New Zealand International Formula Mondial race

Pukekohe, 5 Jan 1986

All cars are 1.6-litre F/Pac unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Ralt RT4/82 [81-262] (Ken Smith): Ralt sales record says sold to Graham Watson/Bob Jane, without delivery date. [Tub no: 81/118; Gearbox FT1356; Fuel cell: JM36679 5/81] Chassis number noted in NZMA report as on the car of Geoff Brabham at the AGP 1981, [NZMA 23 Nov 81 p4]. Chassis number given for Jacques Laffite's car at 1982 AGP. Chassis number given NZMN 21 Jan 83 p16 for the car of Ken Smith at Bay Park, 2 Jan 83. A separate note by Dave McKinney says that this was the car used by Brabham 1981 AGP and Jacques Laffite 1982 AGP. [CT]
2. Chevron B49 [49-79-04] (Peter Haskett): New to Graeme Lawrence (New Zealand) and raced in the Southeast Asian Formula Pacific races in 1979. Crashed in the Selangor Grand Prix in September, and reported to have been written off. To Peter Haskett and rebuilt. Entered by Haskett for Charlie Thomasen in the 1983/84 New Zealand season. Raced by Haskett in the 1983/84 season, and retained for the 1984/85 and 1985/86 seasons. Then unknown until 2003 or 2004, when it was bought from Kenny Smith by Kevin Ban (Christchurch, NZ) of Kelford Cams. It went to Barry Leitch for restoration, and Murray Sinclair commented on TNF in June 2006 that it would need a new monocoque, which was being fabricated. It was shown complete in March 2015, when Ban was due to pick it up.
3. Ralt RT4/82 [81-267] (Dave McMillan): Ralt sales record says sold to Theodore Racing, delivered 16 Oct 81. [Tub no: 81/135; gearbox FT1488; fuel cell JM37176 10/81] Dave McMillan's car at Bay Park 3 Jan 82 is described by NZMN as Lees's car from Macau, 1981. Chassis number given NZMN 21 Jan 83 p16 for the car of Dave McMillan at Bay Park, 2 Jan 83. Presumed to be the car used by McMillan for the first part of the 1982 North American season, before he was given a 1982 specification car to use [alternatively this may have been RT4-205]. Chassis number given for McMillan's car at 1982 AGP, [AMSYB-82 p167] [CT]
4. March 77B [75B/"8"—2] (Geoff Champion): Carrying chassis plate 75B-8, this car was bought by Kiwi Dave Saunders from March in 1976, after it had been returned to the works. It is unclear why 75B-8 would have been in England but March records do contain a note saying that its Shierson Racing sister car 75B-2 was returned to England for repairs. Presumably Saunders, who had raced in the UK in 1976, took it back with him to New Zealand because it appears in the first two rounds of the 1977 NZ series, being badly damaged in practice for the second. A NZ vehicle registration document [required for all cars in NZ] dated 10 Nov 77 confirms the plate is chassis number 8. The Pukekohe damage was made good with a new tub, bought not from March but John Thompson's fabrication company, numbered M772PU6. The car is now in Australia, and these documents were forwarded from the owner via Bryan Miller, and had been confirmed with Dave Saunders. Saunders reappeared with the car, now entered as a 77B, in the New Zealand Formula Pacific series in 1980/81, but had major accidents at Pukekohe in January 1981 and in March 1981. The car was then sold to Ross Cameron's Willowbank Motor Court Ltd (Dunedin, NZ) in May 1981. Cameron raced it in the 1981/82, 1982/83 and 1983/84 series. It then went via Ken Smith to Allan Champion, and is believed to be car raced by Geoff Champion in the 1985/86 series. It then passed via Smith again to Gerry Duyvestyn (Australia) in September 1989. It was bought by Howard Blight (Sydney, NSW) in August 1993, and raced in Australian historic events up to 2007. Sold to Robert Foster (Casino, NSW) and raced by him from 2008 onwards.
5. Chevron B34 [OX] (Heather Spurle): A car built by David Oxton using a spare monocoque acquired from the Opert team. Raced by Oxton in the New Zealand Formula Pacific series in January 1978, then in the 1977/78 Gold Star, and also in the January 1979 and January 1980 Internationals. Next seen in 1984 Internationals, when it was raced by Charlie Thomasen, and then in several more seasons by Heather Spurle. It is reported that this car then went via Kenny Smith to John Wigston for his daughter Joanna to race.
6. Ralt RT4/82 [81-275] (Brett Riley): Ralt sales record says sold to Mallock, delivered 2 Oct 81. [Tub no: gearbox: FT1476; fuel cell: JM36737 6/81]. Ray Mallock's car for Australian GP, 1981 and this number observed on Mallock's car in the NZMA report of that race, [NZMA 23 Nov 81 p4]. Dave McKinney's report of that race says that the car had been shaken down in a Formula Libre race in Britain. Chassis number given for the car of Hubert Phipps at the 1982 AGP. It is presumed the car was in fact owned by Bob Jane [owner of Calder] and leased to Mallock, and later to Phipps. [CT]

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.

The New Zealand race results have been provided by Chris Townsend based on material in Autosport and Motoring News reports in the UK, Motoraction in New Zealand plus the information supplied by a wide range of contributors.

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

On Track 30 Jan 1986 pp48-49. Entry list information and other details provided by Andrew Horrox using New Zealand Motoring News, On Track Magazine and Australian Autoaction.