BP British Formula 3 Championship Race

Thruxton, 29 May 1978

All cars are 2-litre F3 unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Chevron B38 [38.77.24] (Philip Bullman): New to Alan Docking Racing for Philippe Colonna to race in British F3 in 1977. Retained by the Docking team for 1978, and raced by Philip Bullman and by Colonna in British F3. Unknown in 1979 but purchased by Eddie Heasell in early 1980 for British F3 and libre. Retained for libre in 1981.
2. Chevron B43 [43.78.19] (Jim Crawford): One of four Chevron B43s order by Emil Frey AG and invoiced by Chevron to Freddy Kessler of Toyota Switzerland (Sasenwil, Switzerland). It is thought to be the car raced by Jim Crawford in the British championship in 1978, replacing the B38 he wrecked at Thruxton at the end of March. Crawford had been hired by the Frey/Toyota team as a driving coach. At Knutsdorp in August, Crawford made his European series debut in a Toyota Switzerland car, and this may have been a different car.
3. Wheatcroft R18 [006?] (John Bright): Chassis 006 is believed to be the identity of the rebuilt car raced by John Bright (Leicester) in British Formula 3 following his massive accident at Cadwell Park in July 1977. Bright first drove the "rebuilt" car at Donington Park on the last day of July, and continued with it to the end of that season. He raced it again in 1978, but again crashed, at Brands Hatch in July, and this time the car did not reappear. Bright sold the R18 to Rhoddy Harvey-Bailey (Hilton, Derbyshire) and John Colley for 1979, and as part of the deal Bright rebuilt it to Formula Atlantic specification. It was raced by Harvey-Bailey, Colley and Ian Shaw, using Alan Smith BDA engines. It was also raced on one occasion by John Bright. It was advertised by Roger Cowman in September 1979 as "hardly used". Colley sold it to hillclimber Richard Barnes (Lichfield, Staffordshire), who fitted an 1100cc Cosworth BDJ and hillclimbed it for a while. He has retained the car in his collection since then.
4. March 783 [10] (Peré (Pedro) Noguès): Shown in March records for 1978 as delivered to Rushen Green Racing 29 March 1978, colour blue, with tub 78M42. Pedro Nogues joined Serra at Rushen Green from the end of April, with a blue 783. Retained into 1979. This chassis number observed on the hillclimb car of Tom Hart (Beckenham, Greater London) in the 1600cc class in 1981. To Barrie Dutnall (Gillingham, Kent) in 1983 and 1984, then to Billy MacMillan (Darvel, East Ayrshire, Scotland) and fitted with a Cosworth BDG, then to Bill Wood (Edinburgh) at the end of 1986. Wood did not enjoy it, and it was sold via David Keogh or Paul Rendle at the end of 1987 to Chris Drewett (Harbury, Warwickshire). Raced by Drewett from 1988 to 2002. Sold by Drewett via Paul Matty to Andrew Peach, and presumably the March 782 raced by him in the HSCC Derek Bell Trophy in 2004.
5. Chevron B38 [38.77.02] (Barry Green): New to Chris Farrell for British F3 in 1977. To Barry Green for 1979, and run for him in British F3 by Fred Opert Racing. Last used by Green in July 1978, and then unknown until seen with Mike Brown in Sprints in 1984 …
6. March 753 [14] (Wyatt Stanley): Originally a car belonging to the B&O team in 1975, when used by Pierre Dieudonné. Chassis number for this car and its sister, driven by Hervé Regout, observed by AF at Oulton Park 4 October 1975. Sold to Ken Silverstone for the 1976 season [Autosport 2 Sep 1976 p33 says his car is ‘ex Dieudonné.) To Wyatt Stanley in mid 1977 and retained by him for the 1978 season.
7. Chevron B43 [43.78.20] (Steve Malins): New to Steve Malins to race in the British F3 series, replacing a Chevron B38 that was wreitten off in a testying accident at Donington in early May. He was sponsored by Malins (Mamod) Ltd. The car was rented from Malins by Bernard Devaney for two races. Malins retained the car for 1979, but was very rarely seen.
8. March 773 [U2] (Ian Flux): March works records show this as James King's works car for 1977 built on a lightweight tub AM773-41 with parts from 763-U2. This would be the "ex-King" car sold to Ian Flux early in 1978, and raced by him in the 1978 British F3 series.
9. March 773 [10] (TBA): According to March records delivered in March 1977 to AFMP Euroracing, and subsequently given to Brett Riley in lieu of his contractual payments when the Euroracing set-up was dissolved. (This does not mean the car was Riley’s early season car in 1977; he used at least two before the team collapsed, neither of which were necessarily this car.) Run by David Price for Riley in the second half of 1977 and used to win the European round at Donington. Chassis number given in Autosport advert late in 1977 by Price. Sold to Roy Kennedy [Motoring News 2 Mar 1978 p15] although Autosport 9 Mar 1978 p41 says the car is ‘ex James King’. (King used a works car - 773-U2 - for most of 1977 but it is possible he had a race in this car early in the season, however his principal car went in 1978 to Ian Flux.) Run by Kennedy for Saed Ali Hodzic until Hodzic was injured in practice at the International Trophy support race; then became a rental car but did very few races. For sale by Kennedy in early 1979, Autosport 22 Feb 1979 p57, but retained and rented to Serge Saulnier for the 1979 race at Monaco.

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.

These British Formula 3 results have been compiled by Chris Townsend using the main British magazines Autosport and Motoring News but also the US magazine On Track which carried surprisingly good coverage of the British series.

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.