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MCD Open Single Seater Championship Race

Mallory Park, 4 Apr 1976

ResultsLapsTime/Speed
1 Val Musetti (F2) 2-litre March "752" ['B'] - Ford BDX Swindon
#15 Valentino Musetti
18 13m 25.8s
108.56 mph
2 Nick Whiting (F1) 3-litre Surtees TS16-4 [05] - Cosworth DFV V8
#13 ShellSPORT Whiting
18 13m 45.0s
3 Philip Guerola (libre) 1.9-litre Brabham BT30 [11] - Cosworth FVC
#5 Philip Guerola (see note 1)
17 13m 48.4s
4 Tim Keen (FSV) 1.6-litre Supernova Tui BH5 - VW Daghorn 4
#32 Ian Williams
17 13m 51.0s
99.42 mph
5 Peter White (FSV) 1.6-litre Royale RP19 [2] - VW Heidegger 4
#20 Mike Izzard Racing
17 13m 53.6s
6 Mike Eaton (FSV) 1.6-litre Tui VW
#27 Mike Eaton
17 14m 00.6s
7 Jim Kelly (F5000) 5-litre Trojan T101 [102] - Chevrolet V8
#6 Jim Kelly (see note 2)
17 14m 04.8s
8 Alan Clennell (F/Atl) 1.6-litre GRD B73 [054-F2] - Ford BDA Swindon
#8 Alan Clennell (see note 3)
16
9 Mark Litchfield (FSV) 1.6-litre Elden Mk14 - VW Rolt 4
#30 Mark Litchfield
16
10 Bob Craig (FF2000) 2-litre MRE SF75 - Ford Pinto ohc Scholar
#12 Bob Craig
15
11 Brian Holland (F?) 1.6-litre Ensign - Ford twin cam Vegantune
#4 Brian Holland
15
12 Ian Stronach (F5000) 5-litre McRae GM1 [014] - Chevrolet V8
#3 Ian Stronach (see note 4)
15
13 Tim Wood (libre) 1.8-litre Brabham BT35 [43] - Cosworth FVC
#7 John Thistlethwaite Racing with National Breakdown
(see note 5)
14
R Bill Buckley (FSV) 1.6-litre Royale RP18A VW
#25 Bill Buckley
14
R John Wingfield (F2) 2-litre Ralt RT1/75 [7] - Ford BDG Somers
#9 Marshall Wingfield with Corbeau Equipe
(see note 6)
13
R Ronnie Grant (FSV) 1.6-litre Taurus M24 - VW Rolt 4
#22 Volspares
4
R Ray Simpson (FSV) 1.6-litre Eton VW
#26 Ray Simpson
3
R Alan Smith (FSV) 1.6-litre Modus VW
#28 Alan Smith
0
DNA Brian McGuire (F1) 3-litre Williams FW04 [1] - Cosworth DFV V8
#1 Brian McGuire
Did not arrive
DNA Robin Darlington (libre) 4.7-litre Kincraft [FL-012-01] - Ford V8
#2 Parkway Garage-Liverpool
Did not arrive
DNA John Calvert (F2) 1.9-litre March 742 [732/1] - Ford BDA
#14 Hillcrest Used Cars (see note 7)
Did not arrive
  Colin Breeze (F?) Palliser WDB4
#10 Colin Breeze
On entry list
  John Finch (F4) 1-litre Ensign LNF3/73 [73.20] - Ford Holbay
#11 John Finch
On entry list
  Philip Clacher (FF2000) 2-litre Alpine A360 - Ford Pinto ohc Scholar
#16 Phil Clacher
On entry list
  Mike Catlow (FSV) 1.6-litre Tui BH3 - VW Heidegger 4
#21 Mike Catlow
On entry list
  Glenn Wallis (FSV) 1.6-litre Kaimann VW
#23 Glenn Wallis
On entry list
  Charles Tilley (FSV) 1.6-litre Royale RP9/RP18 - VW Heidegger 4
#24 Charles Tilley
On entry list
  Glenn Hay (FSV) 1.6-litre Royale RP9/RP18 VW
#29 Glenn Hay
On entry list
  Max Amort (FSV) 1.6-litre Royale RP14 - VW Broadspeed 4
#31 Max Amor
On entry list
Qualifying
1 Val Musetti (F2) 2-litre March "752" ['B'] - Ford BDX Swindon
2 John Wingfield (F2) 2-litre Ralt RT1/75 [7] - Ford BDG Somers
3 Nick Whiting (F1) 3-litre Surtees TS16-4 [05] - Cosworth DFV V8
4 Philip Guerola (libre) 1.9-litre Brabham BT30 [11] - Cosworth FVC
5 Tim Wood (libre) 1.8-litre Brabham BT35 [43] - Cosworth FVC
6 Jim Kelly (F5000) 5-litre Trojan T101 [102] - Chevrolet V8

Notes on the cars:

  1. Brabham BT30 [11] (Philip Guerola): Sold to John Watson (Craigavad, County Down, Northern Ireland) for F2 in 1970, replacing a Lola T100 that Watson had used with great success in Irish libre. Retained for F2 in 1971, during which time it was partly updated to BT36 specification. To Bob Howlings (Congleton, Cheshire) for libre 1972 and fitted with a 1800cc Cosworth FVC mid-season. Sold to Tony Dean (Leeds, West Yorkshire) in August so he would have a car for the Rothmans 50,000. To Phillip Guerola (Bickley, Kent) 1973 and raced in libre until the end of 1976. Advertised ("ex-Watson") as a rolling chassis from an Aylesbury number in January 1978 and bought by Barrie Dutnall (Medway, Kent) in 1979 or 1980 but not used. Advertised by Dutnall as a rolling chassis in June 1981. Said to have been owned by Jon Bradburn, David Rishworth (Leamington, Warwickshire) and Kelvin Lambeth before bought by David McLaughlin in or before 2003. To David Brown (Ashford, Kent) 2003. To Ian Gray (Mansfield, Nottinghamshire) 2004.
  2. Trojan T101 [102] (Jim Kelly): See full history: Trojan T101/102.
  3. 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.
  4. 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
  5. Brabham BT35 [43] (Tim Wood): New to Bob Gerard in late 1971 and fitted with a Cosworth BDA engine for Bob Salisbury to race in British Formula Atlantic from October 1971 to April 1973. Then sold to Harry Gilbert (Aberdeen, Scotland), and raced by Gilbert and Ronnie Mackay in libre racing. It was advertised by Johnny Blades in October 1973, and by Bob Howlings' R.D.H. Racing (Bollington, Cheshire) in August 1974 when it was identified as the ex-Bob Salisbury car and was available complete except for engine. It was next seen three months later when John Wingfield raced it in the Boxing Day libre race at Brands Hatch, fitted with a 1.8-litre Cosworth FVC. He retained the FVC engine and ran the car with huge success in libre racing through 1975. In September 1975, it was sold to dealer Bobby Howlings, who raced it a couple of times and then sold it to John Thistlewaite, who entered it for Tim Wood in libre in 1976. By 1978, it was owned by Joe Applegarth, still with the FVC engine in it, and it next appeared in 1986 when Nick Overall used it in the HSCC Pre '71 series. Overall was given an HVIF for this car as BT35-43 in 1988, and many years later, in May 2006, it was advertised on race-cars.com from the UK still with this HVIF. In 2009, it was reported to be with Tim Kuchel in Australia.
  6. 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.
  7. March 742 [732/1] (John Calvert): STP March Engineering works car for Jean-Pierre Beltoise at the first race, then for Hans-Joachim Stuck at two races and then for Jean-Pierre Jarier at two races. A new car, 732-10, was later built for Beltoise so this 732-1 became what March called the "training car" and was used by Stuck later in the year and was then the third spare car remaining in March's transporter at several races. Probably for Mário Cabral at Estoril. Then unknown until June 1975 when acquired by John Calvert for libre racing in 742 spec. To Geoff Friswell mid-1976, rebuilt for him by Brian Lisles and fitted with a Hart 420R engine, but wrecked in practice at Oulton Park in September. Rebuilt on a 742 chassis and raced in two late-season events. Later to Jonathan Buncombe who fitted an FVC engine for libre races. Sold to Roger Orgee and further modified to 772P specification for Formula Atlantic in 1979. Sold after the 1979 season to Harry Vickers' Cowgate Motors in Newcastle and was used in the construction of their Group 5 Lotus Elan HV/80/S2 for Nicky Ellis. This car used a standard Elan backbone chassis with the suspension from the ex-Orgee 732/742/772 and a Swindon BDX. All that would have been left of Orgee's car would have been the monocoque, and as this was a replacement 742 tub, the March 732 had effectively ceased to exist.

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

The Formula Super Vee cars were having their own separate race, so points in the MCD Open Single Seater championship were not awarded to Keen, White, Eaton or Litchfield. Kelly received three points for fourth, Clennell two points for fifth, and Craig one point for sixth.