Yellow Pages Championship Round

Oulton Park, 21 Mar 1971

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

Notes on the cars:

1. March 71BM [2] (Bill Gubelmann): New for Bill Gubelmann (Oyster Bay, NY) and used in British Formula Atlantic at the start of the season, winning at Oulton Park 21 March, and then in the SCCA Pro Formula B series. The car was often described as a 712M but it seems more likely that he used the same 712BM all season. Also raced with a BDA in the Formula A race at Lime Rock in Sep and in one round of the Canadian series. Sold via Joe Grimaldi's The Race Shop to Frank Del Vecchio (Trumbull, CT) and used in NEDiv FB and in a couple of rounds of the Pro series. Sold back via Joe Grimaldi at the end of 1972; Frank thinks it went to a Canadian, and it is very likely to have been the car driven by Ken Huband, Norm Joy and David Westgate in 1973 and 1974. Sold to Mauro Lanaro (Montréal, Quebec) to replace the 71BM he lost in a transporter fire in 1974. Significantly modified in 1976 as the Lanaro Special with triangular sidepods, a different nose, and with its Cosworth BDA engine laid on its side. This car went through many evolutions, and was still being raced by Lanaro right up to 1995 when it was used in a vintage event. Lanaro eventually rebuilt to original 71BM specification about 1999. In late 2018, it was part of a package of cars bought from Lanaro by David Clubine (Brantford, ON), and was sold to a collector in Ontario.
2. Palliser WDB4 [1] (Vern Schuppan): New for Vern Schuppan to drive as the Palliser Racing entry in the British Formula Atlantic series in early 1971. Taken out to Singapore in April 1971 and sold there to Hengkie Iriawan, who raced it in Southeast Asian events in 1971 and early 1972, still fitted with its BRM Ford twin cam engine. Iriawan died on 23 April 1972 in a go-kart crash at Ipoh in Malaysia, and the Palliser was sold to Jan Bussell (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), who raced it in 1972, 1973 and 1974. Subsequent history unknown.
3. Chevron B10 [F2.2] (Bob Ellice): The second Chevron B10 was completed in July 1968 and raced by Bennett himself at a libre race before being sold to Mike MacDowel and Bob Jennings in August for hillclimbs. They ran it until the end of the season but then bought a new Brabham BT30X and the Chevron was sold to Graham Eden who first used an oversized Ford twin-cam and then returned the car to FVA specification. It was upgraded to B17 specification for 1970 and at the end of that season passed to Bill Creasey and then on to Bob Ellice for the 1971 season. Ellice ran it in the new Formula Atlantic series with a twin-cam engine, entered by John Deuxberry. Then to the US and used in FB by Mike Hickey (Portland, OR) from May 1972. To Richard Shepard (San Francisco, CA) January 1974 and converted to FC with an 1100cc Holbay-Cosworth engine. Later sold to Monte Shelton (Portland, OR), then from Shelton to Tom Black (Portland, OR) who acquired a new body and other parts from Ed Swart (all this around 1990) and sold it all to Gerry Kingen (Seattle, WA) in 1991. Restored for Kingen by Mike Gent for display in one of Kingen's restaurants. Sold by him to Ernie Spada Jr (Lake Oswego, OR) some time in the mid to late 1990s and restored again by Gent to running Formula B specification. To Jim Catchot (Rancho Murieta, CA) January 2014.
4. Brabham BT28/35 [BT28-2] (Mike Stow): Delivered March 1969 to Clarke Mordaunt racing team for Mike Beuttler in UK F3 in 1969. To Jim Edwards for UK F3 in 1970. To Mike Stow for Formula Atlantic in 1971 when it was said to have been updated to BT29/35 specification. Sold to Dick Barker at the beginning of 1972 when it was said to have been 'brought up to FB BT29 specification last year'. However, Motoring News identified Barker's car as chassis number BT28-20 twice early in 1972 instead of BT28-2. BT28-20 was a different ex-Stow car with a clear history up to this point, implying MN's reporter made a mistake. Barker's car was heavily damaged at Crystal Palace at the end of May 1972 and was not seen again. Barker advertised a 'BT29/35' in April 1973 but the identity of that car is unknown.
5. Brabham BT28 [21] (John Gillmeister): New for Andy Sutcliffe for F3 late 1969 but crashed heavily at Brands Hatch in mid-October. To John Gillmeister for 1970 but his season stopped in July and the car was raced only once more in F3, by Roger Hurst (Folkestone, Kent). Converted to Formula Atlantic by Lenham Hurst Racing Organisation for Gillmeister for 1971 but replaced after a few races by a Palliser, and ended up at MRE. Bought by Fl Lt Des White (Bristol) and fitted with the Ford twin cam and Hewland FT200 from Mike Stow's BT28/BT35 after Stow acquired a BDA. Used by White in Bristol MC events at Colerne and Hullavington but not actually raced. Sold to Derrick Robinson (Radstock, Somerset) late 1973 and advertised by him in May 1974 as a rolling chassis with new FT200, commenting that it had only raced once. Subsequent history unknown.
6. Chevron B18C [18.A.71.1] (Graham Eden): New to Graham Eden and delivered just in time for the Oulton Park Formula Atlantic race on 21 March 1971, the second round of the British series. Eden retired from driving shortly after and recruited Cyd Williams to drive the car. Williams won seven championship rounds and finished second in the 1971 championship. Eden ordered Ensigns for 1972 but cancelled the order and bought March 722s instead. Williams continued to drive the Chevron until his 722 arrived and won three of the first six rounds of the 1972 series. The car was later displayed at the London Racing Car show, where it was bought by Canadian Bob Armstrong (Winnipeg, Manitoba) for the Canadian Formula B series in 1973. Armstrong appeared in the early rounds of the series but made little impact and wasn't seen after June. Subsequent history unknown.
7. Lotus 69 [71/69.1] (Chris Oates): Number given in Lotus build record for the car sold to Chris Oates (Kimberley, Notts) for 1971 (an unusual number since it does not include a formula code, and this is not the same car as 71/69.1.FB which was sold in North America). Entered by Alida Else Racing Team for Oates in Formula Atlantic and libre racing in 1971. To Bernard Hunter (Edinburgh, Scotland) for libre and sprints in Scotland in 1972. To John Barr (Edinburgh, Scotland) and used in libre, sprints and hillclimbs in 1973 and 1974. To Bob Rollo (Prestonpans, Scotland) for libre racing in 1975 and 1976.

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 British race results have been compiled by Chris Townsend based on material in Autosport and Motoring News reports in the UK 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.