British Sprint Championship Round

Little Rissington, 15 Oct 1972

Notes on the cars:

1. McLaren M10A/B [300-08] (Johnty Williamson): See full history: McLaren M10A 300-08.
2. Brabham BT21A [9] (John Ravenscroft): Bought new by Tony Griffiths (Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire) and used in British hillclimbs in 1967. Retained for 1968, running a Vegantune twin-cam in the 1600cc class of the British Hill Climb Championship. Used again at the start of 1969 then sold to Chris Court, who continued to hillclimb it through the rest of 1969. Advertised by John Brown (Padiham, Lancashire) in April 1970, and again in September, still with its Vegantune engine, and then to John Ravenscroft for Sprints in 1971 and 1972, winning two rounds of the British Sprint Championship in 1972. To Richard Hartley for 1973, again being used in sprints. To Geoffrey Jackson April 1974 and then via Peter Bloore c1981-82 to Chris Crawford of ADA Engineering. During ADA's ownership, the car was rebuilt to F3 specification and raced by Mike Wilds in HSCC Historic F3. Then to Max Lane (Sydney, NSW, Australia) 1984. Retained until 1991 and then via Mike Broso (Junee, Australia) to Ron Coath (Yarralumla, Canberra, Australia) 1999. Raced regularly by Coath in historic racing until sold to Graeme Noonan (Phillip Island, Australia) August 2014.
3. March 702 [1] (Geoff Inglis): The first production March 702 was used by Chris Amon in the opening race as part of Malcolm Guthrie's team and then by Ronnie Peterson for the rest of the season. Unseen in 1971 but presumably the "ex-Peterson" car that Geoff Inglis (Yatton, Somerset) used for sprinting in 1972. Advertised by Inglis in February 1973 when it still had its FVA engine. To Spencer Elton (Westbury, Wiltshire) and sold by him to Dave Harris for sprints in 1973. Then back to Elton and next to Philip Anstruther (Bristol) who ran it in sprints in 1974. Anstruther sold it back to Elton yet again and it was advertised by him in March 1975. Next seen when advertised from Birmingham in 1981 as an "abandoned sprint and hillclimb project" and then from Devon in 1983. Reappeared in 1985 when raced by Ian Giles in HSCC events when its papers said it had previously been used by Dave Harris in hillclimbs. Then to Simon Brien in Ireland in 1986, to Lew Wright by 1989, then to Tony Birchenough 1991, and driven by Martin Birrane. It was sold to Steve Hitchins in 1992, and it is reported that this car was the one raced by Frenchman Jean-Pierre Grave in historic racing in the 1990s, was still with him in 2004, and still in France in 2010. In April 2013, Eric Charles (Dubai, UAE) reported that he had acquired 702/1.
4. Alexis (Rob Turnbull): Rob Turnbull (Walmley, Warwickshire) ran an "F2" Alexis with Ford twin cam engine in sprints and hillclimbs in 1971, 1972 and 1973. Its previous history remains uncertain but Neil McCrudden has established that the car he currently owns, plated TR2, was Turnbull's car. He understands that it started life as a development F3 Mk9 in 1967, and was converted to F2 Mk10 specification probably in 1967. It is unknown from then until 1971. It went from Turnbull to Andy Turnock for 1974 before disappearing for another 20 years.
5. Brabham BT21B [28] (Spencer Elton): New to Frank Lythgoe Racing for Dave Berry (Colwyn Bay) to race in British F3 in 1968. To Alan Rollinson for 1969 and won six races at the start of the British F3 season. Sold to Norman Foulds (Fleetwood, Lancashire) in June 1969 and used in British F3 for the rest of that season. With dealer Bobby Howlings (Congleton, Cheshire) in early 1970, then used briefly by Nick Cook in early 1971 before his new BT35 was ready. Next seen in early 1972 when Spencer Elton (Westbury, Wiltshire) had fitted one of his Vegantune twin cam engines and ran the car in hillclimbs. Sold by Spencer to Gerry Wilkins (Bath, Somerset) for hillclimbs in 1973 and 1974. It returned to Spencer and was advertised by him in 1976 and then reappeared with Les Stone (Basingstoke, Hampshire) at Harewood in July 1976. Used by Stone in sprints and hillclimbs from 1977 to 1980. By 1987, the car was with Simon Harratt (Blandford, Dorset) who raced it at Gurston Down that year, and also in 1991. The car was raced by Simon, his wife Jane, and later daughter Melissa, in speed events for many years, for much of that time Simon being BARC SW chairman and Jane being competition secretary. After Simon died in 2016, the car was sold to Grant Cratchley (Cheltenham, Gloucestershire).

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.