OldRacingCars.com

British Sprint Championship Round

Yeovilton, 4 Apr 1970

ResultsTime 
1 Patsy Burt 4.4-litre McLaren M3A [2] - Oldsmobile Traco V8
(see note 1)
61.71s
2 Tony Harrison (sports racing) 4.7-litre Lola T70L Mk2 [SL71/23] - Ford V8
62.37s
3 Spencer Elton (libre) 1.6-litre Brabham BT21C [6] - Ford twin cam Vegantune
(see note 2)
72
4 Arthur Dan (unknown) 1.7-litre Ford Anglia
72.69s
5 Pat Ryan (unknown) 1.1-litre Aldon Viper A - BMC s/c
76.39s
Qualifying
Qualifying information not available

Notes on the cars:

  1. McLaren M3A [2] (Patsy Burt): Built for Patsy Burt (Surrey) and used in hillclimb and sprint events from 1966 to 1970. As well as dozens of Ladies Awards, Burt won the Brighton Speed Trials outright in this car in 1968 and also used it to take a number of national quarter-mile and half-mile speed records at Elvington airfield, Yorkshire, in 1967 and 1968. She also competed in European events in the M3A, notably at St Ursanne-Les Rangiers, Sierre-Montana-Crans and Faucille in 1966. In 1970, she competed in the new RAC British Sprint Championship and won the title, the first woman to win a British national motor sporting title. She retired after 1970 and the McLaren was also retired and sent on loan to the Donington Museum where it remained for many decades. After Burt's death in 2001, the car was sold by Ron Smith, Burt's manager, mechanic and later husband, via H&H Auctions in November 2008. Sold to Julia de Baldanza (Cheltenham, Gloucestershire) and raced by her at Goodwood in July 2010.
  2. Brabham BT21C [6] (Spencer Elton): New to Sir Nicholas Williamson (Mortimer, Berkshire), fitted with a standard 1600cc Vegantune Ford twin cam and raced in the British Hill Climb Championship in 1968. Won at Bouley Bay in July. Williamson ordered a BT29 for 1969 but it was late arriving and he ended up using the BT21C again until acquiring a McLaren M10A in August. The Brabham was sold to Spencer Elton (Westbury, Wiltshire) and raced in sprints and hillclimbs in 1970 and 1971. Sold in August 1971 to Peter Varley (Bradford/Silkston, South Yorkshire) who took a surprise second place at Wiscombe Park in May 1972. Varley raced the car for several more years but was finishing further down the results sheets by 1976. Next seen when raced by Peter Speakman (Broughton-in-Furness, Cumbria) in 1988 and 1989. Sold to Tim Barrington 1991, then to Michel Réchède (Pau, France) in 2004.

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 British Sprint Championship results were originally provided by Paul Parker and Steve Wilkinson and are based on material drawn from Motoring News, Autosport and Speedscene magazines plus results sheets and programmes provided by former competitors and by the organising clubs.

The identification of individual cars is based on the Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 5000 and Formula Atlantic research work presented elsewhere on the site.

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.