British Formula Atlantic 1971-1983

Tony Brise in the Modus in 1975. Copyright Alan Cox 2009. Used with permission.

British Formula Atlantic 1971-1983

Formula Atlantic flourished in the UK in the early 1970s with huge fields during its peak period of 1972-1974 and proved a stepping stone for a number of drivers on the way to F1, notably Alan Jones, Tony Brise, Gunnar Nilsson and Tom Pryce. In total, ten UK Atlantic race winners competed in Grands Prix.

It was dropped by MCD after 1975 but continued for one more season as Indylantic. After a two-year break, it returned in 1979 but was thereafter just a form of club racing.

The seasons

The 1971 season: Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Mallory Park, (Castle Combe), Brands Hatch, Brands Hatch, Snetterton, Brands Hatch, Snetterton, Oulton Park, Brands Hatch, Castle Combe, Snetterton, Mallory Park, Oulton Park, Castle Combe, Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Silverstone, Castle Combe, Snetterton, Mallory Park, Brands Hatch, (Brands Hatch)

The 1972 season: Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Silverstone, Mallory Park, Snetterton, Brands Hatch, Brands Hatch, Mallory Park, Snetterton, Brands Hatch, Mallory Park, (Silverstone), (Mallory Park), Brands Hatch, Snetterton, Oulton Park, Brands Hatch, Croft, Mallory Park, Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Brands Hatch, (Brands Hatch), (Brands Hatch)

The 1973 season: Mallory Park, Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Mallory Park, Snetterton, Brands Hatch, Mallory Park, (Oulton Park), Silverstone, Brands Hatch, (Thruxton), Mallory Park, Croft, Oulton Park, Silverstone, Mallory Park, Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Mallory Park, Snetterton, Oulton Park, Oulton Park, Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Brands Hatch, Snetterton

The 1974 season: Mallory Park, Brands Hatch, Silverstone, Silverstone, Snetterton, Oulton Park, Oulton Park, Silverstone, Oulton Park, Mallory Park, Silverstone, Thruxton, Brands Hatch, Silverstone, Mallory Park, Mallory Park, Phoenix Park, Mondello Park, Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Mallory Park, (Brands Hatch), Brands Hatch, Snetterton, Brands Hatch, (Thruxton)

The 1975 season: Brands Hatch, Mallory Park, Brands Hatch, Snetterton, Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Mallory Park, Snetterton, Brands Hatch, Silverstone, Silverstone, Snetterton, Mallory Park, Brands Hatch, Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Thruxton, Brands Hatch

The 1976 season: Brands Hatch, Brands Hatch, Croft, Brands Hatch, Mallory Park, Knockhill, Thruxton, Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Brands Hatch, Oulton Park

The 1979 season: Mallory Park, Thruxton, Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Brands Hatch, Castle Combe, Mallory Park, Silverstone, Oulton Park, Snetterton, (Donington Park), Ingliston, Mallory Park, Silverstone, Oulton Park, Brands Hatch

The 1980 season: Mallory Park, Brands Hatch, Silverstone, Oulton Park, Castle Combe, Mondello Park, Silverstone, Oulton Park, Mallory Park, Mallory Park, Ingliston, Cadwell Park, Snetterton, Thruxton, Brands Hatch

The 1981 season: Brands Hatch, Mallory Park, Oulton Park, Brands Hatch, Brands Hatch, Brands Hatch, Silverstone, Brands Hatch, (Donington Park), Mallory Park, Ingliston, Snetterton, Brands Hatch, Brands Hatch, Thruxton, Oulton Park

The 1982 season: Castle Combe, Silverstone, Mallory Park, Silverstone, Aintree, Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Mallory Park, Brands Hatch, Oulton Park

The 1983 season: Silverstone, Silverstone, Donington Park, Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Silverstone

Non-championship races in brackets.

Wins by Constructor 1971-1976

	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	Total
March	2 (1)	14 (3)	13 (1)	10 (1)			39 (6)
Chevron	7	4	(1)	5 (1)	8	1	25 (2)
Lyncar		1	7	4			12
Modus				2	9	1	12
Lola					2	7	9
Royale	4	(1)	3				7 (1)
Palliser	5	1					6
Brabham	3 (1)			1			4 (1)
Scott				2			2
Wheatcroft					2		2
Boxer						2	2
Lotus	1						1
Ensign		1					1
Surtees			1				1

Non-championship race wins are shown in brackets.

Race starts by Constructor 1971-1976

	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	Total
March	27 (2)	88 (12)	177 (10)	185 (12)	56	4	537 (36)
Chevron	34 (4)	23 (4)	20 (3)	60 (10)	109	44	290 (21)
Brabham	97 (9)	75 (9)	36 (1)	47 (3)	17	5	277 (22)
Lotus	31 (4)	66 (6)	11	4	1		113 (10)
Lola	5	2		13 (3)	37	29	86 (3)
Lyncar		26 (2)	24	20 (2)	14	1	85 (4)
Surtees			28 (1)	15 (1)	19	10	72 (2)
Palliser	49 (2)	8					57 (2)
Modus				15	20	10	45
GRD		10 (2)	15	12 (4)		7	44 (6)
Royale	11	5 (1)	11	11	1		39 (1)
Ensign		2 (2)	17 (1)	5			24 (3)
Tui	1	7 (1)	13 (1)		3		24 (2)
Huron	3 (2)	7 (1)	9 (1)	1			20 (4)
Kitchiner	11	7 (2)	1				19 (2)
Boxer						14	14
Birrana					13		13
Sana						13	13
McLaren					8	4	12
Wimhurst		2 (1)	10 (1)				12 (2)
Merlyn	3 (1)	7 (1)		1	1		12 (2)
Martin			9	1			10
Wheatcroft					9		9
MRE				7			7
Swift						7	7
Alexis	3 (1)	3					6 (1)
Motul			6				6
Crosslé				4	1		5
Puma		5					5
Scott				5			5
HRS				4			4
Tecno		4					4
Elden				3			3
Genie				3			3
Hawke	2	1					3
Martini	2						2
Titan	2						2
DBR				1 (1)			1 (1)
Dulon	1						1
Sovereign				1			1
Taydec		1 (1)					1 (1)

Starts in non-championship races are shown in brackets. A remarkable total of 22 different constructors' cars started championship races in 1974.

Note that not all results are complete so the race starts table will include cases where it is not certain whether a particular car and driver started a race. These numbers will change slightly as more data becomes available.

Wins by Constructor 1979-1983

	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	Total
Ralt	8	11	13	9	7	48
Chevron	5 (1)					5 (1)
March		2	2			4
Ehrlich		2	1	1		4
Lola	1					1

Non-championship wins are shown in brackets. No more that three constructors won races in any season of the 1979-1983 period; no less than four had won races in any season in the 1971-1976 period.

Race starts by Constructor 1979-1983

	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	Total
March	54 (3)	70	52	20	13	209 (3)
Ralt	32 (1)	49	61	23	27	192 (1)
Chevron	48 (5)	8	9	5	2	72 (5)
Ehrlich		14	18	9		41
Lola	14 (1)	2	15	7	3	41 (1)
Tiga			13	19	6	38
Argo	12 (1)	3	12			27 (1)
Druid	5	5		1	2	13
Barton	8 (1)	1	2			11 (1)
Lebacq	7		3			10
Wimhurst	2	4	2			8
Surtees	5					5
Lyncar	3			1		4
McLaren				3		3
Mallock	2 (1)					2 (1)
Wheatcroft	2 (1)					2 (1)
Janus	1					1
Modus		1				1

Starts in non-championship races are shown in brackets. Cars from other formulae running in the same race are not counted.

British Formula Atlantic seasons

MCD

Motor Circuit Developments (MCD) was run by John Webb and was the owner of Brands Hatch, Mallory Park, Oulton Park and Snetterton. MCD was originally set up as a subsidiary of Grovewood Securities when Webb convinced Grovewood to buy Brands Hatch in 1961. Mallory, Snetterton and Oulton were added in the 1960s, and by 1971 MCD also had an interest in Castle Combe and Mondello Park. Webb was one of the instigators of Formula Ford in 1968, and later brought Formula 5000 and Formula Atlantic to Britain, both based on SCCA categories.

The research

The results here have been compiled by Chris Townsend using Autosport and Motoring News augmented by qualifying and results sheets provided by former competitors, and further information from annotated programmes.

Not all the results are complete: entry lists, results sheets, details of non-starters, grid sheets or details of qualifying are needed for a number of races. These are detailed in the individual season pages.

Please get in touch if you have any additional details from these races.

Chassis identification is largely from details of previous owners of second-hand cars (typically F2 cars which have been identified from F2 reports), chassis plate observations by Adam Ferrington and others plus constructor production records for March, Chevron, Lola, Royale and Lotus. Modus and Palliser production records may still exist somewhere and copies would be most welcome.

Email Allen (allen@oldracingcars.com) with any further additions, corrections or comments.

The drivers

Apart from Alan Jones, Tony Brise, Gunnar Nilsson and Tom Pryce already mentioned, other top drivers in UK Formula Atlantic include Vern Schuppan, Tom Belsø, Bill Gubelmann, Cyd Williams, John Nicholson, Colin Vandervell, David Purley, Jim Crawford, Tony Trimmer, Ray Mallock and Alo Lawler.