Esso Uniflow Scottish Hill Climb Championship round

Doune, 29 Apr 1973

Notes on the cars:

1. Brabham BT36 [10] (Iain McLaren): New to John Wingfield (London NW11) in September 1971 and raced in libre with a 1.7-litre Felday BDA. Raced in F2 in 1972 with Felday's 1973cc BDA and then converted to F/Atlantic specification for one race at the end of the season. Sold to Iain McLaren (Broxburn, Scotland) for 1973, fitted with a 1.8-litre Alan Smith Cosworth FVC and used for hillclimbs and libre. Advertised by MRE (Bourne End, Buckingham) in October/November 1973, who had a 1930cc Racing Services BDA in stock at the same time. Sold to Chris Choat and John Hardesty for 1974 and used in libre with a 2-litre Racing Services BDA. Retained for 1975 until sold in the summer to Nick Overall, still with the same RS BDA. To Mike Gue for 1976. Then to Ian Henderson who has retained the car.
2. Brabham BT35 [44] (Gray Mickel): Husband-and-wife hillclimbers Gray and Agnes Mickel (Glasgow, Scotland) bought a new Brabham BT35 for hillclimbs in 1972. It was fitted with a Hart twin-cam and first appeared at the Kinkell Braes hill climb in March 1972. Retained by the Mickels for 1973 and used in British and Scottish championship hillclimbs, acquiring a Hart BDA engine some time during that year. The car was advertised by the Mickels in November 1973 and was bought by Jim Campbell (Bothwell, Scotland) 1974 who raced it until 1978. It was then used by Chris Dowson (Pershore, Worcestershire) in hillclimbs in 1979 and 1980. Fred Edwards (Warboys, Cambridgeshire) bought it in 1985 and used it in Monoposto and HSCC events until 1991 but it was then unused until bought by David Irwin (Evergreen, Colorado) in 2001. Irwin still had it in 2004. It was restored by J&L restorations and had moved to Don Roose (Bainbridge Island, Washington) by 2005. Advertised by Roose in 2007. Sold to Allen Nicholas (California) in December 2009 and used in west coast historic events. Sold by Nicholas to Peter McLaughlin (New Hampshire) in December 2014 but not raced. Sold to David Smoker (South Australia) in April 2016.
3. Chevron B15 [F3-69-10] (Kenny Allen): New to Natalie Goodwin's Goodwin Racing for Cyd Williams to race in European F3 from June 1969 onwards, replacing the team's well-used Brabham BT21B. Retained for early 1970 when it was raced by Williams and Ian Ashley, then sold to dealer Bobby Howlings. To Iain McLaren (Broxburn, Scotland) for 1971 and raced in Scottish hillclimbs in the 1300cc single seater class. To Kenny Allen and continued in Scottish hillclimbs in 1972 and 1973. Unknown after 1973 until advertised by Bobby Howlings' Cheshire Sports Cars Ltd as a rolling chassis in July 1975. The car was bought from Howlings by Simon Price (Shrewsbury), who kept it, unused, for 20 years until selling it to George Jack in June 1996. The car still had its 1000cc F3 engine and Hewland gearbox and Jack completely rebuilt the car. Jack then relocated to New Zealand in January 1988, taking the car with him, and won his class in the 1998/99 Thoroughbred & Classic Car Owners Club (TACCOC ) historic championship. He later fitted a 1500cc pre crossflow Ford engine, and then a Formula B Lotus twin cam and Hewland Mk 5.
4. Brabham BT21C [6] (Peter Varley): New to Sir Nicholas Williamson (Mortimer, Berkshire), fitted with a standard 1600cc Vegantune Ford twin cam and raced in the British Hill Climb Championship in 1968. Won at Bouley Bay in July. Williamson ordered a BT29 for 1969 but it was late arriving and he ended up using the BT21C again until acquiring a McLaren M10A in August. The Brabham was sold to Spencer Elton (Westbury, Wiltshire) and raced in sprints and hillclimbs in 1970 and 1971. Sold in August 1971 to Peter Varley (Bradford/Silkston, South Yorkshire) who took a surprise second place at Wiscombe Park in May 1972. Varley raced the car for several more years but was finishing further down the results sheets by 1976. Next seen when raced by Peter Speakman (Broughton-in-Furness, Cumbria) in 1988 and 1989. Sold to Tim Barrington 1991, then to Michel Réchède (Pau, France) in 2004.
5. Chevron B8 [CH-DBE-71] (John Cleland): Paul Vestey bought one of the earliest 1969 B8s, a blue and white car that would be sponsored by Road & Racing Holborn Ltd. Raced by Vesty and by Tim Schenken but heavily damaged in Schenken's practice accident at the BOAC 500 at Brands Hatch on 13 April. Extensively rebuilt and sold to James Tangye in July 1969 who raced it as part of the Worcestershire Racing Association. Retained for another season of European 2-litre racing in 1970 and then sold for 1971 to Tony Charnell who raced mainly in northern English club racing. Believed to be the car used in British hillclimbing by a young John Cleland in 1973.
6. Brabham BT35 [44] (Agnes Mickel): Husband-and-wife hillclimbers Gray and Agnes Mickel (Glasgow, Scotland) bought a new Brabham BT35 for hillclimbs in 1972. It was fitted with a Hart twin-cam and first appeared at the Kinkell Braes hill climb in March 1972. Retained by the Mickels for 1973 and used in British and Scottish championship hillclimbs, acquiring a Hart BDA engine some time during that year. The car was advertised by the Mickels in November 1973 and was bought by Jim Campbell (Bothwell, Scotland) 1974 who raced it until 1978. It was then used by Chris Dowson (Pershore, Worcestershire) in hillclimbs in 1979 and 1980. Fred Edwards (Warboys, Cambridgeshire) bought it in 1985 and used it in Monoposto and HSCC events until 1991 but it was then unused until bought by David Irwin (Evergreen, Colorado) in 2001. Irwin still had it in 2004. It was restored by J&L restorations and had moved to Don Roose (Bainbridge Island, Washington) by 2005. Advertised by Roose in 2007. Sold to Allen Nicholas (California) in December 2009 and used in west coast historic events. Sold by Nicholas to Peter McLaughlin (New Hampshire) in December 2014 but not raced. Sold to David Smoker (South Australia) in April 2016.
7. Brabham BT30X [1] (Alistair Beaumont): New to Bob Jennings (Puttenham, Surrey) and fitted with a 2-litre Climax FWMV V8 engine. Used in the 1969 British Hill Climb Championship by Jennings, sharing with Mike MacDowel (Guildford, Surrey) who won at Bouley Bay in July and finished second at Rest-and-Be-Thankful and Craigantlet. Retained for 1970 when MacDowel won at Doune. Jennings continued with the car in 1971 but had Roy Lane fit it with a 3.7-litre Buick V8. To David Fyfe (Edinburgh) for 1972, then to Murray McGrath (Edinburgh) for 1973 but crashed at Doune and sold to Hamish McLean (Fife). Then unknown until owned by Barrie Dutnall (Gillingham, Kent) and raced at Lydden Hill in 1979. In 1980, Dutnall stripped the car of its engine and suspension, which were used on a new car built around a BT40 tub. The BT30X reappeared in 1985 when sold by David Rishworth (Leamington Spa, Warwickshire) to Ted Walker (Dursley, Gloucestershire), who sold it to Peter Coleman (Lenham, Kent) about six months later. Believed to have been restored with a new F2-style BT30 chassis and sold to Japan, while the original chassis and some other original parts passed via Simon Hadfield (Shepshed, Leicestershire) to Steve Worrad (Whitchurch, Shropshire) in 2005. The chassis and accumulated parts to Neil Glover (Ansty, West Sussex) 2008 and then to Chris Keen (Fritham, Hampshire) in 2009.
8. Brabham BT30X [1] (J A Murray McGrath): New to Bob Jennings (Puttenham, Surrey) and fitted with a 2-litre Climax FWMV V8 engine. Used in the 1969 British Hill Climb Championship by Jennings, sharing with Mike MacDowel (Guildford, Surrey) who won at Bouley Bay in July and finished second at Rest-and-Be-Thankful and Craigantlet. Retained for 1970 when MacDowel won at Doune. Jennings continued with the car in 1971 but had Roy Lane fit it with a 3.7-litre Buick V8. To David Fyfe (Edinburgh) for 1972, then to Murray McGrath (Edinburgh) for 1973 but crashed at Doune and sold to Hamish McLean (Fife). Then unknown until owned by Barrie Dutnall (Gillingham, Kent) and raced at Lydden Hill in 1979. In 1980, Dutnall stripped the car of its engine and suspension, which were used on a new car built around a BT40 tub. The BT30X reappeared in 1985 when sold by David Rishworth (Leamington Spa, Warwickshire) to Ted Walker (Dursley, Gloucestershire), who sold it to Peter Coleman (Lenham, Kent) about six months later. Believed to have been restored with a new F2-style BT30 chassis and sold to Japan, while the original chassis and some other original parts passed via Simon Hadfield (Shepshed, Leicestershire) to Steve Worrad (Whitchurch, Shropshire) in 2005. The chassis and accumulated parts to Neil Glover (Ansty, West Sussex) 2008 and then to Chris Keen (Fritham, Hampshire) in 2009.
9. Hillman Imp (Barrogill Angus): Barrogill Angus (Thurso, Scotland) raced a "Shannon Imp" in Scottish hillclimbs from 1972 to 1974, a Hillman Imp with Shannon-tuned 998cc Imp engine in the under 1000cc special saloon class. In 1973, the car was said to be ex-Tony Charnell (MN 21 Jun 1973 p28).
10. Brabham BT23C [10] (Bob Snelson): New to Malcolm Payne (Fakenham, Norfolk), replacing a McLaren M4A that he had raced in libre earlier in the year. Payne only raced the BT23C in a handful of libre races, and it was sold for 1969 to Garth McGillewie (Durban, South Africa) to be raced in the South African series as part of Team Parnell. It returned to England in September 1969 when bought by Tony Dean (Leeds, West Yorkshire) and was raced by him very successfully in libre racing until May 1970 when sold to Bobby Howlings (Congleton, Cheshire) who continued to race it in libre, as did Rod Pickering (Leicester) who bought it in August. Raced by Pickering until the end of 1971 then returned to Howlings who raced it briefly before selling it to Bob Snelson (Dunfermline?) who ran it in the Scottish Hill Climb championship in 1973. Last seen when advertised by Low Cost Racing complete with FVA in October 1973 as a potential Monoposto 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

AS 10 May 1973 p48, MN 17 May 1973 p19.