Aurora AFX Championship Round

Pukekohe, 10 Jan 1981

All cars are 1.6-litre F/Pac unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Ralt RT1/77 [73] (Dave McMillan): New to Brian Robertson's Ralt America for Craig Hill to drive in the CASC Formula Atlantic series, backed by Quick-Trans and Castrol. To Hugh Owen in New Zealand for 1978, and raced in the New Zealand Formula Pacific series starting in January 1978. Retained by Owen for the 1978/79 and 1979/80 seasons. Then sold to Dave McMillan and used as a spare car to his Ralt RT4/81 in the 1980/81 season, McMillan's earlier RT1 having been converted to FSV specification by this time. Fitted with a Nissan LZ14 engine for the 1981/82 and 1982/83 seasons when it was raced by McMillan at some races and also by Ray Lipper. Reappeared at Baypark Raceway in January 1985 when owned by John Crawford. [CT]
2. Ralt RT1/77 [88] (Steve Millen): New to Brian Robertson's Ralt America as a late-season car for the CASC Formula Atlantic series, probably intended for Eddie Cheever to drive at Trois Rivieres, but he did not appear. To Larry Bergman (Los Gatos, CA) for SCCA Formula B in California. Bergman retained the car for 1979, winning the Northern Pacific Division Formula Atlantic title but also competing in most rounds of the North American Formula Atlantic series. Then to Steve Millen in New Zealand, and raced in the Aurora AFX New Zealand Formula Pacific series in January 1980, then in the 1980/81 season. To Eric Morgan for the 1981/82, 1982/83 and 1983/84 seasons. [CT]
3. March 77B [30] (John Smith): Entered by March for Danny Sullivan in the 1978 New Zealand International series. Sold to Colin Giltrap and entered by him for Dave McMillan at Baypark Mar 1978 then for Larry Perkins in the 1978/79 series. Raced by Desiré Wilson in the Jan/Feb 1980 series then John Smith in Jan 1981. Sold to Ray Hanger (Australia) and used in the 1981 AF1 and Pacific series. Also raced at Shah Alam in October 1981.
4. Ralt RT1/78 [145] (Charlie O'Brien): New to Bernard Hunter (Edinburgh, Scotland) in December 1978, and raced in the 1979 British Formula Atlantic series. Also used extensively in libre racing in the north of England in Scotland. Sold to David Duffield for 1980 British Atlantic races and for libre at Ingliston. Then sold to Australian Charlie O’Brien and raced by him in the New Zealand Formula Pacific series in December 1980 and January 1981. Then raced by O'Brien in the National Panasonic Formula Pacific series in Australia later that year. To Ron Barnacle for the Australian Grand Prix in November 1981 and the Australian National F1 Championship in 1982. Subsequent history unknown. In 2011, Grant Martin (Auckland, New Zealand) advertised the ex-O'Brien RT1 No 145.
5. Chevron B39 (Grant Campbell): John Sisk (Lahaska, PA) raced a Formula B Chevron in a NERRC event at Lime Rock in April 1978. At the end of that season New Zealander Grant Campbell bought a Chevron B39 from the US to use in the New Zealand Formula Pacific from January 1979 onwards. Kiwi journalist David McKinney noted that the car wore the '01' chassis plate and was told by Campbell that it had previously been raced by John Sisk. It was retained by Campbell for the 1979/80 and 1980/81 seasons in New Zealand, then taken to Australia for the National Panasonic Formula Pacific series before the start of the 1981/82 New Zealand season. To Steve Cameron (Auckland) for the 1982/83 season. David McKinney advised that it then went to Charlie Thomasen, who also owned the ex-Dave Oxton B34, and then to John Wigston (Auckland) in 1985.
6. Chevron B29 [29-75-30] (Eric Morgan): Built as a works development car, and tested by Brian Redman. Then entered by Jörg Obermoser's Team Warsteiner Eurorace for Hans Binder to drive in Formula 2 with a Rosche BMW engine, when it was reported to be chassis 32. Brian Redman drove it in the 1976 New Zealand Internationals, still with its 2-litre BMW engine, this time as part of the Fred Opert team. Sold in New Zealand to David Oxton, fitted with a Formula Pacific BDA engine and raced in the New Zealand Formula Pacific series in January 1977. Then to Eric Morgan for Gold Star and International races from 1977 to 1981. Sold to Chris Read for 1982. Later history with the car indicates that it was sold by Read to Kenny Smith in 1991, then to Brian Sampson in 1992, then Peter Whelan in 2000, and Miles Jackson in 2008.
7. March 782/79B [15] (Ken Smith): Ricardo Zunino's works car at Thruxton 27 Mar 1978 and presumably all season. Converted to Formula Atlantic for Teo Fabi to race in New Zealand in January 1979 (where it was reported to be wearing plate "782-16", an observation that is now thought to have been incorrect). To Ken Smith (New Zealand) and raced in Formula Pacific in the 1979/80, 1980/81 and 1981/82 seasons. Then to Warren Heron, but not raced until Bay Park in March 1989. Raced twice in 1990, but then stored until two further races, in 1998 and 1999. Sold back to Ken Smith in 2009. To Robert Shaw (UK) in 2010, and restored back to Formula 2 specification. To Marc Devis (Belgium) late 2016.
8. March 77B ["763-U3"] (Tom Donovan): Brett Riley took delivery of a March 77B in December 1977 that is believed to have carried the chassis number 763-U3 when it arrived in New Zealand. Riley raced it in Formula Pacific in 1978, 1979 and 1980 before selling it to Tom Donovan who progressively modified it and ran it in hillclimbs as well as F/Pacific up to 1983. He then won the 1984 and 1985 NZ hillclimb championships running a 1800cc Cosworth engine in the car. It was sold to Stuart McChesney in 1985 and again used in hillclimbs. It then went to Kenny Smith around 1987 and then to John Mackinlay (Christchurch) around 1993 who restored it and raced it in historic racing 1994-1996. It passed to Garry Cliff (Magnum Motors, Christchurch) in November 1996 then Peter Finlay in Australia in August 1998 in exchange for a Reynard Formula Holden. It was sold to Kevin Miller in May 1999. Retained May 2003.
9. Modus M3 [047-F3] (Robin Irving): New to expat Kiwi Philip Sharp (Colnbrook, Berkshire) for the 1976 Indylantic series. The car was built up by Sharp at Dave Price Racing and the chassis may previously have been used as a F3 development car. Sharp also raced it in ShellSPORT Group 8 races, and rented by Derek Daly for the Phoenix Park Formula Atlantic race in September. Then taken by Sharp to New Zealand for the Formula Pacific series in January 1977, but crashed in practice for Bay Park and crashed again at Pukekohe. Sold to Steve Emson who rebuilt it and raced it at Wigram. Raced by Emson in the 1977/78 New Zealand Gold Star but crashed heavily at Timaru in October 1977 and effectively wrote the car off. A new tub was built locally and Emson raced it in the 1978 Internationals but was still injured from the Timaru accident. Later sold to Robin Irving who raced it from 1980 to 1982. According to Graham Vercoe's Historic Racing Cars of New Zealand, Irving sold it to Gary Devon, after which it went to Kenny Smith, then Dennis Thompson, then back to Kenny Smith again, all by 1991. In 1991, it was acquired by Vivian King (Sydney, Australia), restored, and raced in historic events.
10. Surtees TS15 [04] (Rex Hart): New to Graeme Lawrence and raced in the 2-litre class of the 1973 Tasman Cup, using a 1.9-litre Hart BDA. Then raced in Southeast Asian events, using a Hart Ford twin cam engine. Retained for Southeast Asian 1600cc events in 1974, but Lawrence used his new F5000 Lola T332 in the Tasman series. Retained again for Southeast Asian 1600cc events in 1975. He still had the car in early 1976 when he was musing whether to convert it to Formula Pacific. Later in 1976 the car was sold to Rex Hart and fitted with a Cosworth BDA for Formula Pacific, and raced in New Zealand from 1977 to 1981. Sold to Ken Smith in 1982, and sold by him to John Wigston (Auckland) in 1984.
11. March 77B [75B/"8"—2] (Dave Saunders): Carrying chassis plate 75B-8, this car was bought by Kiwi Dave Saunders from March in 1976, after it had been returned to the works. It is unclear why 75B-8 would have been in England but March records do contain a note saying that its Shierson Racing sister car 75B-2 was returned to England for repairs. Presumably Saunders, who had raced in the UK in 1976, took it back with him to New Zealand because it appears in the first two rounds of the 1977 NZ series, being badly damaged in practice for the second. A NZ vehicle registration document [required for all cars in NZ] dated 10 Nov 77 confirms the plate is chassis number 8. The Pukekohe damage was made good with a new tub, bought not from March but John Thompson's fabrication company, numbered M772PU6. The car is now in Australia, and these documents were forwarded from the owner via Bryan Miller, and had been confirmed with Dave Saunders. Saunders reappeared with the car, now entered as a 77B, in the New Zealand Formula Pacific series in 1980/81, but had major accidents at Pukekohe in January 1981 and in March 1981. The car was then sold to Ross Cameron's Willowbank Motor Court Ltd (Dunedin, NZ) in May 1981. Cameron raced it in the 1981/82, 1982/83 and 1983/84 series. It then went via Ken Smith to Allan Champion, and is believed to be car raced by Geoff Champion in the 1985/86 series. It then passed via Smith again to Gerry Duyvestyn (Australia) in September 1989. It was bought by Howard Blight (Sydney, NSW) in August 1993, and raced in Australian historic events up to 2007. Sold to Robert Foster (Casino, NSW) and raced by him from 2008 onwards.
12. March 76B [20] (Warwick Binning): Sold via Doug Shierson to Ken Smith (New Zealand) and debuts in early 1977 New Zealand races. Retained to 1981 then sold to Warren Binning. Returned to Smith in 1982 and retained to at least 2003.

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 New Zealand race results have been provided by Chris Townsend based on material in Autosport and Motoring News reports in the UK, Motoraction in New Zealand plus the information supplied by a wide range of contributors.

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.