Grand Prix de Dijon

Dijon-Prenois, 4 Jun 1972

Notes on the cars:

1. Chevron B21 [72-15] (Dieter Quester): A reputedly lightweight car built for BMW to test a new 2-litre version of their Formula 2 engine. Entered by Bosch Racing Team Vienna for Dieter Quester who took pole on three of his four appearances in the car and won at Salzburgring on 21 May 1972. Crashed at Enna 15 Aug 1972 and heavily damaged. Later sold by BMW to Vasek Polak in the US and repaired by Hans Adam, Mark Flores and Bruce Ponder. It was raced in SCCA BSR racing in 1974 and 1975 by Ponder and later used in Can-Am in 1979 by Hurley Haywood. The car was retained in the Polak collection until it was sold back to BMW and restored to original specification for their museum. The car was raced by Hubert Hahne at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2001.
2. Lola T290 [HU10] (Jean-Louis Lafosse): Chassis HU10 was new at at Dijon in June 1972 replacing chassis HU3 crashed at Vallelunga in April. It was used through the rest of 1972 under the Scuderia Filipinetti banner wearing Flint livery and with FVC and later Chevy Vega EA engines. Also used by Lafosse in French hillclimbs in 1972. Lafosse retained the car for the first race of 1973 and it was also raced by Marie-Claude Beaumont at Clermont-Ferrand in June 1973. In 1975, the car was acquired by Hans-Markus Huber in Switzerland and used in Swiss national racing throughout the late 1970s. He retained the car until about 2005/2006 when he sold it to the US. In 2007, Lola Heritage recorded that HU10 was owned by Jeff Lewis.
3. Chevron B21 [72-7] (Niki Bosch): Red Rose Racing acquired two Chevron B21s for the start of the 1972 sports racing season, chassis B21-72-7 and B21-72-8. Of these, 72-7 was initially assigned to José Maria Juncadella and raced by him in the 2-litre championship. At Dijon in June, Juncadella took over 72-8 from John Hine, and the team's third driver Niki Bosch was promoted into 72-7. He raced the car for the remainder of the season, including the finale at Jarama in November. Subsequent history unknown, but likely to be the car that went to Henk Bosman.
4. Chevron B19/B21 [71-32] (John Bridges): The last new B19 to appear in Europe, B19-71-32 was new for Red Rose Racing boss John Bridges to drive at Jarama 7 Nov 1971. It had the wider B21-spec chassis required to meet 1972 regulations so was retained by Red Rose Racing as a fourth entry in 1972. It was driven mainly by Bridges in 1972 but also by Niki Bosch, Paco Josa and John Watson in European 2-litre events. At the end of the 1972 season it was sold to Bobby Howlings and was almost certainly the car driven by Howlings and John Hine at Vallelunga 25 Mar 1973 and then by Hine at Paul Ricard 8 Apr 1973. The car then disappears from Howlings' Ember Racing team, possibly to Japan or possibly to fellow wheeler-dealer Tony Dean.
5. Lola T290 [HU5] (Gérard Larrousse): This car was acquired by Ecurie Bonnier and run for customer Claude Swietlik throughout 1972, also being raced by Mario Cabral, Gilbert Salles and Hervé Bayard on occasion. In 1973 it was sold to Fred Stalder who founded Racing Organisation Course (ROC) and was used throughout the season in both European 2-litre racing and in French hillclimbs. Based on photographic evidence, this car was retained by ROC for 1974 as a backup for for hire purposes. It appears to be the car used by Albert Dufrêne in French hillclimbs in 1974 and is then believed to have passed to Christian Riehl around 1976.
6. Chevron B21 [72-6] (Max Cohen-Olivar): New to Max Cohen-Olivar and raced in European 2-litre sports car rounds in 1972, fitted with an 1800cc Cosworth FVC. Sold to Jacques Alméras for French hillclimbs in 1973, then to Daniel Gache (Avignon, France) for 1974, when it was usually described as a B23. Subsequent history unknown.
7. Chevron B21 [72-8] (José Maria Juncadella): One of two Chevron B21s acquired by Red Rose Racing for the 1972 sports racing season, 72-8 was driven by John Hine in the early 2-litre races, and shared by him and team principal John Bridges in long-distance events. Hine got a new Chevrolet Vega-engined car at Dijon in June, and 72-8 was taken over by José Juncadella for the rest of the year. This is almost certainly the car shared by Hine and Dave Charlton in the Springbok series in November and December. In 1973, the car appeared at the first race for José's brother Javier Juncadella but Roger Hire then became involved with the team and he provided a new B23 and his relatively recent B21 instead of the ex-Red Rose B21. The fate of the B21 is not known.
8. Lola T290 [HU14] (Nello Chelli): Raced by Nello Chelli in 1972 in French hillclimbs, winning the G5-7 class at Neufchatel-en-Bray (11 May) and at Glouneaux (25 Jun) and winning overall at Abreshwiler (14 May) and at Angouleme (21 May). Also used in some circuit racing. Sold to Jacques Henry for 1973, and run alongside Fred Stalder's T290 HU5 in European 2-litre racing, at Le Mans and in French hillclimbs. Unknown in 1974 but identified by Philippe Rafesthain as the 1600cc car of André Chevalley in Swiss events in 1975. Unknown again in 1976, but reappeared in French hillclimbs in 1977, driven by Bernard Verdier, who was noted to be one of Fred Stalder's clients. This would then be the "ex-Verdier" car raced by Serge Vidal in the early weeks of the 1981 season. A car bearing this number was later bought by Matt Slinn from France in 1999. It was restored by Tollbar Racing in Matlock, fitted with a BDG engine and subsequently sold to Richard Hope. Retained by Hope in 2007.

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.