Coppa Città di Enna

Enna-Pergusa, 15 Aug 1973

Notes on the cars:

1. Lola T292 [HU40] (Guy Edwards): Described consistently as the "prototype" T292, HU40 first appeared at Jarama 5 Nov 1972 where it was raced by Richard Scott. It was then Guy Edwards' works car throughout 1973 after which it was updated to T294 specification and sold by Lola to Martin Raymond for 1974. It went to Stewart Chubb for 1975 and continued to race in the European series. In 1976, Chubb sold the car to Steven Payne-Herbert and it was used in Can-Am and SCCA BSR racing until 1980. Payne-Herbert kept the car until 1989 when it was sold for vintage racing and, three owners later, it was being offered for sale by Grand Prix Classics in February 2011.
2. Chevron B23 [73-08] (John Burton): John Burton joined Red Rose Racing for 1973 and drove a new Chevron B23, chassis 73-08. The car was advertised in October 1973 and was sold to young Scottish hillclimber (and future double British Touring Car Champion) John Cleland for British hillclimbs. He used a 1930cc Alan Smith engine and fitted a Chevron B26 rear end to the car. John recalls selling the car to Roger Nathan and delivering it to London but the movement of the car are unknown for the rest of 1975. It was run in French courses de côte by Jean Pierre Lecomte in 1976 and 1977, by Jacques Heuclin from 1978 to 1980 and by Gérard Ferré in 1982. The car was then rebodied as the Sthémo and ran like this from 1985 to 1991.
3. Lola T292 [HU58] (Jean-Louis Lafosse): Acquired in May 1973 by Jean-Louis Lafosse to run in 2-litre racing as part of Ecurie Filipinetti, who also ran Lafosse's Gitanes-backed 3-litre Lola T282. The project was badly effected by the death of Georges Filipinetti. Lafosse retained the car for the 1974 season and after an unsuccessful run with Osella, moved to the ROC team and raced the T292 at Mugello in September fitted with one of ROC's Simca engines. The car appears to have become part of the ROC equipe and was raced by Xavier Lapeyre at Jarama in October and is believed to have stayed with ROC through 1975. Then likely to be the "ex-Filipinetti" Lola T292 with which Georges Morand won the 2-litre class at Le Mans in 1976. After that it appears to have gone via Heini Mader to Michel Elkoubi and been used in French national races in 1977, for example at the Treffort hillclimb. It was rebuilt for Le Mans again in 1978 as one of Elkoubi's two Pronuptia entries. However, it is unclear which of the #24 and #25 entries it was and, because of this, its later history has not yet been determined.
4. Chevron B23 (Piero Monticone): Piero Monticone raced a Chevron "B23" at the Enna-Pergusa round of the European series on 15 Aug 1973. The website voltaracing.com contains pictures of Monticone's cars racing in 1973 and 1975 and refers to the 1973 car as a B19. Monticone also raced the car in Italian national events, placing second at Valle Camonica in August and second in class at Casale Monferrato in September and Vallelunga in mid-October.
5. Chevron B23 [73-09] (Jorge de Bagration): Acquired by Roger Hire a few races into the 1973 season and quickly completed using some B21 parts to run as part of the Hire International/Scuderia Montjuich team. Raced by José Juncadella, Javier Juncadella, Jorge de Bagration and Tim Schenken in European 2-litre events in 1973. Maybe the car raced by Rafael Barrios at Paul Ricard in April 1974 for Hire's Forge Mill Racing. Also appeared at Jarama 20 Oct 1974 for De Bagration. Advertised by Hire at the end of 1974 but not known in 1975 and 1976. With Laurence Jacobsen 1977 and with Tony Sugden for libre racing late 1978. Rebodied as a Skoda Super Saloon for 1979 and raced until at least 1981. Advertised by Malcolm Johnstone 1983. Reported to be with Mike Burtt 1988.
6. Lola T290 [HU5] (Fred Stalder): 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.
7. Chevron B21 (Stefano Buonapace): Stefano Buonapace raced one or more Chevrons from 1971 to 1973 but it currently appears that all were based on his original B19. His 1971 car was described as having either a 1600cc Alfa Romeo or 2-litre Abarth engine but over the next two seasons he generally ran in the 1300cc class in Italian domestic races. His "B21" or "B23" in 1973 ran with a Armaroli-tuned Ford 1300cc engine. The subsequent history of Buonapace's car is not yet known.
8. Chevron B23 [73-12] (John Lepp): The second Red Rose Racing Chevron was driven by John Lepp in 1973 and he was allocated chassis B23-73-12. The B23 was advertised by Red Rose at the end of the season and bought by Bob Howlings in March 1974 who intended to race it. However, the car is not seen again and is believed to have been sold by Howlings to a Japanese customer.
9. Lola T292 [HU55] (Chris Craft): Originally sold to Martin Birrane's Crowne Racing for Chris Craft to run in the 1973 European 2-litre Sports Car championship. The car was fitted with the new Cosworth BDG engine and the team was managed by Keith Greene. Craft won at Misano and Imola and took two further second places to win the championship. In 1974, the car was due to be fitted with the new Tecno P82 flat-8 engine but the project ran late and Birrane eventually sold the car in frustration to the Pederzani brothers. When the Lola-Tecno did finally appear, at Misano in July, it was driven by Jean-Pierre Jaussaud but retired with overheating problems. According to later sale descriptions, HU55 was then sold to well-known Sicilian hillclimb specialist Angelo Giliberti, continuing to Giuseppe Tornatore (Sardinia) in 1980, to Gianpaolo Casazza (Florence) in 2000 and then to Pietro Silva (San Marino) soon after. It returned to England in 2009 and was offered for sale by Maxted-Page in 2011.
10. Lola T292 [HU51] (Jim Busby): SCCA driver Jim Busby bought a new Lola T292 for 1973 and competed in the European championship as part of Guy Edwards' semi-works Barclays International Racing team. He departed for his native California after the September Nürburgring race, leaving him time to secure the SCCA Southern Pacific Division BSR title. He was second in the Run-Offs to Jerry Hansen's sister car, HU60. For 1974, the car was sold to Noah Lacona (W. Des Moines, IA) who ran it in SCCA MidWest Division BSR racing for many years, finishing third at the Run-Offs as late as 1983. In 1977, HU51 was raced by Bobby Rahal at the Road America Can-Am. The car was later sold by Lacona to Joe Buzzetta (St James, NY) who also retained it for many years. He sold it to Larry Connor (Centerville, OH) who sold it to Greg Galdi (Lloyd Harbor NY) in February 2011. Since 1994, it has been looked after by Mark Wehrmann of Wehrmann Engineering (Hauppauge, NY).
11. Lola T292 [HU57] (Roland Heiler): Bought new by Roland Heiler in June 1973 to replace the disappointing GRD S73 that he'd been running as part of Jörg Obermoser's Eurorace team. He ran the T292 in 1973 and 1974 as part of Obermoser's operation but it was driven mainly by Philipp Gantner in 1974. The fate of this car is unknown.
12. Chevron B21/B23 [72-20] (Javier Juncadella): Bought by Roger Hire for Peter Hanson to drive in European sports car events in 1972, at first with a 2-litre BRM V8 engine, until changing to a normal FVC. Raced in the Springbok series at the end of the year. The car was upgraded to B23 specification for 1973 and joined Roger Hire's new B23 in the Hire International/Scuderia Montjuich team. Raced by both Javier and José Juncadella. This may be the "bitza" Chevron built up for Frank Sytner to drive at the start of the 1974 season. Presumably one of the two "B23s" advertised by Roger Hire in May 1975. 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.

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 23 Aug 1973 pp24-25, Motoring News 23 Aug 1973 p9, Autosprint 20-27 Aug 1973 pp41-43..