British Sprint Championship Round

Wroughton, 1 Aug 1976

Notes on the cars:

1. March 742 ["U1"] (David Franklin): Built by March as the development car for the new March 742 series, but using a leftover 732 monocoque. Employed as the spare car for the Elf-sponsored works team in 1974, it was raced by Patrick Depailler at Montjuich Park, by Michel Leclère at Hockenheim in June, by Depailler to win at Mugello, by Ronnie Peterson to win at Karlskoga, and by Depailler again at Enna. It was not seen in 1975, but then sold in December 1975 to David Franklin (Portbury, Somerset) and used in British hillclimbs in 1976, with sponsorship from Wendy Wools. Retained for 1977, when it was fitted with 1977 bodywork. For 1978, it was sold to Alan Richards (Prestbury, Gloucestershire), fitted with a 2-litre Cosworth FVC and used in sprints and hillclimbs. To Norrie Galbraith (Lanark, Scotland) for 1979, and used in Scottish speed events. Retained by Galbraith for 1980, but rebuilt over the winter by Robin Smith to 782 configuration, and fitted with a Hart 420R engine. In December 1980, the car was advertised from a Frome, Somerset, phone number, described as being ex-Depailler and ex-Galbraith, modified by Smith. It has been suggested that Stephen Cuff was the advertiser. Subsequent history unknown.
2. Lola T100 [SL100/4] (Richard Lester): Believed to be the works Lola T100 entered by Lola Racing for John Surtees to drive in Formula 2 at the start of 1967. Fitted with a Cosworth FVA engine and raced by Surtees at Snetterton and Silverstone in March 1967, then by Chris Irwin at the Nürburgring in April. Sold in May to David Bridges for Brian Redman to drive in F2 for the rest of that season. Retained by Bridges for F2 in 1968, when it was driven by Redman, Chris Williams, Mike Beckwith, David Hobbs and Robin Widdows. Sold to Robin Darlington (Ruaben, Wales) late 1969, and used in libre racing in 1970. He advertised it in January 1971 when it had a twin cam and was prepared for the new 1971 Formula Atlantic category. Robin cannot recall where it went, but it was next seen in Sprints in late 1973, when it was driven by Richard Lester (Yoxall, Staffordshire). The car was run by Lester in the 1600cc class in Sprints and occasional hillclimbs from 1974 to 1977. Lester then acquired a March 73B, and advertised the T100 in January 1978 as "ex-Redman" with an all-steel twin cam and Hewland FT200 gearbox. This is likely to be the red/white 1600cc Lola T100 that Kenneth Brill (Redditch, Worcestershire) raced in libre at Croft in 1978. Subsequent history unknown.
3. March 702 (Allan Humphries): Allan Humphries (Bath) of Allwood Cars Ltd ran a 1600cc March 702 in hillclimbs at Wroughton and Wiscombe Park in 1976 and 1977. He later acquired a March 762, which he hillclimbed in 1978 and 1979, and then the ex-Ronnie Peterson March 761, which he used in 1980. Vivian Carter raced a March 702 in Sprints in 1978, and according to an Autosport feature, he was running as part of the Allwood Cars Ltd of Bristol team. This would indicate that he had the same car that Allan Humphries had raced in 1976 and 1977. Subsequent history unknown.
4. Surtees TS8 [007] (TBA): New for Peter Revson at the 1971 Questor GP then for Alan Roillinson in UK series. To Alan Brodie 1972 and raced by Brodie and by Steve Thompson. To Servis Appliances Racing Team 1973 and raced by Ray Allan early in the season. Then possibly the Robin Darlington car in Sep 1973 Reappeared with Colin Andrews (Banbury, Oxfordshire) 1974, then to Steve Cuff (Frome, Somerset) 1975 for hillclimbs. To Alan Richards (Cheltenham) and used in sprints and occasional hill climbs in 1976 and 1977. Used in sprints and occasional hill climbs by Bob Clapham in 1978 and 1979. Then unknown until sold by Brian Redman to Dave Swigler (Panama City, FL) in 1986. Dave believes Brian got it from Richard Attwood about two years earlier. Retained until Swigler sold his collection to Harin De Silva (Palos Verdes Estates, CA) in 2009. Restored by Virtuoso Performance and first raced at Laguna Seca in August 2011. Also raced in New Zealand in the 2011/12 Tasman Revival series and at the Phillip Island Classic in March 2013.
5. March 702 [6] (Peter Fisk): Although given the number 702/6 by March, this was the development F2 car built using the very first Arch Motors frame. It raced just once in 1970 when Howden Ganley appeared in it at Mantorp Park in August. At the start of 1971, it was fitted with a Vegantune twin cam for Formula Atlantic, and was driven by David Morgan at the Mallory Park round in March, taking pole position and winning. He was second in the next race at Castle Combe, but then the car was advertised by March, and bought by John Nicholson, who used it for the rest of that season. Advertised by Nicholson (Ashford, Middlesex) in August 1972. Bought from Nicholson in October 1972 by Martin Steele (Faringdon, Oxfordshire) and used in sprints in 1973 and the first half of 1974. Sold in July 1974 to Peter Fisk (Cambridge) who raced it in speed events from 1974 to 1979. The car was fitted with a BDA engine, and Fisk sometimes shared with Robert Glass, also of Cambridge. Fisk advertised the car in October 1980 and sold it back to Steele in March 1981. Steele restored it and used it in UK historic racing in 1985 and 1986. Retained until sold in November 1998 to Mike Scott (Exeter, Devon) who drove it in FORCE events in 2003, and later appeared with it in Masters events in 2006. Sold in 2009 to Satoshi Onishi (Miharuno, Japan) and used by him in Japanese historic events.
6. Surtees TS8 [007] (Alan Richards): New for Peter Revson at the 1971 Questor GP then for Alan Roillinson in UK series. To Alan Brodie 1972 and raced by Brodie and by Steve Thompson. To Servis Appliances Racing Team 1973 and raced by Ray Allan early in the season. Then possibly the Robin Darlington car in Sep 1973 Reappeared with Colin Andrews (Banbury, Oxfordshire) 1974, then to Steve Cuff (Frome, Somerset) 1975 for hillclimbs. To Alan Richards (Cheltenham) and used in sprints and occasional hill climbs in 1976 and 1977. Used in sprints and occasional hill climbs by Bob Clapham in 1978 and 1979. Then unknown until sold by Brian Redman to Dave Swigler (Panama City, FL) in 1986. Dave believes Brian got it from Richard Attwood about two years earlier. Retained until Swigler sold his collection to Harin De Silva (Palos Verdes Estates, CA) in 2009. Restored by Virtuoso Performance and first raced at Laguna Seca in August 2011. Also raced in New Zealand in the 2011/12 Tasman Revival series and at the Phillip Island Classic in March 2013.
7. McLaren M10A/B [300-08] (Richard White): See full history: McLaren M10A 300-08.
8. Brabham BT21C [17] (Nigel Pow): New to Malcolm Eaves (Solihull, Warwickshire) and fitted with a 3.5-litre Buick V8 engine for hillclimbing. It made its competition debut at Curborough on 4 October 1970, its only previous outing having been a shakedown at Silverstone. Eaves qualified the car regularly for the Top Ten in British championship hill climbs in 1971. To Peter Boshier-Jones (Cardiff) for 1972 and again often made the Top Ten in 1972 and 1973. To Nigel Pow (Bristol) and kept the Buick engine for 1974, qualifying for the Top Ten on several occasions. Pow reappeared with the car in 1976, when it had been fitted with a 4.2-litre four-cam Indianapolis Repco V8 running on neat methanol. The bodywork had also been updated and it was described as a BT21/23C. The car was not a great success in this configuration. Sold by Pow to John Harper in 1979 and sold by him to Australian Clive Osborne in 1981 and then sold to Les Wright in 1987. Wright located Malcolm Eaves who still had the detailed photographs from when the car was first built, allowing Wright to return it to original specification by 2003. The quad-cam Repco V8 was sold to be fitted to a Matich sports car. Les Wright raced the BT21C-Buick regularly in Australian historic racing from 2003 onwards.
9. Lola T142 (Basil Stainer): Basil Stainer (Sherborne, Dorset) and David Burton (Sherborne, Dorset) shared a 5000cc Lola T142 in sprints, Formule Libre and hillclimbs in 1976 and 1977. Stainer entered the car for a libre race at Thruxton in early March 1976, and both drivers appear in the results at Wroughton in July 1976 and August 1976. Stainer also won his class at Gurston Down 30 Aug 1976.
10. Lola T142 (David Burton): Basil Stainer (Sherborne, Dorset) and David Burton (Sherborne, Dorset) shared a 5000cc Lola T142 in sprints, Formule Libre and hillclimbs in 1976 and 1977. Stainer entered the car for a libre race at Thruxton in early March 1976, and both drivers appear in the results at Wroughton in July 1976 and August 1976. Stainer also won his class at Gurston Down 30 Aug 1976.
11. McLaren M10B [400-07] (Godfrey Crompton): New to David Good (Maidenhead, Berkshire) for the 1970 British Hill Climb Championship, fitted with a 5.5-litre Alan Smith Chevrolet. To Richard Thwaites (Dewsbury, West Yorkshire) for 1971, now using a 5-litre Chevy, and retained for 1972 when Thwaites was very successful in smaller hillclimbs. Retained again for 1973 when Thwaites used a 5.7-litre or 5.8-litre engine. Sold to Martyn Griffiths (Arley, Worcestershire) July 1974 and used in the British Hill Climb Championship in 1974 and 1975. Griffiths had a second M10B during 1975 having damaged the monocoque of one car at Pontypool at the end of April. Sold to Godfrey Crompton (Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire) 1976 for hillclimbs but crashed at Loton Park August 1976. Sold still in crashed condition to Keith Cox (Halesowen, West Midlands), rebuilt and again hillclimbed. To John Peskett (Leicester) 1977 and remained unused in his collection, with 400-06(A), M10A 300-16 and other F5000s. Later to restorer Rick Hall (Bourne, Lincolnshire), then to Jeffrey Pyett (Oundle, Peterborough) 1989, then Richard Eyre (Rayleigh, Essex) 1991. Sold by Eyre to David Mitchell (NZ) mid-2012 but the car remained with preparer Simon Hadfield (Shepshed, Leicestershire) through 2013. Shipped to New Zealand in May 2014.
12. Brabham BT16/21B (John Taylor): In 1976, John Taylor (North Petherton, Somerset) ran a Brabham BT16/21B in sprints. The car had been fitted with a 3-litre Ford Essex V6 engine. He advertised it was a BT21B in November 1976 but appeared again with it at a sprint at Oulton Park in April 1977. It was then sold to Eike Wellhausen (Chesterfield, Derbyshire), then described as a former Jaguar E-Type driver but now better known as a Lister racer. Eike understood it to be a Brabham BT23C and Autosport described the car as a BT23C that had originally been built for an American who had intended installing a Chevy V8 but had never raced. Wellhausen replaced the standard Essex engine with a fully-tuned version and raced the car in libre events at Mallory Park, Donington Park and Silverstone from 1977 to 1979. By 1979 the V6 had been replaced with a Hart BDA. Eike recalls selling it to "a London jeans manufacturer who raced other single seaters". Subsequent history unknown.
13. Brabham BT14 [FL-2-65] (Dave Lea): New to John Butterworth (Haslingden, Lancashire) and raced in sprints and hillclimbs in northern England with a supercharged Ford twin cam engine. By 1968, Butterworth was using a Westune 1500cc supercharged Ford engine and as superchargers were allowed, Butterworth did very well in the 1600cc class. To Dennis Chorley (Burghill, Hereford) in 1969 and damaged at Shelsley Walsh but returned for 1970, now described as a BT14/21 and with a 173 bhp 1500cc Allard Dragon engine. To Geoff Inglis (Yatton, Somerset) for 1971 and then used by Inglis in the British Sprint Championship in 1972. Almost certainly the 1500cc BT14/21 run at Wiscombe by Dick James (Lyme Regis) in 1973, by Ian James in 1974 and by Arthur Curnow in 1975 and 1976. A "D. Lea" raced a supercharged 1500cc Brabham BT14 in late 1976 and in 1977. Advertised from Brixham, Devon in 1978. Bought from John Lee in Devon by Australian Terry Southall, and shipped to Australia in 1979 where it was bought the following year by former racer John Ampt (Rainbow, Victoria) and used very successfully in historic racing. Sold to Tony Armstrong in 1987, then Noel Robson (Melbourne, Australia) in 1988. Raced by Noel's son Andrew for several seasons and then replaced by a F5000 Lola and retired.

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.