Vandervell British Formula 3 Championship Race

Mallory Park, 13 Aug 1978

All cars are 2-litre F3 unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. 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.
2. Chevron B38 [38.77.25] (John Stokes): New to John Stokes (Birmingham) and raced in British F3 in 1977, sponsored by Bogarts of Birmingham. Retained for 1978 and rented by Philippe Colonna for the Zolder F3 in Zolder after Colonna had wrecked his ex-Stephen South March at Zeltweg. Then raced again by Stokes until the end of August.
3. March 783 [21] (Trevor van Rooyen): Shown in March records for 1978 as completed as a team car, 17 March 1978, with tub 78M43. This was the only works car built in 1978 and is the car debuted by Nigel Mansell at Silverstone, 19 March 1978, when race reports describe it as brand new. Used by Mansell in the early part of the season then by Snobeck, van Rooyen, Bullman and Hatagawa.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Chevron B34 [34-76-29] (David Brotherston): New to Rupert Keegan in July 1976 and raced in the British F3 series with British Air Ferries sponsorship, winning three races and clinching the BP BARC title for Keegan. To David Brotherston (Edinburgh, Scotland) for 1978, and raced in the British F3 series. Brotherston continued to use the car in 1979 and 1980, again in British F3, after which he sold the car to Bob Howlings. Then to Bob Baxter (Saffron Walden, Essex) for Formule Libre towards the end of the 1981 season. Later to Alastair Ferguson, and used by him in TF3 in 1987. It was unused from the late 1990s until 2007, when Ferguson sold it to Hugh Price. Price had it completely rebuilt to Keegan's BAF livery with a view to racing it in the Classic F3 series in 2008. It was sold to Bruce Bartell in 2009, and raced by him in HSCC events, then by his son Maxim Bartell in Classic F3 from 2014 to 2017.
7. 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.
8. 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.

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.

Individual sources for this event

AS 17.8.78 pp. 32.-33. MN p.4