BP British Formula 3 Championship Race

Thruxton, 30 Oct 1977

All cars are 2-litre F3 unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Chevron B38 [38.77.30] (Geoff Lees): New to Frank Sytner for the British GP F3 support race. The raced by Geoff Lees as a Chevron Racing Team entry at two late-season races. According to Chris Townsend's research it went to Roy Kennedy Racing for Hans Royer in 1978, then to Dennis Aldred 1979 to 1983, Helen Bashford 1983 to 1989, Hugh Mellor (Hitchin) 1989 and 1990, Peter Teichmann 1991 to 1996, and then to Steve Nichols.
2. March 773 [10] (Brett Riley): According to March records delivered in March 1977 to AFMP Euroracing, and subsequently given to Brett Riley in lieu of his contractual payments when the Euroracing set-up was dissolved. (This does not mean the car was Riley’s early season car in 1977; he used at least two before the team collapsed, neither of which were necessarily this car.) Run by David Price for Riley in the second half of 1977 and used to win the European round at Donington. Chassis number given in Autosport advert late in 1977 by Price. Sold to Roy Kennedy [Motoring News 2 Mar 1978 p15] although Autosport 9 Mar 1978 p41 says the car is ‘ex James King’. (King used a works car - 773-U2 - for most of 1977 but it is possible he had a race in this car early in the season, however his principal car went in 1978 to Ian Flux.) Run by Kennedy for Saed Ali Hodzic until Hodzic was injured in practice at the International Trophy support race; then became a rental car but did very few races. For sale by Kennedy in early 1979, Autosport 22 Feb 1979 p57, but retained and rented to Serge Saulnier for the 1979 race at Monaco.
3. March 773 [13] (Aryon Cornelsen Filho): Shown in March records as a works car finished February 1977, on tub AM773-28 for Ayron Cornelson Filho. Also used by David Kennedy in 1977. Sold to John Bright in March 1978 to cover for his damaged Wheatcroft. Damaged badly by Bright and rebuilt on new tub in August. Retained by Bright in 1979 until wrecked at Snetterton.
4. Chevron B38 [37.77.21] (Patrick Gaillard): New to Patrick Gaillard for British F3 in 1977. Sold to Jean-Louis Schlesser for European F3 in 1978, and run by him for KWS Motorsport. Sold to Bernard Birbés for French F3 and French hillclimbs (using a 1600cc Toyota engine) in 1979. To André Argeliès and run in French hillclimbs with a 1300cc Ford engine in 1981 and 1982. By 1987, this car had returned to England as was being raced in TF3 by Ian Jacobs.
5. Chevron B38 [38.77.19] (Ian Grob): New to Alan Docking Racing for Ian Grob to race in British F3 in 1977, entered by KVG Racing. Retained by the Docking team for 1978, and probably the car driven by Huub Rothengatter in the last few months of the season. Unknown after 1979 until it reappeared with Jim Yardley in 1984. Later with David Proctor in 1987.
6. Chevron B38 [38.77.18] (Thorkild Thyrring): New to Chevron Racing Team for Thorkild Thyrring to race in British F3 in 1977, entered by Marlboro Jockey Todenskjold. Borrowed by Jim Crawford for a race at Mallory Park in September, and by Divina Galica for a race at Thruxton. Raced by Crawford again at the start of 1978 but wrecked in an accident at Thruxton at the end of March. Salageable parts were used in a new Chevron B43.
7. March 753 [U22] (Giordano Regazzoni): According to the March build records constructed in 1975 from discarded parts of works cars 753-U1 and 763-U1 for Giordano ‘Dodo’ Regazzoni. Probably used by the works drivers Nilsson and Ribeiro at Cadwell Park and the British GP support race in July 1975, with this car built as temporary replacement for Nilsson’s 753-U1 rolled at the Monza Lotteria in late June. Retained by Regazzoni into 1978. Motoring News 16 Mar 1978 p7 comments that Regazzoni is still using last year’s car.
8. Chevron B38 [38.77.24] (Philippe Colonna): New to Alan Docking Racing for Philippe Colonna to race in British F3 in 1977. Retained by the Docking team for 1978, and raced by Philip Bullman and by Colonna in British F3. Unknown in 1979 but purchased by Eddie Heasell in early 1980 for British F3 and libre. Retained for libre in 1981.
9. Ralt RT1/76 [29] (Geoff Brabham): Ralt records show as sold to Geoff Brabham in 1976, probably being delivered in early June. Used by him until the end of 1978 then sold to Ken Thorogood's Hub of the Universe Racing for Osamu Hatagawa to use in British races.
10. March 773 [U2] (James King): March works records show this as James King's works car for 1977 built on a lightweight tub AM773-41 with parts from 763-U2. This would be the "ex-King" car sold to Ian Flux early in 1978, and raced by him in the 1978 British F3 series.
11. March 753 [14] (Wyatt Stanley): Originally a car belonging to the B&O team in 1975, when used by Pierre Dieudonné. Chassis number for this car and its sister, driven by Hervé Regout, observed by AF at Oulton Park 4 October 1975. Sold to Ken Silverstone for the 1976 season [Autosport 2 Sep 1976 p33 says his car is ‘ex Dieudonné.) To Wyatt Stanley in mid 1977 and retained by him for the 1978 season.
12. 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 …
13. Wheatcroft R18 [006?] (John Bright): Chassis 006 is believed to be the identity of the rebuilt car raced by John Bright (Leicester) in British Formula 3 following his massive accident at Cadwell Park in July 1977. Bright first drove the "rebuilt" car at Donington Park on the last day of July, and continued with it to the end of that season. He raced it again in 1978, but again crashed, at Brands Hatch in July, and this time the car did not reappear. Bright sold the R18 to Rhoddy Harvey-Bailey (Hilton, Derbyshire) and John Colley for 1979, and as part of the deal Bright rebuilt it to Formula Atlantic specification. It was raced by Harvey-Bailey, Colley and Ian Shaw, using Alan Smith BDA engines. It was also raced on one occasion by John Bright. It was advertised by Roger Cowman in September 1979 as "hardly used". Colley sold it to hillclimber Richard Barnes (Lichfield, Staffordshire), who fitted an 1100cc Cosworth BDJ and hillclimbed it for a while. He has retained the car in his collection since then.

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

Autosport 3 Nov 1977 p31-32; programme provided by Adam Ferrington.