OldRacingCars.com

Irish Formula Atlantic Series Race

Kirkistown, 7 Jul 1974

ResultsLapsTime/Speed
1 Ken Fildes Lotus 69 [71/69.3.F2] - Ford BDA
(see note 1)
15 14m 22.4s
95.64 mph
2 Harold McGarrity Brabham BT30 [12] - Ford BDA
(see note 2)
15 14m 50.0s
3 John Smith March 722 ["18"] - Ford BDA Smith
(see note 3)
15 14m 52.2s
4 unknown unknown

5 unknown unknown

6 unknown unknown

R Patsy McGarrity Chevron B25 [25-73-08] - Ford BDA
(see note 4)
13 Petrol pump
R Des Donnelly March 73B [8] - Ford BDA
(see note 5)
13 Not known
R Tony Martin March 722 [4] - Ford BDA
(see note 6)
3 Accident
R Dairmuid McFeeley March 73B [722-5] - Ford BDA Swindon
(see note 7)
1 Not known
DNA Jay Pollock Crosslé 22F [22F-72-01] - Ford BDA
Did not arrive
DNA Nelson Todd Chevron B20 [72-4] - Ford BDA
(see note 8)
Did not arrive

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

Qualifying
Qualifying information not available

Notes on the cars:

  1. Lotus 69 [71/69.3.F2] (Ken Fildes): New to J&J Stanton for Gerry Birrell to race in F2 in 1971. Hired to José Ferreira for the Torneio Brasiliero at the end of the year. To Brian Small in 1972, and fitted with a Cosworth BDA for Formula Atlantic races late 1972, and a handful of appearances in 1973. To Roy Baker (Ferndown, Dorset) July 1973, but again only seen in a handful of races. This is likely to be the "F2 chassis" with Hart BDA advertised by MRE (Bourne End, Buckinghamshire) in November 1973. To Ken Fildes (Clonskeagh, Dublin) for the new Irish Formula Atlantic series 1974 and 1975. Entered by Fildes for a young local lad Eddie Jordan in 1976. To Mark Birrell (Liverpool) in 1977. Acquired from Nick Overall by Richard Hinton (Albury, Hertfordshire) in early 1978, who started the restoration. Sold in 1985 via Chuck McCarty to Richard Spelberg (Dusseldorf, Germany) and retained in his collection until his death in the late 1990s. Subsequent history unclear, but this car was owned by Hermann Unold by 2005, when he raced it in HSCC DBT events. It was bought from him by Eric Peterson (Germany) in 2014, and advertised by him in April 2018. Bought in 2018 by Paul Matty and owned by him until 2021, when it was sold to Malcolm Thorne (Stanford Bridge, Worcestershire).
  2. Brabham BT30 [12] (Harold McGarrity): Autosport identifies BT30-12 as Reid's F2 car in 1971 implying BT30-8 was his FVC libre car. As BT30-8 is advertised by Bobby Howlings in late 1971, it is reasonable to assume that it was BT30-12 that Reid retained for the early part of 1972, still FVA-powered. That car goes to Nelson Todd in July 1972 and according to David McKinney was then John Pollock's 1973 car, Harold McGarrity's 1974 car, and then the BT30 of Paddy Heron (Draperstown, County Londonderry) from 1975 to 1977. This would be the BT30 rolling chassis advertised from a Draperstown phone number in Autosport in June 1978. Sold some time after by Manchester dealer Bobby Howlings to Chris Charlett in Trinidad, later returning to the UK via Howlings again, presuably in a trade for the BT40 that Charlett later raced. The BT30 next appeared in 1986 when it and a BT18 were bought in Staffordshire by Mike Freeman (Staunton, Gloucestershire). Subsequently sold by Freeman to Roger Murray (Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria) in 1990 and raced by son James on a few occasions. Sold to Neil Glover (Ansty, West Sussex) by 2004 and then to Michael Scott in 2006.
  3. March 722 ["18"] (John Smith): John Smith (Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland) bought a new March 722 for Formula Ireland racing in 1972, using a 1840cc Broadspeed Ford BDA engine. The engine proved expremely troublesome, and Smith rarely started a race. The car was reported to be chassis 722-18, but this is the same number reported for Mike Beuttler's car in F2. The car was next seen in 1974, when Smith had converted it to Formula Atlantic specification with an Alan Smith BDA. He raced it in the Irish Formula Atlantic series from 1974 to 1977. Sold to Joe Greenan (Belfast, Northern Ireland), who appeared in Irish Formula Atlantic in 1978 with a car described by Autosport as "an elderly but nicely turned out March of circa '72 vintage". The car was also driven by Arnie Black in a race at Kirkistown that year. It was then sold to Jimmy O’Boyle, who used it for many years and enjoyed great success in the Northern Ireland hillclimb and sprint championships. John Smith was keen to get the car back, and when O'Boyle retired, he sold it back to Smith. The car was rebuilt, and in 2007 it was used in the HSCC Derek Bell Trophy by John's son Darwin Smith. Used in HSCC and European F2 racing from 2007 to 2019.
  4. Chevron B25 [25-73-08] (Patsy McGarrity): New to George Silverwood and entered by his Central Garage (Mirfield) Ltd for John Lepp in British Formula Atlantic in 1973. Also used by Lepp in the first European F2 round at Mallory Park, with the 1.6 BDA still in it. Lepp's sports car racing took priority from July and the B25 was sold to Patsy McGarrity (Belfast, Northern Ireland) for Formula Ireland racing. Loaned by him to Chevron cars for John Watson to use in the F2 race at Albi. Converted back to Formula Atlantic for McGarrity to race in the 1974 Irish season, winning eight races and the All-Ireland championship. Sold on to Pat Woods (Newcastle, County Wicklow, Ireland) for 1975, and retained for two further seasons. Last seen when Woods crashed heavily in practice at Phoenix Park in September 1977, when the car was described as wrecked. Woods' daughter later told James Murray that he sold the wreckage of the B25 to Bobby Howlings. Subsequent history unknown.
  5. March 73B [8] (Des Donnelly): New to Colin Vandervell (Purley, Surrey) and raced with great success in the Formula Atlantic in the UK in 1973, winning four races, and securing the Yellow Pages Championship. Sold to Des Donnelly (Naas, County Kildare, Ireland) for the Irish Formula Atlantic series, and raced by him in 1974 and 1975. This must be the March "74B" advertised by Gerry Kinnane in Belfast in June 1976. There is then no mention of the car in 1976 or 1977, but in 1978, the car was raced by Ken Fildes (Clonskeagh, Dublin), and it had been owned by Kinnane for part or all of this period. Sold to Graham Brown, who took it to Australia when he emigrated in 1979, and raced by him in Western Australia in 1980 and 1981. Also raced by Joe Ricciardo in 1981. To Rod Housego, and raced by him in Western Australia in 1982 and 1984. Acquired by Richard Carter in 1988, and restored. Raced by Carter in HSRCA events from 1999 to 2002. Later to George Makin (Melbourne), and raced by Andrew Makin in historic events from 2003 onwards.
  6. March 722 [4] (Tony Martin): New to the ELF Coombs Racing team for 1972, and raced in F2 by Jean-Pierre Jabouille and François Cevert. Sold to Roy Courtney (Lisburn, County Antrim, Northern Ireland) for 1973 and fitted with a 1600cc Cosworth BDA, but only seen rarely in Irish racing. To Tony Martin (Dun Laoire, County Dublin, Ireland) for 1974, and raced in Irish Formula Atlantic until crashed heavily at Mondello Park in August. According to Eddie Fitzgerald, the car went to Austin Kinsella (Blessington, County Wicklow) for another couple of seasons of Atlantic, and was then sold to Cyril Lynch (Terenure, Dublin) who used it mainly in hillclimbs from 1978 to 1979. While Lynch owned it, it was also raced by Vivien Candy at Mondello Park in 1979. It left Ireland when sold via AW 'Monkey' Brown to Mike Gue, then to Lew Wright, and then to Peter Denty (Thetford, Norfolk) by 1984. Denty sold it via Ted Walker to Mike Jones, who ran it in Sprints in the north of England in the early 1990s. Jones died in 2004, and the car was sold by his Estate to Todd Willing (Melbourne, Australia) in 2006.
  7. March 73B [722-5] (Dairmuid McFeeley): New for STP-March number two driver Niki Lauda for F2 in 1972 (won at Oulton Park in March), then for Pedro de Lamare in Torneio do Brasil. To Robert Cooper (High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire) for Formula Atlantic 1973, and rebuilt mid-season to 73B spec. Retained for early 1974, then sold to Dairmuid McFeeley (Clonee, Dunboyne, County Meath, Ireland) for Irish Formula Atlantic in 1974, 1975 and early 1976. To John Ledlie in 1976, then sold to Richard Lester (Yoxall, Staffordshire) for sprints from 1978 to 1984. With Keith Wanklyn (Wimborne) for hillclimbs from 1985 to 1990. Via three other owners to John Gale (Sydney, NSW, Australia) 2006. Sold to Australian-resident Englishman Steve Weller (Sydney, NSW) in 2017, who moved the car to the UK.
  8. Chevron B20 [72-4] (Nelson Todd): To Bob Howlings Racing Team for John Lepp (Altrincham, Cheshire) to race in British Formula Atlantic in 1972. Won at Croft in August and had several other good placings. Last seen in the UK at Oulton Park on 30 September 1972, and then unknown until early 1974 when sold by Howlings to Nelson Todd (Lisburn, Northern Ireland), and raced in Irish Formula Atlantic, winning at Kirkistown in October 1974. To Jim Sherry (Lisburn, Northern Ireland) for a couple of races at Mondello Park in 1975. This must be the "little used" Chevron B20 advertised by Gerry Kinnane in Belfast in June 1976. Raced by Mike Nugent (Cookstown, County Tyrone) a couple of times later that year. Then to Dick Parsons (Dundonald, County Down, Northern Ireland) for 1977, when it was described as a ex-Kinnane. Sold to Tom McMillan in Scotland, then on to Bill Lord for 1978 and used in Scottish hillclimbs, reputedly with a Hart 420R Formula 2 engine, but this seems unlikely. Retained for 1979 and presumably the Chevron B20 with Cosworth FVC engine advertised from Dunfermline, Fife in November 1979.

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 Irish race results for 1974 were originally compiled by Chris Townsend based on material in Autosport and Motoring News reports 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.