OldRacingCars.com

Donington Park Trophy

Donington Park, 8 Jul 1977

ResultsLapsTime/Speed
1 John Bright Wheatcroft R18 [004] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#4 (see note 1)
15 18m 17.6s
96.29 mph
2 Mario Pati Ralt RT1/77 [77] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#1
15 18m 22.2s
3 Paul Bernasconi Ralt RT1/76 [22] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
15 18m 22.6s
4 Jorge Koechlin Argo JM1 [003-F3] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
15 18m 23.6s
5 Chris Farrell Chevron B38 [38.77.02] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
(see note 2)
15 18m 23.8s
6 John Stokes Chevron B38 [38.77.25] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
(see note 3)
15 18m 27.0s
UNK Bruce Coate-Bond March 753 [16 or 18] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
(car not listed)

All cars are 2-litre F3 unless noted.

Qualifying
1 John Bright (F3) 2-litre Wheatcroft R18 [004] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
2 Paul Bernasconi (F3) 2-litre Ralt RT1/76 [22] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor plus 0.6
3 Chris Farrell (F3) 2-litre Chevron B38 [38.77.02] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
4 Mario Pati (F3) 2-litre Ralt RT1/77 [77] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
5 John Stokes (F3) 2-litre Chevron B38 [38.77.25] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor

Notes on the cars:

  1. Wheatcroft R18 [004] (John Bright): New to John Bright (Leicester) and built up with a Toyota Novamotor engine for British F3 in 1977. In early July, Bright spent a day testing at Silverstone with Brian Henton and Mike Pilbeam, and the following Friday he won from pole in a non-championship race at Donington Park. Unfortunately, two days later during practice at Cadwell Park he put a wheel into the gravel going into the Gooseneck curves and crashed very heavily. The car was described as being "completely destroyed". He returned at Donington Park three weeks later with the car described as "rebuilt", but it seems very likely that this was the point at which the car was rebuilt on the 006 chassis, so its history is continued under that heading.
  2. Chevron B38 [38.77.02] (Chris Farrell): New to Chris Farrell for British F3 in 1977. To Barry Green for 1979, and run for him in British F3 by Fred Opert Racing. Last used by Green in July 1978, and then unknown until seen with Mike Brown in Sprints in 1984 …
  3. Chevron B38 [38.77.25] (John Stokes): New to John Stokes (Birmingham) and raced in British F3 in 1977, sponsored by Bogarts of Birmingham. Retained for 1978 and rented by Philippe Colonna for the Zolder F3 in Zolder after Colonna had wrecked his ex-Stephen South March at Zeltweg. Then raced again by Stokes until the end of August.

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.

These British Formula 3 results have been compiled by Chris Townsend using the main British magazines Autosport and Motoring News but also the US magazine On Track which carried surprisingly good coverage of the British series.

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

Motoring News 14 Jul 1977 p15.