Scottish Hill Climb Championship round

Doune, 22 Apr 1979

Notes on the cars:

1. March 782/79B [782-10] (Chris Cramer): Bernard de Dryver's car at Thruxton 27 Mar 1978 and presumably all season; run by Bob Salisbury Racing. To Godfrey Crompton's Douglas & Gavin for Chris Cramer in hillclimbs in 1979. Retained for Cramer to use in 1980, when he won the British championship. Sold to Jimmy Jack (Evanton, Scotland) for hillclimbs from 1981 to 1983. The car evidently returned to Cramer, as he used it once in the 1987 season, at Harewood. Cramer sold the car in 1989 to Wolfgang Bode (Germany), who started the restoration but did not complete it. It was sold to Franz Guggemos in 2004, and he sold the Hart engine and restored it with a BMW engine, restoring it to 782 bodywork after it had been hillclimbed without sidepods. Initially rebuild in Eddie Cheever's livery, it was run in German historic hillclimbs in 2008, but was badly damaged in practice for a Historic F2 race at Spa in 2010. Repainted in de Dryver's Paris Match livery by 2015.
2. March 772 [3] (Jimmy Jack): New to Norman Dickson, and raced in F2, Shellsport G8 and libre racing in 1977. To Jimmy Jack for 1978, and used in libre, sprints and hillclimbs, when it was also raced by Charlie Munro, and by Eddie Cheever in an Ingliston libre race. Retained for 1979, when driven by Jack and Munro in speed events again, and also by Andy Barton and Bill Lord on occasion, and used by Jack more rarely in 1980. It was then sold to Tony Brown in Gloucestershire for hillclimbs, but by mid-1981, he had sold it to Stuart Lawson (Kirkliston, Scotland), taking Lawson's ex-Bernard Hunter March 80/81A in trade. Lawson used the 772 in libre racing with a Hart 420R engine at Ingliston in 1981, sharing it with Ted Dzierzek, who drove it in Knockhill events in 1981 and 1982. Subsequent history unknown until it was raced by Christian Fischer in Historic F2 in 2003, when it had been reunited with its BMW engine. Fischer drove it until 2005, when it temporarily disappeared into Switzerland before being bought by Ted Walker and Matthew Watts (both Dursley, Gloucestershire) in 2007. It was raced by Watts in HSCC Historic F2 from 2009 to 2019.
3. Chevron B20 [72-4] (Bill Lord): To Bob Howlings Racing Team for John Lepp (Altrincham, Cheshire) to race in British Formula Atlantic in 1972. Won at Croft in August and had several other good placings. Last seen in the UK at Oulton Park on 30 September 1972, and then unknown until early 1974 when sold by Howlings to Nelson Todd (Lisburn, Northern Ireland), and raced in Irish Formula Atlantic, winning at Kirkistown in October 1974. To Jim Sherry (Lisburn, Northern Ireland) for a couple of races at Mondello Park in 1975. This must be the "little used" Chevron B20 advertised by Gerry Kinnane in Belfast in June 1976. Raced by Mike Nugent (Cookstown, County Tyrone) a couple of times later that year. Then to Dick Parsons (Dundonald, County Down, Northern Ireland) for 1977, when it was described as a ex-Kinnane. Sold to Tom McMillan in Scotland, then on to Bill Lord for 1978 and used in Scottish hillclimbs, reputedly with a Hart 420R Formula 2 engine, but this seems unlikely. Retained for 1979 and presumably the Chevron B20 with Cosworth FVC engine advertised from Dunfermline, Fife in November 1979.
4. March 742/772 ["U1"] (Norrie Galbraith): Built by March as the development car for the new March 742 series, but using a leftover 732 monocoque. Employed as the spare car for the Elf-sponsored works team in 1974, it was raced by Patrick Depailler at Montjuich Park, by Michel Leclère at Hockenheim in June, by Depailler to win at Mugello, by Ronnie Peterson to win at Karlskoga, and by Depailler again at Enna. It was not seen in 1975, but then sold in December 1975 to David Franklin (Portbury, Somerset) and used in British hillclimbs in 1976, with sponsorship from Wendy Wools. Retained for 1977, when it was fitted with 1977 bodywork. For 1978, it was sold to Alan Richards (Prestbury, Gloucestershire), fitted with a 2-litre Cosworth FVC and used in sprints and hillclimbs. To Norrie Galbraith (Lanark, Scotland) for 1979, and used in Scottish speed events. Retained by Galbraith for 1980, but rebuilt over the winter by Robin Smith to 782 configuration, and fitted with a Hart 420R engine. In December 1980, the car was advertised from a Frome, Somerset, phone number, described as being ex-Depailler and ex-Galbraith, modified by Smith. It has been suggested that Stephen Cuff was the advertiser. Subsequent history unknown.
5. Brabham BT30 (Jimmy Johnstone): At the end of 1977, Jim Johnstone bought a Brabham BT30 from David Winstanley (Crewe, Cheshire) of Lodge Corner Agencies. The car came without history or chassis plate so its origins remain unknown. Johnstone hillclimbed the car with FVA engine in 1978 and 1979, taking numerous 1600cc class wins and even qualifying for the Top 10 Runoffs on a couple of occasions. He sold it to Chris Seaman (Sheffield, South Yorkshire) who raced it from 1980 onwards. Retained by Seaman for many years but at Shelsley Walsh in 2005 it appeared in the hands of Jon Waggitt (York). This car has no chassis plate but appears to be a genuine BT30 chassis carrying Arch Motors number AM 70 112R.

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.