John Player (British) Formula Atlantic Series Race

Snetterton, 30 Mar 1975

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

Notes on the cars:

1. Chevron B29 (Jim Crawford): The Chevron B29 used for testing in the US in early 1975 was acquired by Steve Choularton in February for Jim Crawford to race in the 1975 British Formula Atlantic series. It was rebuilt at the Chevron factory and was run by Choularton's SDC Racing from its premises near the factory. At the opening round it was described by Motoring News as "the Florida test car rebuilt" and by Autosport as "based on the original test car taken to the US for customer evaluation", a reference to the car tested over the winter by Bertil Roos, but whether this car was B29-75-01 or B29-75-02 is unclear. Crawford had four successive second places in this car. Prior to the Oulton Park race on 26 May, the car was rebuilt on a new monocoque which Autosport described as having "restored the car to standard specification". That car carried the chassis plate 29-75-15 so was effectively a new car and is covered under that heading.
2. Chevron B29 [29-75-04] (Richard Morgan): New to Tom Wheatcroft in February 1975, and tested by Richard Morgan who would be driving it in British Formula Atlantic. Raced by Morgan in the early races of the season, winning one race, until crashed at Brands Hatch in April. Morgan then drove the new Wheatcroft R18, and the Chevron was sold to Brett Riley, who drove it for the rest of 1975. To Ken Bailey (Stretford, Greater Manchester) and raced in Indylantic in 1976. Stored unused during 1977 and advertised by Bailey in November. Sold to Eddie Jordan (Dundrum, County Dublin, Ireland) and used in Irish Formula Atlantic in 1978 in Marlboro livery, winning both the All-Ireland and Duckhams Formula Atlantic Championships. Raced by his teammate Vivian Candy in Ireland in 1979, then sold via Phil Bennett to David Ward (Hesketh Bank, Lancashire) for British libre racing in 1980 and 1981. With Terry Cole for Monoposto racing in 1983, then reportedly broken up for spares by Chevron Cars.
3. Brabham BT40 [21] (Cyd Williams): New to Graham Eden Racing, and driven by Cyd Williams in the 1973 British Formula Atlantic championship. Retained by Eden and Williams for 1974. After Williams crashed the car at Brands Hatch in September 1974, it was raced by Richard Morgan and Tony Trimmer later that season. Retained by Eden again for 1975, with Cyd Williams again driving. To David Winstanley (Winsford, Cheshire) of Withers of Winsford for 1976, and raced in the Indylantic championship.
4. March 74B [73B-21] (Val Musetti): New to Stan Mathews (Wicken, Wolverton, Bucks) in June 1973, and raced in British Formula Atlantic. To Chris Oates (Kimberley, Notts) for 1974, but sold mid-season to Val Musetti (London). Retained by Musetti for 1975, when it was updated to 74B specification. It was also rebuilt on another tub about this time, but the details are obscure. Damaged by Derek Cook's March 73B in practice at Silverstone in July, and rebuilt in time for the race on the car's original tub - only to be crashed and damaged again in the race. At the end of 1975, Musetti built up a March "742", which could be said to have inherited the identity of 73B-21, but as the tub had been changed, the chassis plate had long gone, and its appearance and description were radically different, it could be argued that 73B-21 had dissipated by the end of 1975. The successor "742" later went to Bill Wood, then Ray Rowan, before spending much of the 1980s in Monoposto and then being rebuilt as a "712M" for historic racing in the late 1980s.
5. Chevron B29 [29-75-06] (Alo Lawler): New to Alo Lawler (St Helens, Merseyside) and raced in the 1975 British Formula Atlantic championship, sponsored by L&B Excavations Ltd. Also used in the Irish championship that year, and in libre racing. Retained by Lawler for 1976, when he raced it in the Shellsport G8 championship, the Irish Formula Atlantic championship, the British Indylantic championship, and in libre racing. Sold to John Eastwood and raced in the Irish Formula Atlantic series. To Joe Greenan (Belfast, Northern Ireland) for 1978, and entered by Irish Racing Cars in Irish Atlantic, then raced by Ken Fildes (Clonskeagh, Dublin) in 1979 and 1980. Sold to English wheeler dealer Bobby Howlings (Congleton, Cheshire) for 1981, and raced by Howlings in rounds of the reintroduced British Formula Atlantic championship. Sold to Stuart Harte (Littleborough, Greater Manchester) and fitted with a 2.2-litre Hart 420R engine for sprints and hillclimbs. After Harte's death, the car was retained by his family until 2011, when it was sold to Jon Waggitt. Waggitt sold it to Chris Porritt in July 2011, and he spent some years returning it to running condition. He first raced it at Laguna Seca in March 2020, then brought it back to the UK later that year.
6. Chevron B27 [27-74-16] (Peter Williams): Sold to Peter Williams (Brentwood, Essex) in June 1974 for British Formula Atlantic; and retained for the 1975 season. To Porsche racer and driving instructor Mike Franey (London) later in 1975 and raced in F/Atlantic with Samatco Ltd backing. Unknown in 1976, but in early 1977, novice racer Martin Murphy (London) won a Formule Libre race at Thruxton in the "ex-Peter Williams Coin Monthly" B27. The car remained in Franey's possession until September 1979, when it was sold to Jeremy Bouckley (Sutton Coldfield, West Midands) as a rolling chassis. Bouckley cannot recall what happened to it, but this car was reportedly owned by Phil Sharp for hillclimbs in 1984. Subsequent history unknown.
7. Chevron B29 [29-75-19] (Stephen Choularton): New to Stephen Choularton (Hale Barns, Cheshire) and raced in British Formula Atlantic in 1975, entered by SDC Racing. To Phil Dowsett (Chelmsford, Essex) for the Indylantic Championship in 1976, entered by Sangria Designs and Capital Radio. Then sold to John Ledlie for the Irish series in 1977 but badly damaged at Phoenix Park in September 1977 when Ledlie hit a tree. As one of relatively few B29s left in Britain and Ireland by this time, it may be the car raced by Trevor Templeton in May 1979 and then by Nelson Todd later in 1979, sponsored by Belfast car dealer Isaac Agnew. Subsequent history unknown.
8. Chevron B27 [27-74-14] (Peter Munro): Chevron build record says sold to Derek Cook, August 1974, so Cook's late season car in British Formula Atlantic. To Peter Munro (Birmingham) for 1975, but his sponsorship fell through, and he loaned the car back to Cook at the British GP meeting after he had wrecked his own car in practice. Cook then managed to wreck the Chevron on lap 1 of the race, and it did not appear again in 1975. To Jeremy Sumner for the 1976 Indyatlantic series, where it was also driven by Mike Wilds and John Scannell. Thought to have been the B27 bought by Christian Bonnifet in 1977, and used in French hillclimbs between 1979 and 1983. In 1997, Jean-Michel Coll (Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales, France) advertised chassis 74-14 as a rolling chassis. It was later reported to be under restoration in the UK.
9. Chevron B29 [29-75-18] (Matt Spitzley): New to Ted Moore of racing car freight specialists Rapid Movements, to be driven by Matt Spitzley in British Formula Atlantic in 1975. For some reason, presumably an accident, this car was replaced by chassis 75-25 in May 1975.
10. Surtees TS15 [06] (Peter Wardle): New to Peter Wardle (Wimbledon, London) and raced in British Formula Atlantic in 1973, winning from pole position at one race Brands Hatch in August. Retained for 1974, again in British Formula Atlantic, and then retained for a third season in 1975. However, towards the end of 1975, Wardle was entering Steve Carvill (Wimbledon, London) in some races, and it is unclear whether the team had a second TS15 by this point, as the pair never appeared together in the same race. Wardle acquired sponsorship from Radio Luxembourg and Applied Racing Techniques for 1976, and both Wardle and Carvill appeared in Indylantic and in Shellsport G8 during that season, presumably both still in chassis 06. Wardle advertised a TS15 in 1983, with FG400 but no engine and a mountain of spares. According to researcher David McKinney, chassis 06 and chassis 07 were with Tony Collinson in 1990, and chassis 06 appears to stayed with its sister through the ownership of Gerry Wainwright, John Elliott, Mark Griffiths and Crispian Besley, who had both cars in 2010. Beesley sold chassis 06 to Dean Forward in 2019, still in unrestored component form.
11. March 73B [722-24] (Roy Baker): New to Bill Gubelmann (Oyster Bay, NY) to use in the 1972 Yellow Pages Formula Atlantic championship. The car was blue and yellow, and wore #16 all season. Gubelmann won six races and narrowly pipped Cyd Williams to the championship title. The car was sold to fellow American Jas Patterson (Rosslyn Heights, NY) for 1973, repainted red and white, and entered for him by Texaco Team Racing/RIR in the 1973 British season. Patterson crashed heavily at Oulton Park in May 1973, and although the car was rebuilt, he appeared a few races later in what appears to be a new 73B. Patterson raced the 73B for the remainder of 1973 and through 1974, but the 722 reappeared in early November 1974 when an ex-Patterson "722/73B" was acquired by Roy Baker (Ferndown, Dorset) and raced regularly by him through the 1975 season. Subsequent history unknown.
12. March 74B [742-23] (Graham Perry): New to Bob Harper, an American Ford and BMW importer based in Hong Kong, and entered in 1974 F2 under the banner of Team Harper. The team was run for him by Mike Earle from the Lec workshops in Bognor Regis, with mechanics Greg Field and Tony Harvey. Chassis 742/23 is believed to be the car raced by David Purley at two races early in the season, before Harper replaced the Marches with Chevron B27s. It was acquired for Chris Meek to race at two events in Ceylon, but he did not have the right licence and the 742 was next seen raced by Graham Perry (Birmingham) in Formula Atlantic in 1975, sponsored by Harrisons of Birmingham. For 1976, it was sold to John Walker (Lancaster) but only seen rarely. Retained by Walker for libre racing in 1977, and by the end of that season it was being described as a 772. To Paul Gardner (Preston, Lancashire) for 1978, again for libre racing.
13. Chevron B27 [27-74-06] (Derek Cook): New to Fred Opert Racing and the car raced by Bertil Roos in the British Formula Atlantic race at Brands Hatch in mid-March. Then fitted with a 2-litre Brian Hart Ford BDA for Roos at two F2 races, Montjuich Park and Hockenheim. Apparantly returned to Formula Atlantic specification and run by the Opert team in the UK series, initially for Héctor Rebaque, and later for Johnny Kastner, William Henderson III and then local man Jim Crawford. Sold to Derek Cook (Rotherham, South Yorkshire) for early 1975 Formula Atlantic races before being replaced by a newer B29. Retained for 1976 when Cook ran it in Indylantic, Shellsport G8, and libre racing, with either a Formula Atlantic BDA or a self-built 2-litre BDA. Retained again for early 1977 and used in F2 and in Shellsport, now with a 2-litre Alan Smith BDG, before Cook acquired a F1 Williams. Subsequent history unknown.

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.