S.A. Drivers Championship Race

Killarney, 25 Feb 1984

Notes on the cars:

1. March 832 (Ian Scheckter): New to Ken Howes' Team Gunston for Ian Scheckter to drive in the South African Sigma series in 1983. It arrived as a monocoque and front suspension and was completed using the rear end of a March 822. Raced by Scheckter for the rest of the 1983 season, easily winning the championship. Retained by Scheckter and Howes for 1984, again winning the title. Scheckter then left the Sigma series again, and Howes acquired a newer March 842 for new driver John Moni to drive in 1985. The March 832 was sold by Team Gunston to Michele Peter, who raced the car in 1985. It was then exported by Gavin Hards to Marcus Hotz in Switzerland. By 2004, it had been acquired by Felix Haas, when it still had its Mazda engine and was still in the red #7 livery used by Peter during 1985. A few years later, the car was sold to Jakob Eckhart (Switzerland) who fitted a turbo Mazda engine. Some time after that, it was sold to Lance Robinson (Henley-On-Thames, Oxfordshire), who restored it and has tested it since, but not raced it.
2. Ralt RT4/82 [330-2] (Bernard Tilanus): New to Pete Fouché's Pretoria Brick Racing in mid-1982 for Wayne Taylor to race in the Formula South Africa series. Severely damaged in practice at Kyalami in early September when Taylor went off on oil. Rebuilt on a new monocoque for Taylor for 1983. In August 1983, Taylor "parted company" with Pretoria Brick and moved to Brian Ferris's team. He continued the drive the same Ralt for the rest of the season, renting it from Pretoria Brick, but now painted blue. The car was hired to Bernard Tilanus for 1984, and run for him by Fred Goddard with sponsorship from Camec Cranes. He retained the Ralt for 1985, again run by Goddard and with sponsorship from Duckhams and Camec, although the car was entered as a Lant RR84 at two races early that season. In 1986, the car was hired by Wayne Taylor, who had sponsorship from BP and Whoosh, and started the season very well, winning the first three races. The car was then written off in a testing accident, and Taylor rented RT4-325 to replace it. Taylor returned the remains of 330 to Pretoria Brick. The Ralt tub was so badly damaged that it was thrown away and an unused Lant tub then sat with the parts as a potential future project. This stayed with Piet & George Fouché until around 2005 when the complete rear end of '330 was sold to Fanie Brand (Cape Town) who intended to use it to upgrade a Tiga Sports 2000. This package included the Hewland FT200 which was verified as the original fitted to 330, together with Ralt rear uprights, brakes and other parts. The remaining front end parts were thrown away, and the unused Lant tub ended up hung on the wall of a garage.
3. Maurer MM83 (Graham Duxbury): Tony Martin raced a Maurer MM83 for Ian Martin Racing (South Coast Motors) in 1984. This car has been described as his MM82 updated, but it had the distinctive pullrod front suspension of an MM83, not the rocker-arm suspension of an MM82. Martin's primary focus in 1984 was racing in IMSA, so the Maurer was raced by Graham Duxbury and Ben Morgenrood when Martin was unavailable. The car went to Brian Ferris for 1985, who also entered it as an MM83. Subsequent history unknown but it is said to have been exported to the UK.
4. Ralt RT4/83 [426] (Braam Smith): New to Pretoria Brick Racing and fitted with a Mazda engine for George Fouche to drive in the 1983 Formula South Africa series. For 1984, it was rented to Braam Smith, and run for him by Fred Goddard, although entered by Pretoria Brick. It was entered again for Braam Smith at the opening round of the 1985 season, but does not appear in any results for that season. It was rented by Michael Bryan for 1986, with sponsorship from Whoosh Pool Cleaners, but the sponsorship fell away quite quickly, and Bryan returned the Ralt to Pretoria Brick. It was then retained by George Fouche for many years, but was not used again. In 2005, Fouche sold it to Jimmy Price, and in 2011 it passed to Barry Scott, who raced it in South African historic events. In 2017, it was bought by Peter Kernick.
5. Maurer MM81 [01?] (Matt Keyser): Jeff Waberski's DAW Supplies team acquired a Maurer MM81 partway through the 1982 Formula South Africa season for Bernard Tilanus to drive, replacing his March 782. DAW acquired a newer Maurer for 1983, and the MM81 was raced by Trevor van Rooyen in the early part of the season. In early March 1983, DAW dropped Tilanus from the team and van Rooyen became No 1 driver, taking over Tilanus's newer Maurer. The MM81 was then sold to Roley Noffke of Roray Racing for Matt Keyser to drive for the rest of 1983. Keyser raced it again for the first few months of 1984 until he moved to the Rack Rite team. The Maurer was sold to Keith Horwood later in 1984, and retained by him for the 1985 and 1986 seasons. The car was then exported, and is understood to have gone to the UK. Other sources report that it went to Germany.
6. Lant-Ralt RT4 (Ivano Moavero): Ivano Moavero bought a new Lant monocoque for the 1983 season and it was built up for him by Eddie Pinto using Ralt components, new RT4-size Marston bag tanks and a new Hewland FT200. The resulting car was usually entered as a Ralt, and although it was entered for a number of events in 1983, it did not race that season. It was finally raced by Moavero during the 1984 season, when he was sponsored by Niall's Car Radio. Later that season, Moavero acquired the ex-Graham Duxbury March 832, and the Lant was then driven by Niall Bernic. Moavero raced the Lant again in the 1985 season. The car went to Bill Dunlop in 1986, when it was raced by Allan Dunlop. Dunlop then swapped it for Trevor Trautmann's Chevron B29. Trautmann considered using it to build a 'Can-Am' sports car, but the project did not proceed. It was subsequently sold to Vicky Chandhok in India, who raced it at Madras in 1989. It was next seen with John Payne in the UK, who raced it in Sprints between 1994 and 1996. It was then sold to Cyril Orme-Lynch in Ireland, and by 2005 was owned by Peter and Simon McKinley in Ireland. Peter noted that the car carried the chassis number "RR 8302", but other Lants do not carry a number in the same position. Simon McKinley ran the car in hillclimbs in 2013 and 2014, using a 2.4-litre Millington engine with Warrior head. In April 2015, he crashed the Lant during the Clare Motor Club Hillclimb and was killed.
7. March 77B ['AT'] (Roy Moss): 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.
8. March 77B [11] (John Amm): 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.
9. Lant RR83 [Ralt RT4 272?] (Wayne Lahner): 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.
10. Maurer MM83 [05?] (Trevor van Rooyen): DAW Supplies acquired a second Maurer MM83 for the 1984 season. This car was reported to have been significantly strengthened, compared with the pre-season version that DAW had acquired a year earlier. DAW chief mechanic Brian Kruger recalls that it was the ex-Kenny Acheson car. It was raced by Trevor van Rooyen through the 1984 season. At the end of 1985, both of DAW's MM83s are reported to have been sold to Walter Brun in Switzerland.
11. March 832 (John Moni): John Moni bought a March 832 from an Italian F2 team and fitted a Mazda engine for the 1984 Formula South Africa series. He raced the car in 1984 with Duckhams Oil sponsorship. At the end of that season, Moni joined Team Gunston and exported the 832 to Switzerland, acquiring a newer March 842 for the 1985 season. The subsequent history of the 832 after it reached Switzerland is unknown.
12. March 832 [15] (Klaus Grogor): New to James Gresham Racing for Enrique Mansilla to drive in Formula 2 in 1983. To Klaus Grogor and fitted with a Mazda engine for the South African Sigma series in 1984. Retained by Grogor for 1985. Grogor appeared again on entry lists in early 1986. The car was then converted into a Sportscar/Thundersports configuration for 1987 and 1988 in South Africa and driven by Grogor and Mike Rossouw with Autoquip sponsorship. It was reverted to single-seater specification and exported by Groger to Europe in 1989. It was acquired (possibly via Gavin Hards) by John Brannigan in England, and sold to Peter Thurston, who fitted a turbocharged Mazda engine and raced it in libre events at Lydden in 1990 and 1991. It was then acquired by Ron Cumming (Kemnay, Aberdeenshire, Scotland) and used in libre events with a BMW F2 engine. In 2001, it was acquired from Cumming by Peter Hammond and sold to Kevan McLurg in 2007, and then to Herbert Schnell in Germany in 2008. It returned to McLurg in 2015, and was sold to Peter Kernick in South Africa in November 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.

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 Tony Kent. Rand Daily Mail 27 Feb 1984 p2 contained only a very brief report.