Martini International Trophy

Silverstone, 5 Jun 1971

Notes on the cars:

1. Chevron B19 [71-9] (John Lepp): Sold to Central Garage (Mirfield) Ltd for John Lepp to drive in the 1971 European 2-litre series. Sold to James Gray for 1972 with Peter Gaydon as co-driver and then to Ian Harrower and James Bell for 1973 and 1974. Sold to Tony Wadsworth and rebodied with an Imp body as the Special Saloon "Chimp" and driven by Jonathan Buncombe. Banned almost immediately and sold to Paul Howarth for historic racing in 1977. Then raced by Vin Malkie from 1978 to 1982 after which it was raced by James Wallis (Edenbridge, Kent) in 1983 and 1984. The car's history becomes increasingly murky after this point. For more on this car, see 'Chevron B19 71-9'.
2. Martin BM7 [1] (Peter Gaydon): The Martin BM7 was raced by Brian Martin in 1970 and then by Edward Negus in 1971, during which time it was fitted with a 1600cc FVA engine and was sometimes described as a BM8. In 1972, the car was rebodied by Martin as a "BM9C" with a Chevron B16-style centre section and sold to Chris and Mike Oates who used it in club racing. The next few years are unclear but by 1976 it had been sold to Peter-Paul Durig in Switzerland and was used in Swiss national events over the next five seasons. In 1982, it returned to the UK when Richard Brown bought it from Durig (the BM10 going in the opposite direction). It was then sold to Jim Gathercole who restored it back to BM7 specification and raced it in historics for three seasons. It then went to Karl-Reiner Vogeler in Mar 1986 and to Bernd Seidler in Mar 1993. Seidler restored the car again in 1999 and it was offered for sale by Bonhams in 2004 and 2005. Subsequent history unknown.
3. Chevron B8 [CH-DBE-71] (Tony Charnell): Paul Vestey bought one of the earliest 1969 B8s, a blue and white car that would be sponsored by Road & Racing Holborn Ltd. Raced by Vesty and by Tim Schenken but heavily damaged in Schenken's practice accident at the BOAC 500 at Brands Hatch on 13 April. Extensively rebuilt and sold to James Tangye in July 1969 who raced it as part of the Worcestershire Racing Association. Retained for another season of European 2-litre racing in 1970 and then sold for 1971 to Tony Charnell who raced mainly in northern English club racing. Believed to be the car used in British hillclimbing by a young John Cleland in 1973.
4. Chevron B16 [DBE-4] (Brian Robinson): Brian Robinson ran a Chevron B16 in 1970 and 1971 before upgrading to a Chevron B21 for the 1972 season. He sold the B16, still complete with its early FVC, to John White (Byfield, MA) who raced it in BSR racing for several seasons.
5. Martin BM8 [1] (Brian Martin): The Martin BM8 was Brian Martin's regular car for the 1971 season and was then sold to David Good for hillclimbs in 1972. Good came very close to winning the class-based Leaders title, only to crash on his first class run at the final round of the championship. The BM8 was raced by Richard Brown in hillclimbs in 1974 and 1975, and by John Stuart in 1976 before fading from view for a few years. It was with Simon Phillips in 1982 and then raced by Stoic Racing (Ian Harrower, John Piper and others) with a BDX engine in 1983-84. It passed through the hands of Ian Barrowman and Mike Campbell-Cole in the 1990s before landing with Howard Matloff (San Diego, CA) by 1998.
6. Lola T212 [HU18] (Helmut Marko): One of two cars delivered to Ecurie Bonnier and raced under the Scuderia Filipinetti banner. HU18 is identified by Sport Auto as Jo Bonnier's personal car and is likely to be the car used at Paul Ricard April 1972 by Claude Ballot-Léna. A surviving Bonnier invoice shows that HU18 was sold to Enzo Osella in May 1972 and a 2011 advert by Marcel Roks quotes a 1985 HVIF which identifies HU18 as the car then owned by Roberto Filannino and Pasquale Barberio. Barberio raced a 1300cc Lola T212-Abarth in Italian domestic racing in 1973 and the Roks advert says he kept the car until 1976. Later owners are given as a Mr. Girollami 1976, Stefano Sebastiani 1982, Victor Myette 1994, Andy Wolfe (Cambridge, UK) 1998 and the current owner in 2001.
7. Lola T210 [SL210/14] (Terry Croker): Terry Croker bought SL210/14 in August 1970 to replace his Lola T70 for use in the Interserie championship. Croker used it in the 1971 European 2-litre series, sharing with Guy Edwards at the Nürburgring in September. It was sold to Rolf Skoghag for 1972 who continued to race it until June 1973. It is then reported to have passed through the hands of Mike Gue and John Webb before reaching Bill Sainsbury (Vancouver, Canada) for 1976. After racing in DSR in 1976 it is reported to have passed via MacKenzie Racing 1977 and at least one other Canadian owner to Robert Grant (UK) in 1985 who sold it to Bengt Ljungbergh (Sweden) later that year. Ljungbergh retained it to 2007 when it was sold via Chris Fox to Geoff Lister. It was for sale in November 2010.
8. Chevron B19 [71-16] (Gérard Larrousse): Jo Siffert for Gerard Larrousse 1971 - Hans Affentranger 1972-1977 - to Dieter Pflüger 1978 - Peter-Paul Dürig 1983 - Richard and Suzy George 2000. For a more detailed history see Chevron B19 71-16.
9. Lola T212 [HU22] (Helmut Marko): Bought by Karl von Wendt Racing for 1971 and entered for Helmut Marko at the first few races, winning the opening round at Paul Ricard in April and qualifying on pole for the next round at the Salzburgring. The car was damaged at Silverstone in June and Marko used the team's sister car HU23 thereafter. HU22 returned to the team and was raced by Jean-Pierre Jabouille at the Nürburgring in September (where Autosport noted that it was the car that had won the opening round) and by Gijs van Lennep at Zandvoort a few weeks later. The car was taken as a spare to the Springbok series but raced at Kyalami by Gijs van Lennep and Jackie Pretorius. Subsequent history unknown but said to have been sold to a Greek hillclimber. A car with this number bought from the US by Ian Giles then sold to Bryan Jedinak in the US in 2005 before returning again to the UK via Giles again and bought by Neil Primrose in 2009.
10. Lola T212 [HU23] (Karl von Wendt): One of two Lola T212s bought by Karl von Wendt Racing for 1971 and the team car originally allocated to Von Wendt himself. Raced at Paul Ricard in April by Von Wendt and Jean-Pierre Jabouille and then at Salzburgring in May by Gijs van Lennep. As Von Wendt had retired from driving, HU23 was not take to Silverstone in June but when Helmut Marko damaged the other team car, HU22, at that race, he moved over to HU23 for the rest of the season. He won in this car at Clermont-Ferrand, Hockenheim and Imola in June and July and also raced at Nürburgring and Zandvoort in September. Presumably Marko's car at the ADAC-Sauerland-Bergpreis in October. Then shipped to South Africa for the Springbok series and raced by Marko and John Love in six events. Subsequent history unknown but said to have been sold to a Belgian driver and crashed at some point in the 1970s. A car with this number owned by Ian Webb in the early 1980s and rebuilt on a reskinned monocoque for use in historic racing, initially by Richard Eyre and then John Foulston. Nicola Foulston sold it to a M. Defornay in 1986 but it is then unknown until owned by Richard Griot (Seattle, WA) in the late 1990s then to Walt Cox (Seattle, WA) 2005, Steve Read 2008 and Gregoire Audi 2010.
11. Chevron B16 [DBE-10] (Heinz Derflinger): Brian Redman raced a new works Chevron B16 in 1971, chassis DBE10, winning at Paul Ricard and finishing second at two other races. Vic Elford drove it at Mugello in after which Redman moved to the new B16 Spyder. For 1971, the B16 was sold to Austrian Heinz Derflinger and entered by Bosch Racing Team for him and Dieter Soucek at Paul Ricard in April 1971. Derflinger then crashed heavily in the second race, at Salzburgring in May and Motoring News reported that the car was broken in half. In August, Derflinger appeared in a new B19, replacing the wrecked B16.
12. Chevron B8 [CH-DBE-81] (Richard Simms): Bought new for 1969 by Lord Angus Clydesdale and used in European 2-litre events through 1969 and 1970. Sold to West Yorkshire amateur raced Richard Simms for 1971 and later converted to open Spyder form for 1972 (possibly using Gropa bodywork but this is not yet confirmed) before Simms acquired a Chevron B19 for 1972.
13. Chevron B8 [CH-DBE-78] (Graham Lynch): A bright yellow B8 bought for 1969 by the Bamford family, sponsored by JCB Excavators Ltd and raced by Pete Brown and Roger Enever in long-distance events, notably the Targa Florio and Le Mans. This car was sold to Bosco O'Brien for 1970 and was one of four B8s appearing regularly in Mondello Parks sports/GT races during 1970. Sold back to England to Graham Lynch for 1971 and raced in northern club racing.
14. Gropa CMC Mk 2 [CH-DBE-53] (Mike Gribben): Whitley Bay tailor Johnny Blades bought a Chevron B8 for 1968 but fitted with a F2 Cosworth FVA engine for 1600cc Group 6 racing instead of GT racing. He raced this to the end of 1969 and then sold it to Mike Gribben who raced it in standard form in 1970 and then had it converted to a Gropa for 1971. John Markey bought it in 1972, converted it to BMW power and raced it in the Motoring News Sports/GT series in 1973. In 1975, Markey sold it to Colin James who fitted a 2-litre Martin V8 engine and raced it a few times in 1975 and 1976. Its subsequent history is currently unknown - one of very few Gropas still missing. One possibility is that it was the Gropa that went to Nolan Pitts (Plymouth, Devon) for 1977.

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

Motoring News 10 Jun 1971 pp9-