ShellSPORT International Championship race

Thruxton, 6 Jun 1977

All cars are 5-litre F5000 unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. March 75A/761 [1-2] (Guy Edwards): John MacDonald (RAM Racing) 1975. Raced in UK 1975: driven by Alan Jones (3rd BARC Thruxton 17 Aug 1975) - Hexagon Garage for Damien Magee UK 1976 - Guy Edwards UK 1977; rebuilt on a March 761 monocoque, and then converted to DFV power for last few races of 1977. Edwards UK 1978 (first two races); then for Bruce Allison (five races). Also used by Desire Wilson in a test session prior to the British GP. To Terry Smith (Felton, Somerset), fitted with a 5-litre Repco engine, and used in the British Sprint Championship 1979, 1980 and 1981. Used by Smith and John Meredith British Sprint Championship 1982. To Ray Rowan 1983, and retained by him until about 1987 when the Repco engine was sold to Australia and the rolling chassis was sold via a dealer to Italy. Reemerged four years later when sold by Andrea Frasson (Rosà, Vicenza, Italy) to Daniel Pouteau (Paris, France) in December 1991. Retained by Pouteau, still apart and in still Terry Smith's livery, until sold via Bernard De Dryver to Paul Grant (Brussels, Belgium) in April 2013. Rebuilt for Masters F1 in 2015, and debut at the Spa 6 Hours in September 2015.
2. March 772 [3] (Norman Dickson): New to Norman Dickson, and raced in F2, Shellsport G8 and libre racing in 1977. To Jimmy Jack for 1978, and used in libre, sprints and hillclimbs, when it was also raced by Charlie Munro, and by Eddie Cheever in an Ingliston libre race. Retained for 1979, when driven by Jack and Munro in speed events again, and also by Andy Barton and Bill Lord on occasion, and used by Jack more rarely in 1980. It was then sold to Tony Brown in Gloucestershire for hillclimbs, but by mid-1981, he had sold it to Stuart Lawson (Kirkliston, Scotland), taking Lawson's ex-Bernard Hunter March 80/81A in trade. Lawson used the 772 in libre racing with a Hart 420R engine at Ingliston in 1981, sharing it with Ted Dzierzek, who drove it in Knockhill events in 1981 and 1982. Subsequent history unknown until it was raced by Christian Fischer in Historic F2 in 2003, when it had been reunited with its BMW engine. Fischer drove it until 2005, when it temporarily disappeared into Switzerland before being bought by Ted Walker and Matthew Watts (both Dursley, Gloucestershire) in 2007. It was raced by Watts in HSCC Historic F2 from 2009 to 2019.
3. March 762 [752-21] (Hervé Leguellec): Originally intended for Trivellato but not collected so fitted with a F3 rear wing and sold instead to Markus Hotz (Lippoldswilen, Switzerland) for European hillclimbs and Swiss championship events. At the beginning of 1976, it was raced by Harald Ertl in the F2 race at Hockenheim, finishing sixth. Hotz continued with Swiss championship events but damaged the car, and returned it to the factory in part exchange for a new March 762. March sold the 752 on, unrepaired, to Roger Heavens, who rebuilt it as a 762 and intended to fit the turbocharged 1.4-litre Ford Formula 2 engine that Geoff Richardson was developing. When the car appeared, in the Shellsport G8 series with Derrick Worthington driving, it used a Richardson BDX instead. Also raced in G8 and libre events by José Maria de Uriarte. Retained for 1977 and entered by Heavens for Pablo Brea and Hervé Leguellec. Taken over by Adrian Russell (Thornton Heath, Surrey) later in 1977, and raced by him in British F1 and libre in 1978. Sold to Paul Brooks (Selby, North Yorkshire) for 1979, and raced in libre. Subsequent history unknown.
4. Chevron B37 [37-76-01] (Bruce Allison): To VDS Racing and entered for Peter Gethin in the 1976 US F5000 series (also raced once by Teddy Pilette) and in the Rothmans series in Australia in early 1977. To Bruce Allison (Brisbane, Australia) and raced by him in the 1977 UK Group 8 Championship and in the Rothmans series again in Australia in early 1978. Then to Ivan Tighe (Brisbane) and raced in national Australian F5000 and in the International series in 1979. Raced by Tighe up to the end of F5000 in Australia in 1982 and retained by him until 2001. Then sold via Race Car Warehouse (Brighton, England) in early 2002 to Simon Hadfield (Shepshed, Leicestershire) and completely restored. Raced with great success by Hadfield in historic racing both in the UK and in Australia from 2004 to 2008. It has since been raced by guest drivers, including Tony Trimmer at Oulton Park in 2009, Marcus Pye at Oulton Park in 2010 and Ben Anderson at the 2012 Silverstone Classic. Sold in October 2014 to Neil Glover (Ansty, West Sussex).
5. March 752 [15] (Val Musetti): New to Masami Kuwashima for Formula 2 in 1975, prepared by Roy Kennedy's team in London, and entered by Masami Kuwashima Racing. After just two races, Kuwashima returned to Japan, and the 752 was sold to Tom Walkinshaw.who had it converted by Kennedy to F5000 specification, with the installation of a 3.4-litre Ford V6 engine. Raced by Walkinshaw in the 1975 Shellsport F5000 Championship. To Val Musetti, and raced in Shellsport G8 in 1976 and 1977. Converted to F1 specification for 1978, with a Cosworth DFV engine, and referred to as a 761 that season. Wrecked at Mallory Park in August but rebuilt again for 1979, when it was described as a 771, but wrecked at Zolder at the start of the Aurora season and finally written off.
6. Lola T330 [HU21] (Robin Smith): See full history: Lola T330 HU21.
7. Chevron B30 [30-75-01] (Evan Clements): See full history: Chevron B30.
8. Lola T330 [HU6] (Tom Belsø): New to Australian Colin Hyams who raced it in the UK series in early 1973. To Trevor Twaites June 1973, and raced by him in the UK series in 1973, 1974 and 1975. Later to John Jordan (UK), who entered it for Tom Belso in 1977, and raced it himself in libre in 1978. Entered by Jordan for Dave Williams in libre racing 1983, and then for Tony Trimmer in the BRSCC Libre Championship from 1984 to 1989, winning the championship in 1986 and finishing second in 1987 and in 1988. At some point between 1985 and 1988, the T330 was dismantled and parts used by Dave Finnigan (Biggleswade, UK) to construct T332 "HU42" for Jordan's team. The original HU6 chassis remained with Finnigan until early 2000 when sold to Richard Lines (UK), then to Kevan McLurg (UK) 2005 and built into a complete car by McLurg and then by John Crawford's Motorsport Solutions NZ Ltd by July 2009. Owned by this time by Lindsay Willis of Wilco Racing (Rotorua, NZ), and raced by his son Brett Willis (Rotorua, NZ) in the F5000 Tasman Revival series every season from 2010/11 to 2017/18. More information about Lola T330 HU6
9. Surtees TS19 [04] (Divina Galica): Alan Jones received a new car, Surtees TS19/04, in time for the 1976 Austrian GP, and raced this for the rest of the season. It was raced by Vittorio Brambilla in the South American races at the start of 1977, before being sold to Olympus Cameras for Divina Galica to race in Shellsport Group 8. It was acquired by Alo Lawler in 1978, but was quickly sold to John Cooper, then to Robin Smith. Smith updated it to "TS20S" specification in 1980, and added sports car bodywork for a couple of Can-Am events in 1981. It was sold to Ken Moore and then Rod Tolhurst, both of whom ran it in HSCC F1 in 1983 for Willie Green and John Narcisi. Its next seven owners did not race it, but it returned to competition in TGP in 1999, then raced regularly until 2012. It returned for Monaco in 2016.
10. Lola T360 [HU5] (John Morrison): New to Nigel Clarkson (Cirencester, Gloucestershire) and raced by him and by Richard Scott (London) in British Formula Atlantic, backed by Hurford Jones Ltd. To Nick May (Sutton, Surrey) for the 1975 British series, entered as a T360B with Strakers of Wimbledon Ltd sponsorship and run by Dave Price Racing. To Brian Robinson (Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham) and fitted with a 2-litre Cosworth BDG engine for Shellsport Group 8 races in 1976. To John Brown for John Morrison (Warwick) to drive in Shellsport G8 and libre racing in 1977, then to Kevin Bowditch (Maidenhead) for a few race appearances in 1978. It was sold to Martin Mansell (Middlesex), who raced it as a Lola "FA79" with Winchmore Hill Garage sponsorship in Formula Atlantic in 1979. Mansell crashed heavily at Brands Hatch in April 1979, and did not appear again. It was next seen in 1990 when it was bought by Robert McGimpsey (Newtownards, County Down, Northern Ireland) from a dealer somewhere in the English midlands. It was then fitted with a 3-litre Weslake engine, and McGimpsey used it for one season in hillclimbing before the engine and chassis were sold separately. It was bought by two friends in 1993 or 1994, and in 2012 they still had it.
11. March 73B/74B (Rob Moffat): London-based Australian Rob Moffat raced a March 73B or 73B/74B in a few Indylantic races at the end of 1976, and then in the Shellsport Group 8 series in 1977. Nothing more known.
12. Lola T330 [HU17] (Allan Kayes): See full history: Lola T330 HU17.
13. Chevron B28 [28-74-02] (Dennis Leech): See full history: Chevron B28 74-02.

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.

1969-1976 UK results have been researched and collated by Chris Townsend based primarily on material in Autosport and Motoring News. Information has been added from the growing collection of entry lists from programs.

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

Adam Ferrington attended this race and noted the full grid in his race program. It shows differences from the qualifying times with John Morrison shown at the very back of the grid, non-starter David Prophet in 15th slot, fellow non-starter Allan Kayes missing and the otherwise unmentioned Rob Moffat alongside Morrison at the back.