Scottish Hill Climb Championship round

Fintray, 15 Jun 1980

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 742/772/782P ["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.
3. March 792 [21] (Max Harvey): New to Marlboro Team Tiga for Eje Elgh to drive in F2 in 1979, using BMW engines. Acquired in early 1980 by Max Harvey for British hillclimbs, evidently replacing the ex-Henton car that he had originally bought. Harvey retained the 792 for 1981, when it had a 2.5-litre Hart engine. It was acquired from Harvey in 1984 by Roger "Doc" Willoughby who fitted the Buick V8 engine from the March 721S that he wrecked at Wiscombe Park in September 1983. Raced by Willoughby in hillclimbs in 1985. Willoughby later sold the car to Adrian Moores who subsequently had a major accident at the Brighton Speed Trials in the car. The wrecked was sold to Roy Woodhouse, who stripped anything useful. Some time later, he sold it all to Richard Prosser, who rebuilt it with a 2-litre Vauxhall C20XE engine and used it in Sprints in 1996 and 1997. He sold it to Prosser, who ran the car in 1996 in the British Sprint Championship. Prosser sold the car to Stuart Ridge, who raced it between 2012 and 2014, at first with the Vauxhall engine and later with a 2-litre Cosworth BDG. Ridge sold it to to Chris Bentley-Jones, who still had it in March 2016.
4. March 782/79B [5] (Godfrey Crompton): Patrick Neve's car at Thruxton 27 Mar 1978. Run by Bob Salisbury Racing during 1978 for Neve, James King, Gianfranco Brancatelli and, probably, Divina Galica at Hockenheim in September. Sold to Godfrey Crompton (Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire) of Douglas & Gavin Racing, and rebuilt to 79B specification with a 2.2-litre Hart 420R engine for hillclimbs in 1979. Retained for 1980, but replaced with a new March 802 in August. Subsequent history unknown, but this is said to have been the 782/79B used by Keith Cox in Sprints in 1983 and 1984.
5. 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.

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.