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British Sprint Championship Round

Wroughton, 26 Sep 1976

ResultsTime 
1 David Franklin 2-litre March 742 ["U1"] - BMW M12
(see note 1)
54.47s
2 Dave Harris 5.7-litre McLaren M14D [1] - Chevrolet V8
56.28s
3 Rob Turnbull 1.6-litre Brabham BT35 [6] - Ford BDA
(see note 2)
56.35s
4 David Render (F1) 3-litre Lotus 76 [2 JPS10] - Cosworth DFV V8
56.51s
5 Terry Smith 5.7-litre McLaren M14D [1] - Chevrolet V8
57.24s
6 Simon Riley 3-litre Brabham BT33 [3] - Cosworth DFV V8
57.62s
7 Chris Hill (clubmans) 1.8-litre Mallock U2 Mk 14 - Ford
58.43s
8 Johnty Williamson 5.7-litre Surtees TS11 [02] - Chevrolet V8
59.53s
9 Ted Williams 1.6-litre Ensign LNF3/73 [72.8 (B)] - Ford BDA Holbay
60.39s
10 Geoff Hunt 1.6-litre March 733 [26] - Ford twin cam Holbay
(see note 3)
61.64s
UNK Richard Lester (1600cc racing car) 1.6-litre Lola T100 [SL100/4] - Ford BDA
(see note 4)
C1 Malcolm Orme (1600cc racing car) 1.6-litre Brabham BT30
(see note 5)
Qualifying
Qualifying information not available

Notes on the cars:

  1. March 742 ["U1"] (David Franklin): Built by March as the development car for the new March 742 series, but using a leftover 732 monocoque. Employed as the spare car for the Elf-sponsored works team in 1974, it was raced by Patrick Depailler at Montjuich Park, by Michel Leclère at Hockenheim in June, by Depailler to win at Mugello, by Ronnie Peterson to win at Karlskoga, and by Depailler again at Enna. It was not seen in 1975, but then sold in December 1975 to David Franklin (Portbury, Somerset) and used in British hillclimbs in 1976, with sponsorship from Wendy Wools. Retained for 1977, when it was fitted with 1977 bodywork. For 1978, it was sold to Alan Richards (Prestbury, Gloucestershire), fitted with a 2-litre Cosworth FVC and used in sprints and hillclimbs. To Norrie Galbraith (Lanark, Scotland) for 1979, and used in Scottish speed events. Retained by Galbraith for 1980, but rebuilt over the winter by Robin Smith to 782 configuration, and fitted with a Hart 420R engine. In December 1980, the car was advertised from a Frome, Somerset, phone number, described as being ex-Depailler and ex-Galbraith, modified by Smith. It has been suggested that Stephen Cuff was the advertiser. Subsequent history unknown.
  2. Brabham BT35 [6] (Rob Turnbull): New to Nick Cook and used in the British Formula Atlantic series in 1971. Retained for early 1972, but Cook does not appear in the UK after the end of April and this is probably the car taken to the USA to use in the SCCA series in 1972. Used by Rob Turnbull in British hillclimbs in 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1976. Sold to Andrew Fraser (Newton Abbot, Devon), and shared by him and Tim Painter in Sprints in 1977. Retained by Fraser for 1978 and 1979, and appeared at Wiscombe Park events in 1980 and 1982. Then via David McLaughlin to Keith Norman about 1984 and used by him in HSCC events in the 1980s and 1990s. To Rob Haze (Netherlands) between 1992 and 1995, and then back to Norman again. To John Dunham April 2001, then to Ben Tyler 2003, then Peter Shaw 2004, then Dr John Monson 2007.
  3. March 733 [26] (Geoff Hunt): New to Dempster International Racing Team for Mike Wilds to drive in F3 from July 1973 onwards, replacing the 1972/73 Ensign with which he had started the season. It was then sold to Graham Watts (Faringham) for hillclimbs, appearing at Prescott in March 1974, when the car had a 1600cc Holbay engine. During 1975, the car was bought by Terry Smith (Felton, Somerset) to replace his highly successful 1-litre Vixen Imp. Smith raced the March in sprints and hillclimbs through the rest of 1975 and through 1976, using a 1600cc Holbay Ford twin cam engine, but in the summer of 1976, bought the ex-F1 McLaren M14D. The March was sold to Geoff Hunt (Andover, Hampshire), again with the Holbay twin cam, and used in sprints for quite a few years. Eventually traded to Richard Speakman for the ex-F3 Pilbeam MP51. Subsequent history unknown.
  4. Lola T100 [SL100/4] (Richard Lester): Believed to be the works Lola T100 entered by Lola Racing for John Surtees to drive in Formula 2 at the start of 1967. Fitted with a Cosworth FVA engine and raced by Surtees at Snetterton and Silverstone in March 1967, then by Chris Irwin at the Nürburgring in April. Sold in May to David Bridges for Brian Redman to drive in F2 for the rest of that season. Retained by Bridges for F2 in 1968, when it was driven by Redman, Chris Williams, Mike Beckwith, David Hobbs and Robin Widdows. Sold to Robin Darlington (Ruaben, Wales) late 1969, and used in libre racing in 1970. He advertised it in January 1971 when it had a twin cam and was prepared for the new 1971 Formula Atlantic category. Robin cannot recall where it went, but it was next seen in Sprints in late 1973, when it was driven by Richard Lester (Yoxall, Staffordshire). The car was run by Lester in the 1600cc class in Sprints and occasional hillclimbs from 1974 to 1977. Lester then acquired a March 73B, and advertised the T100 in January 1978 as "ex-Redman" with an all-steel twin cam and Hewland FT200 gearbox. This is likely to be the red/white 1600cc Lola T100 that Kenneth Brill (Redditch, Worcestershire) raced in libre at Croft in 1978. Subsequent history unknown.
  5. Brabham BT30 (Malcolm Orme): Tony Street (Wellesbourne, Warwickshire) raced a Brabham BT30 in sprints and hillclimbs in 1973. The origins of the car are currently unknown but Malcolm Orme recalls that the car he and Bob Penzer used in speed events between 1976 and 1978 had previously been driven by Street. Penzer had bought the car from John Hinley (Knowle, Warwickshire) so this would be the BT30 that John Hinley ran at Curborough in 1974 and advertised in May 1974 with a 1930cc BDA. It is also likely that this was the 2-litre "BT30/35" used at Curborough in June 1975 by Tony Sofiano (Harborne, Birmingham) and John Parsons, managers of The Elbow Room nightclub in Aston. Parsons advertised this car with a 1920cc BDG and mentioning BT35 fuel tanks in October 1975. The last known appearance of this car was when driven by Bob Penzer in a sprint at Oulton Park in April 1978. Penzer later sold the Brabham back to Hinley in a deal on the Lola T332C that Penzer drove in 1979. Subsequent history unknown.

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.