OldRacingCars.com

BP British Formula 3 Championship Race

Thruxton, 12 Mar 1978

ResultsLapsTime/Speed
1 Derek Warwick Ralt RT1/77 [86] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#1 Warwick Trailers
15 20m 14.5s
104.75 mph
2 Chico Serra March 783 [9] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#13 Sadia Racing with Project Four
15 20m 23.4s
3 Rob Wilson Ralt RT1/78 [98] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#31 International Computers
15 21m 08.4s
4 Nelson Piquet Ralt RT1/78 [112] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#25 Brastemp/Armo/Hobby
15 21m 10.0s
5 Philip Bullman Chevron B38 [38.77.24] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#32 Docking Racing (see note 1)
15 21m 18.6s
6 John Bright Wheatcroft R18 [006?] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#51 Rugby Finance (Midlands) (see note 2)
15 Accident
7 Giordano Regazzoni March 753 [U22] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#45 (see note 3)
15 21m 29.7s
8 Wyatt Stanley March 753 [14] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#46 (see note 4)
14
9 Barry Green Chevron B38 [38.77.02] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#30 Fred Opert Racing (see note 5)
14
10 Phil Silverstone Ralt RT1/77 [54] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#16 Cloud Engineering
14
11 Steve Malins Chevron B38 [38.77.07] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#22 Malins (Mamod) Ltd
14
R Sead Ali Hodzic March 773 [10] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#43 Optima Racing with Roy Kennedy
(see note 6)
11
R Stefan Johansson Argo JM1 [003-F3] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#53 Anglia Cars
8 Master switch
R Andrea de Cesaris Ralt RT1/76 [16] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#4 Marlboro Team Tiga
7 Spun
R Ken Silverstone Chevron B38 [38.77.05] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#18
0
DNS Paul Bernasconi Ralt RT1/76 [22] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#3
Did not start
(No wet tires damp race)
DNA Ian Flux Ralt RT1 - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor
#14 Cloud Engineering
Did not arrive
DNA Richard Morgan unknown
#33
Did not arrive

All cars are 2-litre F3 unless noted.

Qualifying
1 Chico Serra (F3) 2-litre March 783 [9] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.21.5
2 Derek Warwick (F3) 2-litre Ralt RT1/77 [86] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.21.6
3 Philip Bullman (F3) 2-litre Chevron B38 [38.77.24] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.22.3
4 Nelson Piquet (F3) 2-litre Ralt RT1/78 [112] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.23.4
5 Stefan Johansson (F3) 2-litre Argo JM1 [003-F3] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.23.8
6 Andrea de Cesaris (F3) 2-litre Ralt RT1/76 [16] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.24.1
7 John Bright (F3) 2-litre Wheatcroft R18 [006?] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.24.6
8 Giordano Regazzoni (F3) 2-litre March 753 [U22] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.24.9
9 Rob Wilson (F3) 2-litre Ralt RT1/78 [98] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.25.4
10 Ken Silverstone (F3) 2-litre Chevron B38 [38.77.05] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.25.4
11 Steve Malins (F3) 2-litre Chevron B38 [38.77.07] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.26.3
12 Sead Ali Hodzic (F3) 2-litre March 773 [10] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.27.9
13 Barry Green (F3) 2-litre Chevron B38 [38.77.02] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.30.4
14 Wyatt Stanley (F3) 2-litre March 753 [14] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.30.7
15 Paul Bernasconi * (F3) 2-litre Ralt RT1/76 [22] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor 1.31.8
16 Phil Silverstone (F3) 2-litre Ralt RT1/77 [54] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor No time
 
* Did not start

Notes on the cars:

  1. Chevron B38 [38.77.24] (Philip Bullman): 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. Chevron B38 [38.77.02] (Barry Green): 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 …
  6. March 773 [10] (Sead Ali Hodzic): 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.

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

Programme kindly provided by BARC Archive.

Richard Page of the Formula One Register kindly provided the official results sheet for this race.