Trophée d'Auvergne

Clermont-Ferrand, 23 Jun 1974

Notes on the cars:

1. Alpine A441 [4411] (Gérard Larrousse): Team Archambeaud acquired a new A441 for 1974 for lead driver Gérard Larrousse. The car was used as a test chassis for the 2.1-litre turbo engine and won at Mugello at the beginning of 1975. It was kept as a backup car for Le Mans in 1976 but it is not yet certain whether chassis 4411 then became chassis 4420.
2. Alpine A441 [4410] (Alain Serpaggi): Société Alpine entered two new A441s in 1974 and chassis 4410 was Jean-Pierre Jabouille's car for the first race and then became Alain Serpaggi's regular car for the rest of the season. This car was sold to 'Jimmy' Mieusset for the 1976 French hillclimb season and then to Jean Ortelli for 1977 and 1978, after which it was on display in the Mougins museum, still owned by Ortelli. The car was still in the Musée de l'Automobile at Mougins in June 2008 and appeared at Retromobile in 2010.
3. Chevron B26 [74-02] (John Lepp): Although described by some sources as the "prototype", the Gunston-liveried car raced by John Watson and Jody Scheckter in the 1973-74 Springbok series in South Africa was the second B26, chassis 74-02. This car was then sold to Derek Buller-Sinfield and prepared by Roger Hire's Forge Mill Racing for John Lepp (Altrincham, Cheshire) to drive in Europe in 1974. Then the "works development car" advertised by Hire and the "ex-works development" "B36" raced by Bob Marsland (Bromsgrove, Worcestershire) from 1976 to 1978. Sold to Richard Simms (Ossett, West Yorkshire) late in the 1978 season and used briefly in libre racing before being converted over the close season into a Skoda "Super Saloon". Raced in this form from 1979 to 1981 and then restored to B36 specification for use in Thundersports in 1983 and 1984, sharing with Warren Booth. After passing through several more hands in England and, it would seem, Sweden, it was sold to Jack Russeli (Ohio) in June 1997. To Murray Smith (Washington, CT) in 2005. To Roger Wills (London) 2011.
4. Lola T294 [HU70?] (Fred Stalder): The entry for this car is blank in Lola records, but it is believed to be one of two cars sold to Fred Stalder's Racing Organisation Course, and fitted with ROC's Chrysler-Simca-based engine for 2-litre sports car racing in 1974. Believed to have been Stalder's own car for 1974. Raced in long-distance events at Dijon and Le Mans in 1975. According to Philippe Rafesthain, this car was sold to Hervé Bayard (Roye, France) and fitted with a Hart 420R engine for French hillclimbs in 1976, winning the Group 6 class at every event. For Pascal Foix and Bayard at the Paul Ricard sports car race in July 1977. Sold to Michel Lateste for 1978, and returned to French hillclimbs. Then to Patrice Lenorman and appeared at three events in July 1979 before Lenorman crashed the car. He advertised it, still unrepaired, in December 1979 and it appears to have gone to Dominique Lacaud when Lenorman bought's Lacaud's T297-BMW. Later repaired by Lacaud but whether this is the car he used in French events and hillclimbs from 1981 to 1986 is not clear. Lacaud restored the T294 for historic events many years later, appearing in it from 2009 onwards. For sale at Artcurial's Retromobile sale in February 2015.
5. Lola T294 [HU67] (Javier Juncadella): This car was sold new to Roger Heavens for 1974 and was entered under the Escuderia Montjuich Tergal banner for Javier Juncadella. It was also raced by Hervé Leguellec, Richard Lloyd and Manrico Zanuso. In January 1976, it was advertised by Heavens, noting that it had last raced in the Boxing Day meeting at Brands Hatch. Martial Legou told Philippe Rafesthain, as reported on the Autodiva thread, that he bought this car from Heavens via Leguellec after the 1975 season. According to Philippe's research, this car later ran as the #25 Pronuptia entry at Le Mans in 1978.
6. Lola T294 [T292 HU40] (Martin Raymond): Described consistently as the "prototype" T292, HU40 first appeared at Jarama 5 Nov 1972 where it was raced by Richard Scott. It was then Guy Edwards' works car throughout 1973 after which it was updated to T294 specification and sold by Lola to Martin Raymond for 1974. It went to Stewart Chubb for 1975 and continued to race in the European series. In 1976, Chubb sold the car to Steven Payne-Herbert and it was used in Can-Am and SCCA BSR racing until 1980. Payne-Herbert kept the car until 1989 when it was sold for vintage racing and, three owners later, it was being offered for sale by Grand Prix Classics in February 2011.
7. Chevron B23 [73-05] (Ian Grob): Bought new by Ian Grob and used mainly in minor British and French events at first. Grob took his car to the Springbok series at the end of 1973 and then did a full European campaign in 1974. For 1975, he bought a new Chevron B31 and the B23 was sold to Scottish club racer Tony Charnell. Charnell then bought Grob's B31 for 1976 and the fate of the B23 in unknown.
8. Chevron B26 [74-08] (Rafael Barrios): After the closure of Red Rose Racing, Roger Hire struck a deal to run works-assisted Chevron B26s in 1974 under the name Forge Mill Racing. John Lepp ran the main car and Rafael Barrios joined the team to run a second B26, now positively identified as chassis 74-08. This car only raced once in 1975 but was then bought by Robin Smith to be used in endurance and Interserie in 1976. Gary Gove (Tacoma, WA) acquired it for Can-Am in early 1977 and raced it for three seasons, winning the Pacific Coast title in 1978 and the last BSR title at the Run-Offs. It went to John Graham in Canada for the 1981 season and then to Luc Behar-Bannelier for 1982. The B26 was sold to Gil Baird for Thundersports in England in 1983 then to Richard Piper for another three seasons during which time it was converted to DFV power before moving to Ireland in the late 1980s where it stayed for nearly 15 years. It was sold back to the US again around 2003 and has raced in US vintage racing.
9. March 74S [10] (Jean Ragnotti): Built new for 1974, fitted with a BMW engine and entered by March Engineering for Jean Ragnotti in the European 2-litre Sports Car championship, with Antar sponsorship. Fitted with a Richardson FVC after the first few races, and later with a Cosworth BDG. Retained by March for 1975, fitted with a Hart 420R engine, updated to 75S specification and plated as '75S-U2' for John Lepp to race. The car was retained again for 1976, now to 76S specification and reportedly using the identity '76S-1', now raced by Lepp as part of the Ultramar team. Sold to Bobby Brown (Hicksville, NY) for the 1977 Can-Am season, now using the identity '77ST-1'. Sold to Greg Sorrentino (Troy, Michigan) and raced in 1979. In 1980, it was converted to centre-seat specification with a new body fabricated by Dave Craddock and campaigned in this form by Sorrentino in 1981, described as a March 802. To Charlie Monk (Sarnia, Ontario) for 1982, and then via John Adams Racing & John Kalagian to J. Byron Walker (Detroit, Michigan). Raced by Walker in 1983 and 1984 before being stored. Walker later acquired the 1977 bodywork from EB Lunken, who had used it on his March 73S, and found Lepp's Ultramar livery under the layers of paint. In 2013, Walker was in the process of restoring the car to its 1975 specification.
10. Alpine A441 [4412] (Jean-Pierre Jabouille): The third A441 was the regular car of Société Alpine team leader Jean-Pierre Jabouille. This car was sold to Japan in 1975 and was raced by Jabouille at Fuji in October and by Beaumont at Fuji a month later. The car remained in Japan and raced in 1976, 1977 and 1978, winning the Fuji 500 km in April 1978 driven by Hasemi and Hoshino. It is believed to have remained in Japan.
11. Alpine A440 [4401] (Marie-Claude Beaumont): New for the Nürburgring in Sep 1973, chassis 4401 was sold to Equipe Archambeaud for 1974 and raced by Gérard Larrousse, Marie-Claude Beaumont and Bernard Darniche that year. From Larrousse's team, the car is understood to have gone to Jean-Paul Barbier for hillclimbs in 1977 and then to Jean-Pierre Theuil who ran it from 1978 to 1980. In May 2005, chassis "A440-01" was auctioned by Bonhams at Monaco but the history assigned to the car was that of the prototype, an understandable mistake given Alpine's unusual numbering system. Its current location is uncertain.
12. Lola T292 [HU42] (José Maria de Uriarte): Invoiced via Bonnier to Team Archambeaud, this was Gérard Larrousse's regular Schnitzer BMW car for 1973. Sold to José Uriarte for 1974 and converted back to FVC power. Uriarte returned for 1975 with the car upgraded to T294 specification as part of Roger Hire's team and with sponsorship from Miles Roystone. This car was raced at the Spa 1000 km in May and the Nürburgring 1000 km in June. It was raced by Richard Scott at Brands Hatch on 22 Jun at which point it was said to be owned by Miles Roystone. Scott crashed into the guardrail in heat 1 and the car was not seen again. It is possible that this monocoque was repaired and was part of the package sold with HU67 to Martial Legou in 1976 and 1977, and possibly then to Michel Elkoubi and contributed its components to the T294/6s built up by Elkoubi for Le Mans in 1978 and 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.

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 27 Jun 1974 pp52-52, Motoring News 27 Jun 1974 pp6-7.