MCD Open Single Seater Championship Race

Mallory Park, 25 Jul 1976

Notes on the cars:

1. Ralt RT1/75 [7] (John Wingfield): New to John Wingfield (London NW11), fitted with a Swindon BDG and raced in the F2 events at Silverstone and Zolder in 1975, entered by Marshall-Wingfield Racing. Retained for 1976 when Wingfield used it in Shellsport Group 8 and the MCD Open Single Seater Championship. Later in the season it was raced by Ray Mallock in the F2 races at Hockenheim and Rouen. In September 1976, Wingfield crashed at the Thruxton G8 race, sliding off at Village at hitting the concrete Marshal's post side-on. Wingfield died instantly. The Ralt was severely damaged and it is highly unlikely that it was rebuilt.
2. March 74B [712M] (John Bowtell): John Bowtell (Witney, Oxfordshire) raced a March "73B" in British libre racing in 1975. He recalls that it was a 1971 car with 1973 modifications, and came from a garage in Salisbury, which would suggest a connection to Mike Sullivan of Riverside Garage in Salisbury, who ran a 712M in 1974 but who sold three Marches after that season. Bowtell modified the car over the next few seasons. He retained the car for 1976, initially for Indylantic, and then in Shellsport Group 8 races and libre, usually entering it as a 74B. He continued with it in libre in 1977, winning at least five races, and reappeared again with it in 1978, before replacing it with a "77P" for 1979. Subsequent history unknown.
3. GRD 372 (Adrian Russell): Richard Wallinger (Hinkley, Leicestershire) raced a GRD 372 in libre racing in 1974, using 1600cc BDA engines built by John Robinson Racing Services of Northampton. It was described by Autosport as being of unknown Swedish driver ownership. He retained the car for libre in 1975. Sold in early 1976 to Adrian Russell, who used it in the Shellsport G8 series and in libre races. To Terry Fisher for Group 8 and libre in 1977. Subsequent history unknown.
4. Chevron B24 [24-73-04] (Richard Simms): Built for 1973 season. VDS for Teddy Pilette: raced in UK 1973 and Tasman 1974 - Roelof Wunderink: raced in UK 1974. Then via Tony Dean to Richard Simms and used in libre racing in 1975 and 1976. To John Lambert (York) 1977: used in hillclimbs in 1978 and 1979. Then via Ian Webb and Alex Seldon to Chris Townrow (Crantock, Cornwall) for sprints in Cornwall and Devon. To historic racer Richard Piper (Greenwich, London) and partner Patric Capon and raced by Piper in libre and HSCC racing in 1983 and 1984. To Dennis Humphries (Canterbury, Kent) and damaged in testing at West Malling airfield. Repaired and sold to John Harper (late 1980s/early 1990s) then via Tony Ingram (Atlanta, GA) and Lee Chapman (New Milford, CT) to Fred Gunther (Trumbull, CT). Later via Vintage Racing Services (Stratford, CT) to Alex Seiler (NY, NY) c1998. Following a restoration, it was raced in VARA events at Willow Springs and Phoenix and driven on occasion by Casey Annis, publisher of Vintage racecar Magazine. In 2000, it was sold to Stan Beck (Seattle, WA) restored again before it was sold on to Miles Jackson (Seattle, WA) in 2006.
5. Lola T100 [SL100/5] (Bob Eccles): Believed to be the works Lola T100 with BMW engine entered by Lola Racing for John Surtees to drive in Formula 2 that first appeared at the Nürburgring in April 1967. Also raced by Chris Irwin at Reims, David Hobbs in the German GP, Irwin at Brands Hatch, and Andrea de Adamich at Albi. As Lola Racing's other two T100s, SL100/2 and SL100/4, were both sold, this is believed to be the Firestone test and development car maintained by John Surtees' operation over the next two years. For 1970, it was sold to Robs Lamplough, fitted with a Cosworth FVA engine and raced by him in F2 in 1970, and also once by brother Peter in a libre race at Castle Combe. To Brian and Barry White for 1971, and fitted with a Ford twin cam for the new Formula Atlantic. Presumably the car advertised in November 1971 from west London numbers with a new Broadspeed BDA, and still in Surtees' red and silver livery. Last seen at the Brands Hatch Atlantic race in April 1972. Its history after the Whites is not known, but a few years later, the ex-Surtees Firestone test car was bought by Bob Eccles (Oldbury, West Midlands), less engine and gearbox. He fitted a Ford twin cam engine and used the car in libre between 1975 and 1978, and later, suitably re-engined, in Monoposto in 1979 and 1980. Bob cannot remember where it went. Subsequent history unknown.
6. March 712M/75B (Rhoddy Harvey Bailey): In 1975, John Colley and Rhoddy Harvey Bailey bought a March 712M and associated parts from Mike Sullivan of Riverside Garage in Salisbury. This was said to be the spares from Sullivan's main 1974 Formula Atlantic car, and came with Falconer bodywork. As they put this together, they found it was incomplete, so returned to Sullivan and bought another car, one that he had recently reskinned and had been run by a female driver. Like the first car they bought, this was said to be a 712M, and was understood by Colley to be the ex-Tom Walkinshaw 712M-8. After their first purchase had been sold on, Colley and Harvey Bailey completed the latter car with 1975 March bodywork and ran it in Formula Atlantic, libre and sprints over the next four seasons. Colley added his own version of forward-facing rollhoop supports, normally seen only on cars built from 1973 onwards, and reinforced the back of the chassis after it was found to be flexing. It was sold to someone who planned to use it for hillclimbs. Subsequent history unknown.
7. McRae GM1 [014] (Ian Stronach): New for Graham McRae in 1973 and raced by him in the US series, in STP livery and entered as #1. The car was not a success and McRae was distracted by his Indy 500 campaign and his F1 debut. The car returned to England but was not sen again until advertised by dealer Derek Robinson (Frome, Somerset) in May 1975. Sold to Ian Stronach (Manchester) and raced in libre racing during 1976 and 1977, usually at Oulton Park and Aintree. Then to Larry Bradley late 1978, then to Ian Higgins in the late 1980s or early 1990s. Sold to the US where it reappeared with Ken Petrie at a F5000 reunion in May 2001. Sold to Jay Esterer (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) in 2008, restored to its #1 STP livery and raced by him in historic racing in the US and in New Zealand. Damaged at Manfeild in November 2011 but repaired and raced by Esterer again in 2015. More information
8. Brabham BT21A [9] (Geoff Jackson): Bought new by Tony Griffiths (Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire) and used in British hillclimbs in 1967. Retained for 1968, running a Vegantune twin-cam in the 1600cc class of the British Hill Climb Championship. Used again at the start of 1969 then sold to Chris Court, who continued to hillclimb it through the rest of 1969. Advertised by John Brown (Padiham, Lancashire) in April 1970, and again in September, still with its Vegantune engine, and then to John Ravenscroft for Sprints in 1971 and 1972, winning two rounds of the British Sprint Championship in 1972. To Richard Hartley for 1973, again being used in sprints. To Geoffrey Jackson April 1974 and then via Peter Bloore c1981-82 to Chris Crawford of ADA Engineering. During ADA's ownership, the car was rebuilt to F3 specification and raced by Mike Wilds in HSCC Historic F3. Then to Max Lane (Sydney, NSW, Australia) 1984. Retained until 1991 and then via Mike Broso (Junee, Australia) to Ron Coath (Yarralumla, Canberra, Australia) 1999. Raced regularly by Coath in historic racing until sold to Graeme Noonan (Phillip Island, Australia) August 2014.
9. March 753 [14] (Ken Silverstone): 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.
10. GRD B73 [054-F2] (Alan Clennell): New to Hiroshi Kazato, and run for him in 1973 F2 events by GRS International. Kazato used Racing Services alloy Ford BDA engines at first, then moved to Cosworth BDG, and then had a new car built to take a Schnitzer BMW, retained chassis 054 as a spare. Chassis 054 is thought to have been sold to Chris Oates for 1974, and the "ex-Kazato" car that he ran in Formula Atlantic for Richard Morgan and then Frank Sytner, but this may have been an older car. Chassis 054 reappeared in 1976 when it was run in libre racing by Alan Clennell, described as a B73 and using Swindon BDA engines. Retained by Clennell for sprints and hillclimbs in 1977 and 1978. Advertised by Clennell (Southam) as an ex-works 273 in November 1978. Subsequent history unknown.
11. March 702/722 [2] (Steve Miller): New to Malcolm Guthrie Racing for F2 in 1970 and raced by Malcolm Guthrie himself, but without any real success. From Guthrie via Frank Williams to Derrick Robinson (Radstock, Somerset) and advertised in May 1972. Then to fellow dealer Spencer Elton (Westbury, Wiltshire) who also owned 702/1 around this time. Sold by Elton to Dave Edwards (Bath, Somerset) and advertised by him in February 1973 as "March 712/702S/2" when it had a Ford twin cam engine, and again in July 1973 as a rolling chassis. Advertised by Mike Sullivan Racing (Salisbury) as an "ex-Peterson" rolling chassis November 1973 when it was described as "March 702/2 ex-Peterson". Sold in late 1973 or early 1974 to Richard Cumming (Leamington Spa or Harbury, Warwickshire) who recalls that it had March 722 bodywork and was fitted with a 1600cc Vegantune all-steel Ford twin cam engine. Cumming raced it in sprints and hillclimbs in late 1974, sharing at least once with Tony Street (Warwick). The car was then sold to Robin Darlington, who entered it in at least one libre/MCD Open race in 1976. Autosport announced in May 1976 that Robin Darlington would be racing "the ex-Peterson March 722", backed by Ken Gibson, boss of Measham Car Auctions in Birmingham. Darlington sold the car to Steve Miller, in exchange for the Kincraft which Darlington was keen to have back, so this would then be the 702 raced by Miller (Manchester) at Oulton Park in October 1976. Subsequent history unknown, but apparently used in Autocross before being acquired by Peter Denty (Thetford, Norfolk) c1987, and raced for him by John Beasley and James Denty 1995. Sold to Dieter Münch (Germany) 1996. By 2010 it was reported that Münch had sold it to another German owner.
12. March 753 [15] (Phil Silverstone): Originally a car belonging to the B&O team in 1975, when used by Hervé Regout. Chassis number for this car and its sister, driven by Pierre Dieudonné, were observed by AF at Oulton Park 4 October 1975. Sold in 1976 to Phil Silverstone, and retained until early 1978 at least. At the beginning of 1978 Ian Flux joined Cloud Engineering, who ran Phil Silverstone, and in the absence of anything better he used this car, which Silverstone had replaced with a Ralt, for the first race of the Vandervell series. See Autosport 9 Mar 1978 p41.
13. Chevron B28 [24-73-04] (Jim Evans): Built for 1973 season. VDS for Teddy Pilette: raced in UK 1973 and Tasman 1974 - Roelof Wunderink: raced in UK 1974. Then via Tony Dean to Richard Simms and used in libre racing in 1975 and 1976. To John Lambert (York) 1977: used in hillclimbs in 1978 and 1979. Then via Ian Webb and Alex Seldon to Chris Townrow (Crantock, Cornwall) for sprints in Cornwall and Devon. To historic racer Richard Piper (Greenwich, London) and partner Patric Capon and raced by Piper in libre and HSCC racing in 1983 and 1984. To Dennis Humphries (Canterbury, Kent) and damaged in testing at West Malling airfield. Repaired and sold to John Harper (late 1980s/early 1990s) then via Tony Ingram (Atlanta, GA) and Lee Chapman (New Milford, CT) to Fred Gunther (Trumbull, CT). Later via Vintage Racing Services (Stratford, CT) to Alex Seiler (NY, NY) c1998. Following a restoration, it was raced in VARA events at Willow Springs and Phoenix and driven on occasion by Casey Annis, publisher of Vintage racecar Magazine. In 2000, it was sold to Stan Beck (Seattle, WA) restored again before it was sold on to Miles Jackson (Seattle, WA) in 2006.
14. March 74B [1] (Alan Crocker): New to Ted Wentz (Philadelphia, PA) and raced in the 1974 British Formula Atlantic season. To New Zealander Alan Crocker, who had moved to England to race in the 1975 British series, but a blown engine curtailed his season. Used occasionally in the 1976 Indylantic series and in libre racing. Croker took the car to New Zealand and raced it in the 1977 Formula Pacific series, then sold it there to Ken Smith, who rented it to Ken Sager to drive in the 1977/78 Gold Star series, and to Robbie Booth for the 1978/79 season. It reappeared with Robbie Hislop in 1981/82, then to Tony Batchelor for 1982/83. Last seen when raced by Keith Laney in 1984/85, and sold by him back to Kenny Smith some time before 1988. Later sold by Smith to Richard Carter in Australia to donate parts to Carter's rebuild of March 73B/8. The remains of the car were sold with the 73B to George Makin (Melbourne, Australia) about 2005.
15. Brabham BT38 [19] (Andrew Wareing): New to Canadian driver Chris O'Brien and raced in British F3 in 1972 using Holbay engines. To Jimmy Fuller for 1973, again in British F3 and again using Holbay engines. Advertised by Fuller from Sunbury-on-Thames as a "BT38/41" with two rebuilt Novamotor twin-cams, a spare monocoque and bodywork for £2,250 in November 1973. Formula 3 changed to 2000cc for 1974, and the BT38C was sold to David Taylor (Formy, Lancashire, later Merseyside) for Kim Mather to race in British Formula Atlantic in 1974. When the car first appeared, it had a RES BDA engine and still used F3 wheels, Mather recalling that he "just dropped a BDA in it". By the end of May it had a Richardson BDA and wider wheels, but it was still far off the pace of the leading cars, and this turned out to be its last Atlantic race. Taylor also used the car in sprints at Longridge, and Mather won two libre races at Aintree. Taylor advertised the car in September, complete with Richardson BDA, for £2,200 and sold it to Ted Payne (Middleton-in-Teesdale, County Durham). Payne had raced a BT38 earlier in the season with a Vegantune engine, but it appears he had sold that car and had bought Taylor's very similar one with its Richardson engine. Payne continued to race the car in 1975, and entry lists show that it was black with a Richardson engine, and generally entered as a BT38-40. It was advertised by Payne in November 1975 as a BT38/40 with a recently rebuilt Cosworth BDA engine, and with a spare monocoque. It was bought by Andrew Wareing (Kirkham, Fylde, Lancashire), whose recollection is that it came from Joe Applegarth, but Applegarth says he never owned a BT38. Wareing used it in sprints and libre in 1976. He advertised it in September 1976 as a BT38/40 with BDA engine, 10" and 14" wheels and a spare tub, and recalls that it went to a family of hillclimbers, father and sons. This must be John Hart (East Dulwich, London), who after hillclimbing a Brabham BT18 in 1976, transferred its Cosworth FVA engine into a Brabham BT38 for 1977. Hart recalls buying the BT38 in the Isle of Man, but it is quite plausible that the car had acquired an Isle of Man event sticker if Wareing had competed in one of the Longton & DCC events on the island. Hart raced this car in hillclimbs and sprints through 1977, being joined by his son Greg later that season. The pair retained the BT38 for 1978 but Greg wrecked it in a major accident at Shelsley Walsh in August, which he was lucky to escape. The car was briskly rebuilt using a BT40 monocoque acquired from MRD and raced again at Gurston Down just two weeks later. The car was renamed 'Hart JG79' for 1979, fitted with a 1600cc Richardson FVA and raced by Greg and John in 1979 and 1980. Doug Hart recalls that the BT40 was sold to Paul Squires, "who sadly died at a young age and before he finished the car". Subsequent history unknown.

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.

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

Race programme entry list and annotated finishing positions kindly provided by Dan Rear. Race programme entry list and annotated grid kindly provided by George Taylor. Full results sheet kindly provided by Richard Page of the the Formula One Register. No 25 was blank on the entry list but shown on the hand-written grid and as a retirement on the results sheet.