MCD Open Single Seater Championship Race

Oulton Park, 1 May 1976

Notes on the cars:

1. Chevron B29 [29-75-04] (Ken Bailey): New to Tom Wheatcroft in February 1975, and tested by Richard Morgan who would be driving it in British Formula Atlantic. Raced by Morgan in the early races of the season with Donington Museum sponsorship, winning one race, until crashed at Brands Hatch in April. Morgan then drove the new Wheatcroft R18, and the Chevron was sold to Kiwi Brett Riley, who drove it for the rest of 1975. To Ken Bailey (Stretford, Greater Manchester) and raced in Indylantic in 1976. Stored unused during 1977 and advertised by Bailey in November. Sold to Eddie Jordan (Dundrum, County Dublin, Ireland) and used in Irish Formula Atlantic in 1978 in Marlboro livery, winning both the All-Ireland and Duckhams Formula Atlantic Championships. Raced by his teammate Vivian Candy in Ireland in 1979, then sold via Phil Bennett to David Ward (Hesketh Bank, Lancashire) for British libre racing in 1980 and 1981. With Terry Cole (Stonehouse, Glocestershire) for Monoposto racing in 1983, then reportedly broken up for spares by Chevron Cars. Chris Townsend was told by Chevron that the monocoque itself went to Customs & Excise for a training exercise.
2. 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.
3. Trojan T101 [102] (Jim Kelly): See full history: Trojan T101/102.
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. 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.
6. Palliser WDB4 (Colin Breeze): In January 1976, hillclimber Spencer Elton (Westbury, Wiltshire) advertised a Palliser WDB4, described as follows: "Formula Atlantic rolling chassis, ex-Santo/John Gillmeister. Falconer bodywork, 10x14in on slicks, Graviner etc, mint condition. Make superb Libre, hill climb or sprint car.". Santo and Gillmeister had owned different cars of course, but Spencer said in 2025 that he hadn't known that, so had used both names. Spencer had bought the car from Ken Diggle of K. L. Diggle Motors, at Reservoir Street Garage, Aspull, Wigan, who had advertised it simply as an "Atlantic Palliser". He sold the car, less engine, in January 1976 for £1300 to Colin Breeze (Catley, near Stockport, Greater Manchester), acquiring a March 721 from Breeze as part of the deal. In April and May 1976 Breeze entered a silver/orange Palliser WDB4 for two rounds of the MCD Open Single Seater Championship. Breeze's entry described the Palliser's engine as a "1998cc Lotus". Subsequent history unknown.
7. Brabham BT40 [21] (David Winstanley): New to Graham Eden Racing, and driven by Cyd Williams in the 1973 British Formula Atlantic championship. Retained by Eden and Williams for 1974. After Williams crashed the car at Brands Hatch in September 1974, it was raced by Richard Morgan and Tony Trimmer later that season. Retained by Eden again for 1975, with Cyd Williams again driving. To 23-year-old Formula Ford driver David Winstanley (Winsford, Cheshire) of Withers of Winsford for 1976, and raced in the Indylantic championship with sponsorship from Roosters night club. Subsequent history unknown.
8. Trojan T101 [102] (Damien Magee): See full history: Trojan T101/102.
9. March 753 [U22] (Giordano Regazzoni): According to the March build records constructed in 1975 from discarded parts of works cars 753-U1 and 763-U1 for Giordano ‘Dodo’ Regazzoni. Probably used by the works drivers Nilsson and Ribeiro at Cadwell Park and the British GP support race in July 1975, with this car built as temporary replacement for Nilsson’s 753-U1 rolled at the Monza Lotteria in late June. Retained by Regazzoni into 1978. Motoring News 16 Mar 1978 p7 comments that Regazzoni is still using last year’s car.
10. 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.
11. 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 (Salisbury, Wiltshire). 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.
12. Chevron B15/B17 [B15 F3-69-8] (Ray Stockton): New to Brendan McInerney's Race Cars International and raced by McInerney in British F3 in 1969 using Holbay engines. Retained by McInerney for 1970 and raced in European F3 until May when he moved to a Brabham BT28 and then to the team's own Nemo F3 car. The Chevron was used again in November, and then hired to Luiz Pereira Bueno for the Brazilian races in January 1971. Not seen for the main 1971 season but sold to Herb Moger (London) and reappeared at the Boxing Day Brands Hatch meeting. Raced by Moger in British F3 in 1972 as a 'B17'. Moger then moved into Formula 4 for 1973, fitting the B15/17 with a 1-litre Ford Cosworth engine again. He drove it again in F4 in early 1973, and then advertised the car in May 1973. It was also advertised by F4 promoters Low Cost Racing in July 1973. Ray Stockton (Wettenhall, Cheshire) confirmed to researcher James Murray that he bought that car in 1973 from Low Cost Racing as a white B15/17 and used it sporadically for a few years in Formula 4. During his ownership he painted the Chevron bright green. He also appeared a few times in the 1-litre class at Monoposto Formula events in 1975 and 1976. After a bad crash at Oulton Park, he took the car back to Chevron who repaired the chassis for him. Stockton advertised the car in July 1977 and recalls that he sold it after a couple of years of ownership with a blown engine to someone in the Leeds area but he cannot remember the name of the buyer. This would align with a Chevron B15/17 bought from a Mr Harding in Morley, Leeds, in 1978 by Bev Fenby (Rochdale, Lancashire). This must be the Drew Harding (Leeds) who entered a Chevron B15/17 with 1600cc Ford twin cam engine in a BARC (Yorkshire Centre) formule libre race at Croft in May 1978. Fenby has shared the purchase receipt with Murray, which mentions that it was bright green, and as further reinforcement of this provenance, Fenby's car had the same distinctive mirrors as Stockton's car. Fenby raced the Chevron in hillclimbs in 1983 and 1984. He then bought a Holbay 1-litre engine for it but never completed the installation and retained the car unused until his death in March 2025. It was bought from his estate by James Murray (Millom, Cumbria).

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

Autosport 6 May 1976 p44. Entry list kindly provided by Alan Cox.