Brittanica 2000

Brands Hatch, 22 Jun 1975

Notes on the cars:

1. Chevron B31 [75-04] (Ian Grob): New for Ian Grob for 1975 and entered by KVG Racing for Grob and John Hine at long-distance events. To Tony Charnell for 1976, and entered by Mogil Motors Ltd in British sports car events. Charnell retained the B31 for 1977 but with the RAC Championship cancelled, he moved into long-distance events, competing in the Dijon 500 km, the Monza 500 km, the Le Mans 24 Hors, and the Le Castellet 500 km in July. Retained again for 1978 and raced at the Dijon 320 km and at Le Mans, but crashed very heavily on the Mulsanne Straught. The car snaped left just after the brow, hit the kerb, leapt onto a section of guardrail, flattening it, vaulted through a hoarding and ended up amongst the trees, thoroughly destroyed. Charnell got out without a scratch or a bruise! HE built up a new Chevron B36 for 1979.
2. Lola T294 [T292 HU40] (Richard Jones): 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.
3. Lola T294 (Manrico Zanuso): At some stage during 1975, Roger Heavens started running a second Lola T294. This is the car raced by Manrico Zanuso at Brands Hatch 22 Jun 1975, shared by Zanuso and Alois Müller at Zeltweg a week later and probably raced on other occasions during 1975. Heavens is known to have later sold two Lola T294s to France and this car explains the second sale. However, the origins of this second car are not yet established. One possibility is the Oscar Desentis Lola T292 as Desentis raced a Heavens-entered car at Spa in May 1975.
4. Chevron B23 [B21 72-26] (John Calvert): Bought relatively late in the 1972 season by Martin Raymond (London) to replace his Daren Mk. 3, B21-72-26 was used for the last three races of the European series and then, in upgraded B23 form, for the whole 1973 season. It was unused in 1974 and was advertised by Raymond in November that year. Bought by John Blanckley (London) for 1975 and raced by him and John Calvert that season, after which it was sold to Rolf Götz (Waldenbuch, Germany) and raced from 1976 to 1978, latterly described as a B26. For 1979, Götz bought Blanckley's newer B31 and the fate of the B21 is unknown. Between 1980 and 1982, a car with this identity was advertised by Bob Speak's Barrowford Garage (Nelson, Lancashire) but how it had got from southwestern Germany to Lancashire is unclear.
5. Chevron B23 [73-05] (Tony Charnell): Bought new by Ian Grob and used mainly in minor British and French events at first. Grob took his car to the Springbok series at the end of 1973 and then did a full European campaign in 1974. For 1975, he bought a new Chevron B31 and the B23 was sold to Scottish club racer Tony Charnell. Charnell then bought Grob's B31 for 1976 and the fate of the B23 in unknown.
6. Lola T294 [HU67] (Richard Lloyd): This car was sold new to Roger Heavens for 1974 and was entered under the Escuderia Montjuich Tergal banner for Javier Juncadella. It was also raced by Hervé Leguellec, Richard Lloyd and Manrico Zanuso. In January 1976, it was advertised by Heavens, noting that it had last raced in the Boxing Day meeting at Brands Hatch. Martial Legou told Philippe Rafesthain, as reported on the Autodiva thread, that he bought this car from Heavens via Leguellec after the 1975 season. According to Philippe's research, this car later ran as the #25 Pronuptia entry at Le Mans in 1978.
7. March 75S [U2] (John Lepp): Built new for 1974, fitted with a BMW engine and entered by March Engineering for Jean Ragnotti in the European 2-litre Sports Car championship, with Antar sponsorship. Fitted with a Richardson FVC after the first few races, and later with a Cosworth BDG. Retained by March for 1975, fitted with a Hart 420R engine, updated to 75S specification and plated as '75S-U2' for John Lepp to race. The car was retained again for 1976, now to 76S specification and reportedly using the identity '76S-1', now raced by Lepp as part of the Ultramar team. Sold to Bobby Brown (Hicksville, NY) for the 1977 Can-Am season, now using the identity '77ST-1'. Sold to Greg Sorrentino (Troy, Michigan) and raced in 1979. In 1980, it was converted to centre-seat specification with a new body fabricated by Dave Craddock and campaigned in this form by Sorrentino in 1981, described as a March 802. To Charlie Monk (Sarnia, Ontario) for 1982, and then via John Adams Racing & John Kalagian to J. Byron Walker (Detroit, Michigan). Raced by Walker in 1983 and 1984 before being stored. Walker later acquired the 1977 bodywork from EB Lunken, who had used it on his March 73S, and found Lepp's Ultramar livery under the layers of paint. In 2013, Walker was in the process of restoring the car to its 1975 specification.
8. Martin BM10 [BM9-1?] (Peter Andrews, John Corfield): A new car built by Brian Martin late in 1972 and only raced on a handful of occasions. It was sold to John Corfield in 1973 as the BM10 and raced by Corfield and Peter Andrews with a 1600cc FVA engine for the next four years in the orange-and-black livery of Bradshaw Plant Hire. It was then acquired by Richard Simms (Ossett, West Yorkshire) and rebodied as a Skoda Super Saloon. It debuted in this guise at debut at Croft on Easter Monday 1978 and raced in Super Saloons for three seasons: firstly with Simms, then with Malcolm Johnstone from Sep 1978 onwards and then Ian Drew in 1980. It was acquired by Richard Brown in 1982 and restored back to Martin BM10 specification. He sold it to Peter-Paul Durig in Switzerland, apparently in exchange for the Martin BM9C, and he retained it until 1999 when it was sold back to England to George Douglas. Retained by Douglas and used in Orwell Supersports Cup races in 2003 and 2005.
9. Lola T294 [T292 HU42] (Richard Scott): Invoiced via Bonnier to Team Archambeaud, this was Gérard Larrousse's regular Schnitzer BMW car for 1973. Sold to José Uriarte for 1974 and converted back to FVC power. Uriarte returned for 1975 with the car upgraded to T294 specification as part of Roger Hire's team and with sponsorship from Miles Roystone. This car was raced at the Spa 1000 km in May and the Nürburgring 1000 km in June. It was raced by Richard Scott at Brands Hatch on 22 Jun at which point it was said to be owned by Miles Roystone. Scott crashed into the guardrail in heat 1 and the car was not seen again. It is possible that this monocoque was repaired and was part of the package sold with HU67 to Martial Legou in 1976 and 1977, and possibly then to Michel Elkoubi and contributed its components to the T294/6s built up by Elkoubi for Le Mans in 1978 and 1979.
10. Lola T294 [T290 HU22] (Ian Bracey): The works assisted Barclays International entry, chassis HU22 was driven by Guy Edwards in 1972. It was then sold to Dorset Foods and driven by Tony Birchenhough, Brian Joscelyne and Lee Kaye in 1973 events and this continued into 1974, when Claude Crespin joined the driving group, and 1975, when Ian Bracey became a regular driver. Each year the car was updated at the Lola factory to the latest specification and different chassis plates were added to ensure it gained the best possible prize money. The car was raced at Le Mans every year from 1976 to 1980 and continued to race in Internationals right up to 1983. It was then sold to Nick Mason and stored until brought back to Le Mans for demonstration runs in 1992 and 1993. Birchenough now cares for the car and it appeared at the Le Mans Classic in 2002, 2004 and 2006.
11. Lola T294 [T292 HU65] (Derrick Worthington): The last T292 built went to John Abrahams in South Africa for the 1973 Springbok series. It was co-driven in the series by Charlie Lucas. The car went back to England under the care of Derrick Worthington and was the car raced by Rikki von Opel in the Nürburgring Interserie in June (although that car was listed as a Chevron B26). It was later raced in the Hockenheim 2-litre race in August (Christian Melville), the Brands Hatch 1000 km in September (Worthington and Nigel Clarkson) and at Kyalami in November (Abrahams and Richard Scott). In 1975, it was driven at Le Mans by Worthington and Clarkson and also appeared at the Spa 1000 km and in a couple of UK races. In 1976 it was sold to SCCA driver Dean Dietrich and was used in the revived Can-Am series in 1977. It then went to Rick Villate for two more seasons of Can-Am. To David P. Gough (Atlanta, GA) 1982 and used as a road car. To Ed Swart (Torrance, California) 1997 and then via six other US owners until bought by Cal Meeker (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) in 2013. As its identity was unknown until researched in 2013 by OldRacingCars.com, the car continued to race in Primagaz colours.
12. Chevron B26 [74-08] (TBA): After the closure of Red Rose Racing, Roger Hire struck a deal to run works-assisted Chevron B26s in 1974 under the name Forge Mill Racing. John Lepp ran the main car and Rafael Barrios joined the team to run a second B26, now positively identified as chassis 74-08. This car only raced once in 1975 but was then bought by Robin Smith to be used in endurance and Interserie in 1976. Gary Gove (Tacoma, WA) acquired it for Can-Am in early 1977 and raced it for three seasons, winning the Pacific Coast title in 1978 and the last BSR title at the Run-Offs. It went to John Graham in Canada for the 1981 season and then to Luc Behar-Bannelier for 1982. The B26 was sold to Gil Baird for Thundersports in England in 1983 then to Richard Piper for another three seasons during which time it was converted to DFV power before moving to Ireland in the late 1980s where it stayed for nearly 15 years. It was sold back to the US again around 2003 and has raced in US vintage racing.

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.