Weston-super-Mare Speed Trials

Weston, 2 Oct 1971

Notes on the cars:

1. Brabham BT35X [2] (Tony Griffiths): Built for Tony Griffiths (Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands) for 1971, and fitted with a 5-litre Repco 740 V8 engine for the British Hill Climb Championship and occasional rounds of the British Sprint Championship. It won one round of each series. Griffiths retained it for 1972 when he again won one round in each series. To Malcolm Dungworth (Sheffield, South Yorkshire) for 1973 when he shared it with John Cussins (Leeds, West Yorkshire). They shared the car again in 1974 and in 1975, when Cussins won a championship round at Barbon Manor. Dungworth then ran it alone in 1976 and 1977. It was sold to Terry Smith in October 1977, and raced by him in the Sprint series in 1978. After racing it again in early 1979, he transferred the Repco engine into a March 75A/761 in June, and the BT35X was sold to Mike Remnant in south-west England. Remnant did not race it, sticking to his BT30, and sold it on to Roger Jordan who fitted a Ford twin cam engine and ran it in SW events from about 1981. He later replaced the engine with a Rover V8. It was raced by Mark Haynes, still with the Rover V8, at Werrington Park in 1985. In 1986, Jordan sold it to Ted Walker (Dursley, Gloucestershire) who sold it on to Shaun Mooney. Mooney had it restored by Simon Hadfield, fitted a Cosworth BDA, and raced it in historic racing from 1991 to 1996. In 2002, the car was sold to Japan and ran in Japanese historic events where it was noted as having the name "E. Sekiya" on the side. It changed hands in 2004 and was rebuilt by the Mecca racing garage at Tsukuba circuit in 2008. It was offered for sale by its Japanese owner in August 2015, and was acquired by Ross Drybrough (Worthing, West Sussex). At this point it was in "F2" specification with a BDA engine. Restored and raced by Drybrough in HSCC F2 in 2022.
2. McLaren M10B [400-03] (Roy Lane): Alan McKenchnie for Mike Walker UK 1970. The monocoque was replaced (by 400-18S) so that Walker could get the lower engine mount specification used by Gethin and Ganley. The 400-03 chassis to Roy Lane (Warwick, Warwickshire) and built up with 5.5-litre Chev for the British Hill Climb Championship 1971. To Richard Shardlow (Baslow, Derbyshire) for hillclimbs in 1972 but rolled at Harewood. To John Bailey and rebuilt for Sprints during 1974 and 1975. To Harry Phillips (Coventry) 1976 for libre. Bought from Phillips by Andrew Baber (Lydney, Gloucestershire), who only used the car in demos, and then sold it in early 1984 to Ian Webb (Dorking). Webb sold it almost immediately to Roger Ealand, who raced it in 1985 and 1986. To Paul Palmer and restored by Michael Cane Ltd, then to Ed Hubbard, and then to Ean Pugh (Wales & Monaco) in 1988. However, Ean believed the car he bought was the "ex-Prophet" 400-04, not 400-03. Sold to Keith Norris in June 2020.
3. Brabham BT18 [F2-8-66] (Spencer Elton): New to Mike Hawley (Solihull, Warwickshire) and run in the RAC British Hill Climb championship in 1966, taking a very impressive overall win at Shelsley Walsh in August. Sold to Peter Fenwick in late September or early October and used by him in minor hillclimbs at the end of that season and in 1967 and 1968. The car faded from view until the beginning of 1971, when Tom Elton ran it in sprints and hillclimbs, now fitted with a Vegantune twin cam. His son Spencer Elton took over the car later in the year and preferred it to his own BT21C, taking an overall win in the British Sprint championship round at Thruxton in August. Retained by the Eltons for 1972 and fitted with a 1100cc Cosworth BDA engine for the small racing car category. Tom raced the car in 1972, 1973 and 1974, and was still running it in the 1100cc class in 1976. Subsequent history unknown.
4. Aldon Viper (Peter Ryan): The Viper was built by Alan Goodwin and Don Loughlin's Aldon Engineering (Brierley Hill, Staffordshire). According to Autosport's report on the Duxford sprint in September 1970, the Aldon Viper comprised a 1071cc BMC Mini engine and gearbox "bolted on the back of the lowest single-seater body ever". It was driven by Pat Ryan (Halesowen, Worcestershire) in 1970 and 1971.
5. Brabham BT18 [F2-8-66] (Tom Elton): New to Mike Hawley (Solihull, Warwickshire) and run in the RAC British Hill Climb championship in 1966, taking a very impressive overall win at Shelsley Walsh in August. Sold to Peter Fenwick in late September or early October and used by him in minor hillclimbs at the end of that season and in 1967 and 1968. The car faded from view until the beginning of 1971, when Tom Elton ran it in sprints and hillclimbs, now fitted with a Vegantune twin cam. His son Spencer Elton took over the car later in the year and preferred it to his own BT21C, taking an overall win in the British Sprint championship round at Thruxton in August. Retained by the Eltons for 1972 and fitted with a 1100cc Cosworth BDA engine for the small racing car category. Tom raced the car in 1972, 1973 and 1974, and was still running it in the 1100cc class in 1976. Subsequent history unknown.
6. Brabham "BT3/18" [FJ-5-63] (Terry Dunn): David Prophet (West Bromwich) in Formula Junior 1963. Also appeared at Karlskoga in August and in South Africa in December in F1 specification with a 1500cc Ford engine. To Graham Eden (Coventry, Warwickshire) for Formula 3 in 1964. Eden first raced the car at Snetterton in mid-March 1964 but at Mallory Park two weeks later he crashed the car heavily in practice. When asked in 2013, Eden recalled that the car was "virtually brand new" and that it was "written off" in what he described as "the worst crash I ever had". He was in hospital for several days and did not race seriously again for two years. Duncan Rabagliati has a note that the car went back David Prophet but if it did go back to Prophet, it is likely that it needed to be completely rebuilt. History then unclear until April 1966 when raced by Peter Blankstone in hillclimbs. Raced again early 1967 before Blankstone acquired a Brabham BT18. Subsequent history unknown but believed to be the 1500cc Brabham "BT3/18" driven by Mrs Terry Dunn in sprints and hillclimbs from 1968 to 1974. A car with this chassis number later run in historic racing by John Narcisi (Bromley, Kent) in the 1980s. That car later to Barrie Gillies and wrecked at Phoenix Park in September 1997. Repaired and later owned by David Brown (Ashford, Kent) until sold to Graham Adelman (Free Union, VA) in 2013.
7. Harrier 001 ['2'] (Terry Sanger): New for Terry Sanger to drive in the 1971 Rothmans F5000 Championship, and fitted with a Ford Boss 302 V8 engine prepared by Piper Cars. He was hit by Keith Holland's McLaren while being lapped at the opening race and the Harrier was badly damaged. It was rebuilt with a longer wheelbase and a Chevrolet engine, and raced at Snetterton, Hockenheim, Oulton Park and Brands Hatch later in 1971. Sanger also ran the car at the Weston-super-Mare Speed Trials in October. Advertised in 1975 and 1976, but remained unsold. The car was next seen in 1983, when John Fossey (Jersey) started racing it in Channel Island hillclimbs, fitted with a 3.5-litre Rover V8 engine. He continued to use it until at least 2003, and by June 2009, it was with Barry 'Noddy' Le Prevost, again for Channel Island hillclimbs. It was bought from Le Prevost by Geoff Robinson, then sold to Spencer Elton, who Robinson believes sold it to Ewan Cameron (Malvern, Worcestershire).

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.

The British Sprint Championship results were originally provided by Paul Parker and Steve Wilkinson and are based on material drawn from Motoring News, Autosport and Speedscene magazines plus results sheets and programmes provided by former competitors and by the organising clubs.

The identification of individual cars is based on the Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 5000 and Formula Atlantic research work presented elsewhere on the site.

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 (7 Oct 1971 p23), Autosport (7 Oct 1971 p41). Dizzy Addicott (BRM P83) and Terry Sanger (Harrier) in the 'large racing car' class were not registered for the championship so were not eligible for the runoff. Aston's engine was misfiring in the Chevron B19 but MN does not mention whether that was a FVC or a BDA.