzerland in trade for the March 832 that Moni acquired for 1984. Subsequent history unknown, but this may be the car owned by Fritz Wagner and converted to sports car specification in 1989.
9. 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.
10. March 76B [19] (Ivano Moavero): Sold to Dave Charlton in July 1976 for to drive for the Scribante team in South African Formula Atlantic, sponsored by United Tobacco through its Lucky Strike brand. The March replaced Charlton's existing Modus M3, debuting at the Rand Winter Trophy in August 1976 Charlton raced the March again in 1977, and at the start of 1978, at which point Lucky Strike withdrew Charlton's sponsorship, moving it to Tony Martin. The March 76B reverted to Alex Blignaut, who retained United Tobacco sponsorship through the Benson & Hedges brand. The 76B was kept as a spare car to the March 77B he ran for Nols Neiman until the end of the short 1978 season, when the engine and gearbox were sold to Andrew Thompson. The 76B was retained by Blignaut's team in 1979 but not used that season. It was then sold to the Domingo brothers (who also owned a bitza 76B built using a spare 76B monocoque) and fitted with a Mazda engine for Roy Klomfass to race in Formula South Africa in 1980. After Klomfass turned down the drive, Domingo drove it instead. The car was driven Dave Charlton at Kyalami in August 1980 as Domingo was observing Ramadan, but failed to start after being injured in practice for the saloon car race. Domingo continued to drive the car until early 1981, when it was sold to Ivano Moavero and raced by him in 1981 and part of 1982. Then in mid-1982, Moavero bought the highly-developed ex-Duxbury 77B, and sold the 76B to Michele ('Mike') Peters who raced it through to July 1985. Peters sold the car to Terry Moss, to replace the 77B that Moss had wrecked. However, instead of racing the 76B, Moss stripped the car and used its components to build up a March 782. The 76B tub was put aside until 2010, when it was acquired from a friend of Moss by Bernard Tilanus. The tub number showed that it was the original monocoque from 76B/19, so it was reunited with its original chassis plate (which had been kept by Brian Raubenheimer) and fully rebuilt. It was later sold by Tilanus to the Scribante family. In early 2022, the Scribante family sold the 76B and their March 782 to Mark Charteris in the UK. He kept the 782 but sold the 76B to Paul Nightingale in Derbyshire.
11. 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.
12. 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'.
13. 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.
14. Chevron B34 [34-76-03] (Freddie Sprenzer): A works-backed Formula Atlantic development car entered for Bill Brack in STP livery in the opening two rounds of the 1976 South African Formula Atlantic championship. Then to Guy Tunmer (Sandton) who ran it for the rest of the 1976 season, entered by Paradise Beach/National Radio. Tunmer did not continue in Formula Atlantic in 1977, and in 1978 Andrew Thompson recalls buying a Chevron B34 from the Tunmers on behalf of Rembrandt. Entered by Thompson for Abel d'Oliveira for a couple of races in early 1979. Then to Peter Haller, who fitted a 3-litre Ford Essex V6 for the new Formula South Africa but the car did not race in this form. It was fitted with a Mazda engine for 1980, and Haller drove it that season and in early 1981 before his Haller Special was ready. This was presumably the B34 entered by Haller's sponsor Hekro Engineering for Roy Moss at Kyalami in August 1981. Entered for Haller's mechanic Freddie Sprenzer at Killarney in early 1982, then raced by Haller from late 1982 to early 1984. After Haller died in a racing accident, the B34 was bought from his widow Hettie by Michael Rudolph, who raced it in 1985 and 1986. The car is reported to have later gone to Alan Macdonald, and then found its way to Michael Budd. Some time before 2012, Budd sold the project to Michael Hillary, and then started a restoration for Hillary. Unfortunately, Budd died before completing the project, but his son Ryan Budd has continued the project for Hillary.
15. March 77B [18] (TBA): New to Alex Blignaut for Nols Nieman to race in the South African Formula Atlantic series in early 1977, with Benson & Hedges sponsorship. Retained by Blignaut's Benson & Hedges team for Nieman again in 1978. Raced for Blignaut by Derek Bell in November 1978, then by Sarel van der Merwe in May 1979, after which it was given by Blignaut to Tony Martin's South Coast Motors team as a spare car. It was entered for Billy Scheepers in January, then rented to Roy Moss for the Goldfields race in February. Bernard Tilanus then borrowed it for the Killarney race in March after his DAW March 78B had been destroyed in a transporter fire. In July 1980, it was sold to Jeff Waberski's DAW Supplies team for Wayne Taylor to drive. Then in October 1980, it was sold on to Mel Lahner's Rackrite Racing. Taylor moved with the car, and raced it at Kyalami on 4 October and then in the first few months of the 1981 season. It was then taken over by Trevor van Rooyen who found the weight penalty on his ground-effect March 802 was too great. He raced the 77B for the rest of the 1981 season. It was retained for 1982, when Rackrite ran the car for Andre du Plessis and Mike Domingo. It was retained again for 1983, when driven by Gavin Lahner and Kevin Heath. It was not used again after that, but was retained by Mel Lahner until sold to Andrew Thompson in 1984. It was later restored for Ian Schofield.

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

Rand Daily Mail 16 Feb 1982 p8. The points system at the first two races was that each heat scored 9-6-4-3-2-1 individually. At Welkom, the single race will score 18-12-8-6-4-2.