Selangor Grand Prix

Shah Alam, 30 Nov 1980

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

Notes on the cars:

1. Ralt RT1/75 [5] (Sonny Rajah): New to John Macdonald (Hong Kong) and raced in Sotheast Asian 1600cc 2-valve category racing in 1975, then in the Formula Atlantic and 1600cc 4-valve category in 1976 and 1977. It was also raced by Vern Schuppan at Macau in 1977. Macdonald then sold it to Peter Marshall, who raced it in 1978 and 1979. It was still in Marshall's ownership when raced by Sonny Rajah in 1980 and 1981. It is understood to have been wrecked by Rajah at the Shah Alam GP in 1981.
2. Chevron B34 [34-76-25] (Narcisco de la Merced): Invoiced to Fred Opert Racing and believed to be the "brand new" pale blue #75 Chevron B34 raced by Opert's customer Gordon Smiley at Mosport Park in late August 1976. Then raced by Patrick Tambay at Trois-Rivières two weeks later, and by Elliot Forbes-Robinson in the IMSA race at Laguna Seca in early October. It was one of three B34s taken to New Zealand for the Formula Pacific series in January 1977, and was Mikko Kozarowitzky's regular car. After the series, it was sold to Narcisco de la Merced and raced by him in Southeast Asian races from 1977 to 1982. Then to Luis Camus for 1983. Subsequent history unknown.
3. Chevron B34 [34-76-21] (José "Pocholo" Ramirez): New to Fred Opert Racing for Jim Crawley in the IMSA Formula Atlantic series, appearing at Road Atlanta in April and Laguna Seca in May. He then missed the Ontario Motor Speedway as the car was reported to have been "destroyed" in a testing crash at Willow Springs. It was evidently rebuilt in time to be rented by Ric Forest at Edmonton in May. Crawley raced it again at Westwood, when it was pale blue and entered by Opert as #52. This is presumably the car then entered for Lloyd Callaway (Chicago, IL) to drive at Mont-Tremblant, Halifax and Mosport Park in July and August 1976, as his car was also pale blue and entered by Opert as #52. Like RJ Nelkin's similarly semi-private car, it evidently returned to Fred Opert Racing after these three races. It may then have been one of the cars hired from Opert for the SCCA Runoffs by Bill Anspach and Bill Kneeland. It is then thought to be the car used by Eddie Marcello at the Philippines GP in December. In January 1977, Opert took a team out to the New Zealand Formula Pacific series, and chassis 76-21 was identified as the car raced there by Keke Rosberg, winning three of the five races and taking four pole positions. It was then sold to Pocolo Ramirez (Philippines) and raced by him in southeast Asian races from 1977 to 1982. It is believed to have been imported into New Zealand from Asia by Graham Simms. It was then sold to Ken Smith and then Andy Higgins in New Zealand, then acquired by David Gathercole in 2009. He fully rebuilt it to Formula Atlantic specification by June 2011 for Rod Stead, who raced it at HSCC Donington Park in May 2012. Bought from Stead in November 2012 by Andy Huxtable. Raced by Huxtable in HSCC Derek Bell Trophy races in 2013.
4. March 76B [17] (Romeo David): New to Sonny Rajah with a fuel-injected Hart engine, and run for Graeme Lawrence in South East Asia.
5. Ralt RT1/77 [88] (Steve Millen): New to Brian Robertson's Ralt America as a late-season car for the CASC Formula Atlantic series, probably intended for Eddie Cheever to drive at Trois Rivieres, but he did not appear. To Larry Bergman (Los Gatos, CA) for SCCA Formula B in California. Bergman retained the car for 1979, winning the Northern Pacific Division Formula Atlantic title but also competing in most rounds of the North American Formula Atlantic series. Then to Steve Millen in New Zealand, and raced in the Aurora AFX New Zealand Formula Pacific series in January 1980, then in the 1980/81 season. To Eric Morgan for the 1981/82, 1982/83 and 1983/84 seasons. CT
6. Chevron B40 (Kiyoshi Misaki): Masao Segawa raced a Chevron B40 at the JAF Suzuka Grand Prix at the beginning of November 1978, using a BMW engine. Raced by Segawa through the 1979 Japanese F2 season. Then to Kiyoshi Misaki and rebuilt for Formula Pacific with a Toyota engine. Misaki only appeared three times in the Japanese series, but then raced the car in the Macau and Selangor Grands Prix in November. Subsequent history unknown.

Sources

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' original results.

The results of the Formula Pacific races in South East Asian at Macau, Penang, Selangor and Shah Alam were originally provided by Chris Townsend based on the short reports in Autosport and Motoring News plus the information supplied by a wide range of contributors. These have been developed further by Andrew Horrox using material in New Zealand Motoraction. For the Macau Grand Prix, further data comes from Philip Newsome's book 'Color and Noise: 40 Years of the Macau Grand Prix' (Studio Publications Ltd, 1993).

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 11 Dec 1980 p50, Asian Auto January 1981, pp21-37