The Donington Open

Donington Park, 20 Sep 1981

Notes on the cars:

1. March 782/792 [782-13] (Andy Barton): Ingo Hoffmann's car at Thruxton 27 Mar 1978 and presumably all season. Raced by Cheever at Rouen. Believed to be the car then bought by Andy Barton and used in libre racing and Formula Atlantic until the end of 1981.
2. Barton JTB3 (Dave Muter): In May 1977, Andy Barton (Newcastle upon Tyne) bought a Sana tub and parts from John Thompson, who had fabricated the Sana RD9 and RD11. He built these up with his usual 2-litre BDA engine as the Sana JTB2 and raced it with great success in Formule Libre in 1977 and 1978. For 1979, it was sold to David Muter (Seghill, Northumberland), who raced it in libre in 1979, 1980, 1981 and early 1982. Subsequent history unknown.
3. March 772P (John Travis): John Travis (Tarleton/Preston, Lancashire) bought a March 742 from Bobby Howlings in late 1979 or early 1980, trading in his Brabham BT30/BT35. The origins of the 742 tub are unknown, but it is interesting that it had a rollhoop extension that matches that on Carlo Giorgio's 742/782 in 1978. He upgraded the 742 with 772P front suspension, buying parts from John Brannigan, Colin Bennett, and Roger Orgee, changed it from BMW to Ford BDA power, and fitted a 772P chassis plate. He raced this car in libre events in 1980 and 1981. He sold the car in 1982 to John Holmes (Tarporley, Cheshire) who fitted a turbocharged 3.5-litre Rover engine, and used the car in libre racing through the rest of the 1980s and into the early 1990s. He later converted the car to a 2-litre Cosworth engine for Historic F2 and HSCC Derek Bell Trophy events.
4. Chevron B38 [38.77.24] (Eddie Heasell): New to Alan Docking Racing for Philippe Colonna to race in British F3 in 1977. Retained by the Docking team for 1978, and raced by Philip Bullman and by Colonna in British F3. Unknown in 1979 but purchased by Eddie Heasell in early 1980 for British F3 and libre. Retained for libre in 1981.
5. Chevron B38 [38.77.07] (Rob Moores): New to Derek McMahon for Derek Daly to drive in British F3 in 1977. It was rebuilt a number of times that season, including at least one new tub. Also raced once by Eddie Jordan when Daly was away at a F2 race. According to Motoring News, it was the car driven by Steve Malins for British F3 in 1978, but Autosport said his car was "ex Warwick/Dougall". Malins crashed his B38 in testing, and replaced it with a new B43. The B38 was later rebuilt and raced in libre and F3 by Rob Moores (Bolton) at the end of the 1978 season. Retained in F3 form and later Formula 4 spec by Moores and also used in Formule Libre in 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1982. In 1985, Moores drove the car in the Bangalore and Madras Grands Prix. It was put back to F3 spec for the Toyota F3 championship, where Moores won five titles with it. He then moved to historic racing with it in 2009.
6. March 792 [20] (John Bothamley): New to Norman Dickson (Perth, Scotland) and raced in the F2 section of the 1979 British F1 series, prepared by Colin Bennett. Due to be raced by Angelo Piccione at the Misano in August but he was too slow in testing. Sold to Paul Gibson in October 1979 and used mainly in libre racing at Croft but also appeared in rounds of the British series at Thruxton and Monza. Sold to Bob Leckie (Aberdeen, Scotland) for libre racing in 1981 but sold on in mid-season to John Bothamley who used it in the last few races of the Ingliston season. Taken to John Maguire in Coventry that winter who used the engine, gearbox, suspension, uprights, brakes and other components in the construction of a GT car for 1982, with Maguire's space frame chassis and Lotus Esprit bodywork. The tub, nose, rear wing, sidepods and rear bodywork were returned to Scotland and sold to Norrie Galbraith who planned to fit the running gear off his March 782 and put it in the 792 tub. Unfortunately Galbraith was killed in the 782 just weeks later. The 782 tub was scrapped but 792 tub and the remains of the 782 were sold to Bobby Howlings who eventually sold them to Willy Widar in Belgium. The 782 parts and 792 tub were evidently then built into a car which took the identity of 782-26. With its components scattered, the 792 has effectively ceased to exist.
7. Chevron B34 [34-76-29?] (Robert Baxter): New to Rupert Keegan in July 1976 and raced in the British F3 series with British Air Ferries sponsorship, winning three races and clinching the BP BARC title for Keegan. To David Brotherston (Edinburgh, Scotland) for 1978, and raced in the British F3 series. Brotherston continued to use the car in 1979 and 1980, again in British F3, after which he sold the car to Bob Howlings. Then to Bob Baxter (Saffron Walden, Essex) for Formule Libre towards the end of the 1981 season. Later to Alastair Ferguson, and used by him in TF3 in 1987. It was unused from the late 1990s until 2007, when Ferguson sold it to Hugh Price. Price had it completely rebuilt to Keegan's BAF livery with a view to racing it in the Classic F3 series in 2008. It was sold to Bruce Bartell in 2009, and raced by him in HSCC events, then by his son Maxim Bartell in Classic F3 from 2014 to 2017.

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 24 Sep 1981 pp47-49. Paul Boothroyd in Autosport commented that the grid was fileld out with FF2000 and Clubmans cars. Robinson's Chevron was listed as his B48 in the results but described as his B42 in the report. The results sheet (thanks to Andy Ellis on Facebook) gives the other finishers and lists the non-starters as numbers 2, 4, 10, 18, 42, 44, 77, 12.