Indylantic Championship Round

Thruxton, 8 Aug 1976

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

Notes on the cars:

1. Chevron B29 [29-75-19] (Phil Dowsett): 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.
2. Chevron B29 [29-75-06_-2] (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.
3. Chevron B29 [29-75-29] (Jeremy Rossiter): New to Derek Cook (Wath-upon-Dearne, Rotherham, South Yorkshire) in August 1975, and raced in British Formula Atlantic with support from George Cooper Lubricants. To Jeremy Rossiter (Kidlington, Oxfordshire) for 1976, and raced in Shellsport G8 and Indylantic races. The series died at the end of 1976, and the car was unused until August 1977 when it was sold to John Pollock (Carrickfergus, County Antrim, Northern Ireland), who raced for Gerry Kinnane's team in Irish Formula Atlantic. Pollock raced it at Phoenix Park and Mondello Park in September 1977, but it was then sold to Tom O'Leary (Dalkey, County Dublin), Pollock taking O'Leary's older Brabham BT40 in part-exchange. Raced by O'Leary in the Irish series in 1978 and 1979.
4. Chevron B27 [27-74-14] (Jeromy Sumner): 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.
5. Lola T460 [T450 HU1] (Adrian Russell): New to Ardmore Racing, fitted with a Swindon BDX F2 engine and raced by Ray Mallock in the opening Shellsport Group 8 race at Mallory Park in March 1976. As the race started, Mallock was pushed into the pits Armco and the Lola was heavily damaged. It was repaired at Lola and hired by Ian Ashley for the F2 race at Thruxton in April, but the car's handling was so poor in practice, he elected not to race it. It was returned to the factory, and was still there awaiting modifications in early June. Then converted to Formula Atlantic specification and sold to Adrian Russell (Thornton Heath, Surrey) for Indylantic and Group 8 in 1976, and in libre for the first half of 1977. Then fitted with a 2-litre Swindon BDX bought from Val Musetti, and used in Shellsport G8 for the remainder of the season. To David Render for 1978, and used in sprints and hillclimbs with a 1600cc BDA but only rarely used from 1978 to 1983. Sprinted by Jonathan Skinner and Anthony Lane later in 1983, and in 1984. Sprinted by Mike Lane from 1984 to 1986. Sold by Lane to Rod Fisher for sprints with a 2-litre BDA in 1988 and 1989. Sold by Fisher to David Dedrickson in about June 2001, and run in Seattle area historic events.
6. Lola T460 [HU15] (Ted Wentz): New to American Ted Wentz and raced in the 1976 Indylantic series, entered by Swan Lager Racing. The car remained in Lola's ownership, and was sold at the end of the season via Albert Poon to Indonesian racer Beng Soeswanto, who raced it in the New Zealand Formula Pacific Internationals in January 1977, then in Southeast Asian races later that year. He crashed the car at Penang in May 1977, but was back out for the Macau GP in November. Believed to have been retained for 1978.
7. Lola T362 [HU18] (Mike King): Described as "the 1976 prototype", this car was loaned by Lola to the Wella team for Ted Wentz to drive in the last few races of the 1975 British Formula Atlantic season after Wentz' regular car was wrecked in testing at Silverstone by Roy James. It was loaned to Tony Trimmer for the start of the 1976 season, now as a Lola T362, and Trimmer won the first two races, only for the car to be sold from under him to Bruach Racing for Mike King, who raced it in Indylantic and Shellsport Group 8 for the rest of that season. Somehow then to Carl Liebich (Plymouth, WI) as a spare car to his Lola T460. Exactly when it was used is not known. Crashed at some point, and sold, still unrepaired, to Cy Moreland (Trainer, PA). Still with Moreland in 2003. Later to Steve Maxted (UK), fitted with a Cosworth BDG and raced by him in HSCC F2 races from 2006 to 2011. To Mark Piercy for HSCC F2 from 2012 onwards.
8. Surtees TS15 [06] (Steve Carvill): 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.
9. Swift SA1 (Lotus 69) [71/69.8.FB] (John Bicht): Built for stock with white bodywork according to the Lotus built record. Fitted with a Cosworth FVC engine for Tetsu Ikuzawa to drive in the JAF Grand Prix in May 1971, then returned to Europe and converted to Formula 2 specification for Reine Wisell to drive. Advertised by Lotus Cars Ltd in March 1972 and apparently unused until early December when Ian Mawby (Cambridge) acquired the "ex-Wisell" car to replace the Lotus 69 he had wrecked at Brands Hatch at the end of November. Raced by Mawby until an accident at Snetterton in July 1973 left him badly injured. Mawby started to rebuild this car with a new chassis, but it was still incomplete when sold to John Bicht, an American expat. Bicht rebuilt the car with a number of his own ideas, including narrower front track and a Lola T360 nose, and raced it in Indylantic in Britain in 1976 as the "Swift SA1". He advertised the car in 1977, and eventually sold it to a friend in the US. Bicht made further improvements, including narrower rear track and a March nose. It was later sold by this owner to Joe Grimaldi. Subsequent history unknown.
10. Chevron B27 [27-74-10?] (Bob Brown): Sold in May 1974 to Team Harper, and used by David Purley in the European F2 championship. Probably the car driven by David Purley at the Brands Hatch Boxing Day libre race at the end of the season. Team Harper advertised both their Chevron B27s as rolling chassis in January 1975. This car is likely to be the "late 1974 F2 car" used by Doug Thomson (Edinburgh, Scotland) in Scottish libre, sprints and hillclimbs in 1975, and offered for sale in January 1976 with a Swindon BDA and Hewland FGA400 gearbox. Thomson recalls that he sold the car to UK-resident American Bob Brown (not Bobby Brown) who occasionally raced what is described by Autosport as an ex-Harper B27 in Indyatlantic and Formula Libre in 1976, after buying the car late in 1975. Brown was backed by Oceaneering International, a Texas company, and is believed to have been a diver working in the North Sea oil field. He appears to have taken the car back to the US. Then unknown until an "ex-Purley" B27 was raced by Bobby Brown in SVRA and HSR vintage racing. Sold to Skip Jones (Portland, OR) and used in ICSCC and SOVREN vintage racing, fitted with a 2-litre Wenz Cosworth YBM engine. Sold in August 2016 back to Bobby Brown.

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.