All Ireland Championship libre race

Kirkistown, 29 Jul 1972

Notes on the cars:

1. Brabham BT36 [8] (John Watson): New to Archie Phillips (Belfast, Northern Ireland) in July 1971, and fitted with a 1790cc Cosworth FVC engine for use in Irish libre racing. Fitted with a new 1970cc Hart engine in May 1972, which made the car significantly more competitive. Raced by John Watson to win at Kirkistown in July, and by Jay Pollock to win at Kirkistown in September. Sold to Eddie Regan (Castleknock, County Dublin) for Irish libre in early 1973, now fitted with a 1930cc FVC. To Bob Leckie (Aberdeen, Scotland) in May, with the same FVC, and used by him very successfully in UK libre racing for the rest of the season. To Phil Barak (Whitley Bay, Nothumberland) for 1974, and again used in libre racing with a 1930cc Alan Smith FVC in 1974 and early 1975. Then reportedly sold to dealer Bobby Howlings in exchange for road car. Subsequent history unknown.
2. Lotus 69 [69/71.2.F2] (John Pollock): New to Mick Mooney's Irish Racing Cars for Alan Rollinson to race in F2 in 1971, but only appeared once, at Hockenheim. By June, the car was being driven by John Pollock (Carrickfergus, County Antrim, Northern Ireland) for Gerry Kinnane's Team Ireland in Irish libre racing. Some confusion was then caused when Motoring News reported that Emerson Fittipaldi's car at the Brazilian F2 Torneo was chassis "69/2". It was clear from the reports in both Autosport and Motoring News that Fittipaldi was driving his usual car, not Rollinson's car, so this "69/2" must have been a transcription error. Pollock continued to use chassis 69/71.2.F2 with great success in Formula Ireland and in libre at Ingliston during 1972. It was then sold to Paddy Farrelly (Lucan, Dublin) for Irish libre in 1973. The car was next seen when advertised as "chassis no 7169/2F2" in Northern Ireland in 1977 having been 'virtually unused last 4 years'. Subsequent history unknown.
3. Brabham BT30 [12] (Nelson Todd): 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.
4. Brabham BT38 [27] (Tommy Reid): New to Tommy Reid (Tandragee, County Armagh, Northern Ireland) for 1972, and fitted with a 2-litre Chevrolet Vega for Formula Ireland racing. Updated to BT40 specification for 1973 but retained the Vega engine, and won numerous races that season. Retained for Formule Libre in 1974 when Ireland moved to Formula Atlantic, and won several races at Ingliston. Retained by Reid for many years, appearing in the first historic races at Kirkistown in 1983.
5. Brabham BT23 (Roy Courtney): Roy Courtney (Lisburn, County Antrim, Northern Ireland) entered a Brabham BT23 in Club Specials races at Kirkistown in 1972. He bought a March 722 for the 1973 season and the identity of the Brabham remains 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.

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 3 Aug 1972 p38. Watson raced Archie Phillips' Brabham BT36. Reid non-started his new BT38-Vega due to the death of his father and John L'Amie had another new car, a Crossle 22F Hart. Pollock's Lotus 69 was referred to as "now veteran".