S.A. Drivers Championship Race

Kyalami, 23 Feb 1985

Notes on the cars:

1. 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.
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. March 842 (John Moni): After Ian Scheckter and Ken Howes left Formula SA after the 1984 season, Gavin Hards took over as team manager, and John Moni joined as driver. They purchased a second-hand March 842 for the 1985 season, which was entered for Moni by Team Gunston. The car did not work well and by the end of the season was being described as a 842/832. Nearly all the up-to-date F2 cars left South Africa in 1986, but the fate of this car remains unknown.
4. 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.
5. March 832 (Ken Critchfield): New to Ken Howes' Team Gunston for Graham Duxbury to drive in the South African Sigma series in 1983. Like the Ian Scheckter car, it arrived as a monocoque and front suspension, and was completed using the rear end of Duxbury's March 82A. Raced by Duxbury for the remainder of the 1983 season. To Ivano Moavero in 1984, and raced by him and also by Ian Scheckter when he borrowed it for the second heat at Killarney in September 1984. Sold to Ken Critchfield for the 1985 season. The March 832 is believed to have been exported by Gavin Hards to John Brannigan in England. Brannigan received three March 832s in total and it is unclear which was which. He sold one or two of these to John Churchill for a Lancia Stratos GT car project, and it is possible that the Duxbury car was one of those. Subsequent history unknown.
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. Maurer MM83 [03?] (Peter Morrison): Bernard Tilanus drove a Maurer for DAW at the start of the 1983 season that was said to be an MM83, despite appearing two months before the Maurer's F2 cars. It cannot have been chassis MM83-01 as that appeared in F2, but may have been MM83-03. Tilanus was dropped from the DAW team in March 1983, and Trevor van Rooyen continued as DAW's sole driver using the ex-Tilanus MM83. DAW then acquired a second MM83 for the 1984 season. The older car was then partly dismantled and its rear end was used to rebuild DAW's Tiga SC83 Group C Jr sports car. This Tiga was raced by Van Rooyen and Peter Morrison in the Kyalami 1000km in November 1984 but lost a wheel and crashed. The Maurer was reconstituted for 1985, when DAW ran both their MM83s, this car being the No 4 entry for Graham Duxbury and Matt Keyser at least once. At the end of 1985, both of DAW's MM83s were sold to a central European owner. One of the ex-DAW MM83s is currently in Australia and the other is in Germany. The car in Germany is said to be the one built specifically for the South African series but there remains some uncertainty about the identities.
8. Lant RR84 (Wayne Taylor): Built in early 1984 by Rack Rite Racing team manager Dave Morgan for Wayne Taylor to race in the Formula SA series. It used a Lant tub, locally-made cast alumnium uprights, a Hewland FT200 gearbox supplied to Lant Cars, and a larger Ralt RT2 fuel cell supplied by Premier Fuel Systems. Raced by Taylor for the remainder of the 1984 season, without notable success. Retained by Taylor for 1985, when it was entered by Brian Ferris Racing, with backing from BP and Mainardi Civil Contractors. Taylor won four races, and finished second in the championship, but he also used Ferris's Ralt at an unknown number of races that year. From July onwards, Lant Cars was shown as one of Taylor's entrants, and at the Kyalami race on 27 July, Tony Martin raced a Lant in BP livery, which seems likely to have been Taylor's Lant. It is assumed here that Taylor also raced the Ralt at Aldo Scribante in August and Killarney in September. Basil Mann was due to drive "the BP/MMI Lant" at Aldo Scribante but it was canibalised for parts so that Taylor could race. For 1986, the car returned to Rack Rite and was raced by Trevor van Rooyen. The championship was then cancelled, and the car was retained by Rack-Rite until 2010, when it was sold to Ian Hebblethwaite.
9. Maurer MM83 (Brian Ferris): 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.
10. Maurer MM81 [01?] (Keith Horwood): 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.
11. March 822/802 [82A-2] (Mike Needell): New for Graham Duxbury to drive in the South African Sigma Mazda series, entered by Hekro/Propart/BP. It was always known as a March 822 in South Africa, but it appears in March records as a March 82A. Retained for Duxbury for 1983, when it was entered by Brut/Boss Paving/BP. In early 1983, parts of the car were used by Ken Howes to build up a new March 832 for Duxbury. The rest of the car remained with Howes until late 1984 when it was acquired by Keith Horwood and rebuilt using parts from the ex-Fred Goddard March 822/802 that had been crashed by Derick Irving. This hybrid 82A/822/802 was raced for Horwood by Mike Needell in early 1985, and by Horwood later in the season. It was then acquired by Gavin Hards and exported from South Africa. It was acquired by Roy Woodhouse in the UK, who regarded it as the ex-Scheckter 822. He fitted it with a turbocharged 3.5-litre Rover engine and used it in Sprints in 1987 and 1988. It is believed that he wrecked the car in late 1988 or early 1989, as he returned to his older March 772/782 in 1989. In 2006, speed event specialist Steve Wilkinson reported that Richard Prosser was restoring Roy Woodhouse's "ex-Ian Scheckter 822".
12. Maurer MM80 [03] (Dermot Leslie): 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. Lant RR84 (Bill Maloney): Believed to have been a new car raced by Roy Klomfass at the Formula South Africa race at Kyalami on 28 July 1984 for Rack Rite Racing. It was loaned to Bill Maloney and raced by him at Goldfields in September. Then bought by Maloney and raced by him through the 1985 season, when it was described as a Lant RR85, but it is possible that his 1985 car was a new chassis. The car has a Lant chassis and a Lant-built gearbox, a copy of the Hewland FT200, numbered '003'. Maloney used the car again for the 1986 South African 'Can-Am' season, still in single-seater form. He then fitted it with open sports car bodywork and it in the sports car series that replaced the national series in 1987 and 1988. He then fitted closed bodywork and raced it as a Group C car in 1989, In the early 1990s, it was sold to Dorino Treccani, and returned to single seater specification. In about 2018, it was restored by AJ Kernick for owner Ben Havenga (Cape Town, South Africa).
14. March 77B ['AT'] (Terry 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.
15. March 76B [1] (Allan Dunlop): 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.
16. March 78B [782-2(A)] (Arthur Christie): Rad Dougall's race car at Thruxton 27 Mar 1978 and presumably the one he then wrecked in practice at the Nürburgring 30 Apr 1978. Presumably "Toleman's second" 782 driven by Tiff Needell at Hockenheim 26 Sep. To Paul Smith for Formula Atlantic in 1979, but wrecked on Smith's first outing, at Mallory Park in March 1979. The car was rebuilt on a new tub fabricated by Mo Gomm, but the original tub was also repaired and retained by Smith incomplete. As the "782-2" plate remained on this car, the Gomm car is regarded here as a separate car, 'PS1'. The new 'PS1' and the remains of 782/2 were both sold to Bernard Tilanus "in the autumn of 1981" and shipped to South Africa. Tilanus raced 'PS1' for the DAW Supplies team in the Sigma Mazda series in early 1982 but then sold it to Hekro for Ian Scheckter to drive. The team then built up a second car on the original 782/2 tub, distinguished by its black dash roll hoop, and Tilanus raced that car at Killarney, Welkom and Kyalami in May 1982. It was then raced by Braam Smith for DAW in late 1982 and early 1983. In April 1983, it was sold to Billy Maloney, replacing his March 77B, and was raced by him for the rest of 1983. He retained the car for 1984, but damaged it in a practice accident at East London in August. It is believed to have been sold to Arthur Christie in January 1985. It was sold back to Bernard Tilanus for the 'Can-Am' season in 1986. After that, it went to Keith Horwood who planned to use it for a sports car project in 1987, but that did not go ahead and the car remained unused for two years. It was then rebuilt by Andrew Thompson as a show car for the Rembrandt Group's Heidelberg Motor Museum. The museum was acquired by BAT in 1999, who closed it in 2003. The following year, the car collection was acquired by Johann Rupert, son of Dr Anton Rupert and moved to the L'Ormarins Estate in Franschhoek. The Franschhoek Motor Museum, named after Johan Rupert, was opened in May 2007, and the March 782 remains on display in Ian Scheckter's 1978 livery. Scheckter's Lexington March 78B was, of course, a completely different car, and was destroyed in 1980.
17. March 77B [722] (Michael Bryan): 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.

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 David Pearson. Top 6 finishing positions from Adri Bezuidenhout's 'Wheels' yearbook.