Lant RT2 car-by-car histories
Trevor van Rooyen in the first Lant, at Kyalami in 1982. Note the curved top of the dash structure, a distinguishing feature between Lants and Ralt RT4/82s. Copyright David Pearson (motoprint.co.za) 2024. Used with permission.
A copy of a Ralt RT2 built in South Africa, the Lants were used in the local 'Formula South Africa' series between 1982 and 1986.
Mel Lahner made his fortune supplying shelving to South African supermarkets, and by 1978 he had bought a pair of Chevron B25s and was running them in Formula Atlantic, entered by Rack-Rite Shelving. When the Sigma series began in 1980, he added a March 722 to his stable, and then employed Bernard Tilanus as a driver, poaching him from the rival DAW Supplies team. Lahner and Tilanus visited the Toleman Formula 2 team over the winter of 1980/81 and bought a Ralt RT2/79, the team's spare car from the 1979 F2 season. Tilanus started the 1981 season well in the Ralt, but his relationship with Lahner soured and in mid-season he moved back to the DAW team. Trevor van Rooyen replaced Tilanus at Rack-Rite Racing, and for 1982, Lahner bought him a new Ralt RT4, built at the factory specifically for the South African series' Mazda engines.
Due to the increasing levels of import duty on racing cars and on spare parts, Lahner looked into fabricating his own parts and even whole cars in South Africa. The Ralt RT2 was dismantled and its panels flattened to provide a template for Norman Thersby to start fabricating replica monocoques. The name 'Lant' came from Lahner And Norman Thersby. Lahner also arranged for castings to be made of the Hewland FT200 gearbox and had at least three complete new gearboxes made. The Ralt's uprights were also reproduced, but cast in aluminium instead of the magnesium used in the originals. Fuel cells were ordered from suppliers in the UK but as the RT2 being copied had a larger fuel cell than its sister Formula Atlantic RT4, some Lants were built with RT4 fuel cells. Steering racks were bought from Jack Knight, but wheels were produced locally: Lant's were a direct copy of Compomotive split rims.
The first Lant was completed in mid-1982 and was assigned to van Rooyen, who was less than happy that he had to leave his Ralt in the transporter and race the Lant. Van Rooyen was comfortably leading the championship at this point but his points advantage started to evaporate, and he was pipped to the title by Graham Duxbury at the final race after Van Rooyen spun off on oil. Undeterred, Lahner ran two Lants in 1983 with veteran Roy Klomfass due to lead the team, until a head injury ruled him out. Dave Charlton took his place, but achieved little. Tilanus then returned to the project, intending to hire two Lants for 1984, but that deal quickly unwound. Klomfass returned to lead the Rack-Rite team for 1984, but the team's fortunes only started to change when Matt Keyser, a highly-regarded local race engineer and designer, took responsibility for preparation in April. He also took over the drive in the team's #14 entry, and was later joined by Wayne Taylor and Klomfass in two more Lants.
Wayne Taylor had a new Lant built for him in mid-1984, after a deal to run in British F3 fell through, and he won several races in it in 1985. Several of the cars appeared again in 1986, when the South African series finally fizzled out.
If you can add to our understanding of these cars please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com.
Trevor van Rooyen in the Rack-Rite Lant at Kyalami in 1982. Copyright David Pearson (motoprint.co.za) 2024. Used with permission.
New in May 1982 to Rack Rite Racing for Trevor van Rooyen to race in the Formula South Africa series. Van Rooyen crashed heavily at the final race of the year when he spun on oil in the Esses on lap 4 and spun into the crash barriers. Exactly what happened to this car next is unknown, but it appears most likely that its career ended at this point, and its surviving components were used to build up a new car for 1983.
Driven by: Trevor van Rooyen. First race: Killarney (R6), 8 May 1982. Total of 11 recorded races.
Dave Charlton's accident in the Rack-Rite Lant RR83 at Kyalami in January 1983. Copyright David Pearson (motoprint.co.za) 2024. Used with permission.
Believed to have been a new car raced by Dave Charlton from the start of the 1983 season for Rack Rite Racing in the Formula South Africa series, as Rack Rite's #12 entry. Charlton crashed the car at Kyalami on 29 January 1983, and the Rand Daily Mail's race report described it as a wreck. Bernard Tilanus told Ian Hebblethwaite that the remaining components of this car were in a package that he was offered by Mel Lahner at the end of 1983, so that suggests this car's life ended at this point, and its surviving components were used on other builds.
Driven by: Dave Charlton. First race: Kyalami (R3), 29 Jan 1983. Only one recorded race.
Dave Charlton in the Rack-Rite Lant RR83 at Killarney in 1983. Copyright David Pearson (motoprint.co.za) 2024. Used with permission.
Mike Nish's wrecked Lant after his accident at Kyalami in January 1985. Copyright David Pearson (motoprint.co.za) 2024. Used with permission.
Built new in early 1983 for Rack Rite Racing to use the Formula South Africa series, presumably built to replace the Lant wrecked by Dave Charlton at Kyalami in January. It is believed to have been first raced by Charlton at Killarney in April 1983, then by Roy Klomfass at Kyalami on 31 May 1983. It is very difficult to know for sure what happened next, but the most likely scenario is that Klomfass drove the team's older Ralt on 16 July, and the new Lant ended up being raced by Bernard Tilanus for Fred Goddard's Petromark team. Tilanus recalls swapping cars with Klomfass after that race, which would suggest Klomfass drove the new Lant at the remaining races of 1983. The history of the car from this point onwards is uncertain. In 1984, this is likely to be the #14 Lant raced by Roy Klomfass early in the season, then taken over by Matt Keyser from the Aldo Scribante race onwards. Assuming Keyser stayed with the same car in 1984, this is likely to have been the #13 Lant 83A raced by Dave Charlton in the final race of the 1984 season, and would then be the car retained by Rack-Rite for 1985, when it was raced by American Mike Nish at Kyalami in January 1985 and crashed heavily at Wesbank corner.
Driven by: Dave Charlton, Roy Klomfass, Bernard Tilanus, Matt Keyser and Mike Nish. First race: Killarney (R7), 16 Apr 1983. Total of 13 recorded races.
Lants up to 1983
Deciphering the way Lant were used in 1982 and 1983 is proving very difficult, complicated by the likelihood that the team's Ralt RT4/81 was also entered as a Lant. Trevor van Rooyen started the 1982 season in the Ralt and then moved to the Lant RR82 in mid-season, but it would now appear that the #15 "Lant" that was raced by Andre du Plessis in July and August was actually the Ralt. Similarly, the #15 Lant RR4 used by Roy Klomfass at Kyalami in early September is likely to have been the Ralt. This was the race at which van Rooyen spun his Lant into the crash barriers, an accident which may have ended that car's life.
The 1983 season
In 1983, the story becomes more complex. Klomfass was due to lead the team, but a head injury meant that Dave Charlton had to take his place. Entry lists from the opening races show Charlton entered in a #12 Lant "83A" and Wayne Lahner in a #13 Lant RR82A. The implication from this is that Charlton is in a new car, and Lahner in either the 1982 car or the Ralt. Lahner later told historian Ian Hebblethwaite that the Lant he drove in early 1984 was actually the Ralt, so this would indicate he drove the Ralt in 1983 as well. That would in turn indicate that the original 1982 Lant had indeed died, or that Charlton's car was a rebuild of it, probably using a new monocoque. For those reasons, Charlton's early-season car is regarded here as Lant No '2'. Its career was particularly short, as Charlton crashed heavily at Kyalami on 29 January. Charlton was back in a Lant at the next race, at Killarney on 12 February. It is unclear whether Lahner competed in that race, so it is assumed for now that Charlton drove the Ralt at Killarney and at Goldfields in early March.
At Killarney in April, the Lants were not on the entry list but two raced: Dave Charlton in one and Bernard Tilanus in the other. Tilanus had just left the DAW Supplies team but Fred Goddard's March 822/802 was not yet ready for him to race, so he drove for Rack-Rite at Killarney. His car was described by S.A. Motoring Weekly as "a very tired old car", implying it was the Lant-Ralt. In that case, Charlton's car must have been a new Lant, so effectively the third car: let's call it Lant No '3'. The Rack-Rite team skipped the next two races, returning at Kyalami on 31 May with Klomfass in the #12 "Lant RR83A", presumably the new Lant No '3'. Then, after the mid-season winter break, there were two Lants "RR83As" at Kyalami on 16 July: Klomfass in a #11 car and Charlton in the #12. However, the #12 was now being run for Rack Rite by Fred Goddard's Petromark team, and Goddard's other driver, Tilanus, arranged to swap with Charlton, taking over his Lant for the race. Tilanus later told Ian Hebblethwaite that he recalled this car having a Lant gearbox, and he was keen to get the Hewland gearbox in the Klomfass car. After this race, Tilanus persuaded Mel Lahner that they should swap cars. So what did this mean? Had Klomfass actually been in the Ralt with its Hewland FT200 gearbox on 16 July, and Charlton (and then Tilanus) had been in the Lant No '3' with its Lant gearbox? If so, Tilanus was taking over the Ralt for the rest of 1983. Indeed, his car was entered at Kyalami on 27 August and on 24 September as a Ralt, not as a Lant. When we next have full results for a race, at Kyalami on 24 September, Klomfass was also present but evidently had problems in practice as he set a very slow time and did not qualify.
So if this analysis is correct - and it is important to emphasise that is highly speculative - there was still only one intact Lant at the end of the 1983 season, with two earlier cars having been wrecked. Unless a further car was built over the close season, Lant would have entered the 1984 season with Lant No '3' and with the Ralt RT4/81. That aligns with Wayne Lahner's recollection that he drove the Ralt in early 1984.
The 1984 season
Roy Klomfass drove a #14 Lant for Rack-Rite in 1984, with Wayne Lahner driving a #16 Lant that we now believe was actually the Ralt RT4/81. André du Plessis was entered in the early races in a #15 Lant, but whether he attended any races is unclear. In addition, Ivano Moavero had his private car, built from a Lant monocoque with Ralt parts, which we can regard as Lant No '4'. At the end of March, Matt Keyser took over the #14 car from Klomfass, and then at Killarney on 28 April, Wayne Lahner was entered in the #15 Lant, the car previously entered for André du Plessis. It is not known whether Lahner appeared with it at Killarney, but the #15 Lant did appear a week later at Kyalami, but with Wayne Taylor driving. This is the first definite appearance of a fifth Lant. Then, at Kyalami on 2 June, there are three Lants present: Keyser with a #14 car, Taylor in the #15 entry, and Klomfass in a #16 car. One of these must be the sixth Lant. But which one?
The surviving Lants
There is no certainty over the number of Lants built, but Wayne Lahner told Ian Hebblethwaite that there were six. Of these, four have survived to the present day: the cars built by Eddie Pinto for Ivano Moavero during 1983, by Dave Morgan for Wayne Taylor in early 1984, by Floris du Plessis for Wayne Lahner also in early 1984, and a second-hand Lant bought from the team by Bill Maloney during 1984. If Wayne Lahner is correct that there were six and that the Lahner family did not keep any others, then two must have been written off. The team's Ralt RT4/81 has also disappeared and its salvageable components reused in other cars, so that would suggest there were three major accidents. That would correspond with Trevor van Rooyen spinning the 1982 Lant into the barriers at Kyalami in September 1982; Dave Charlton wrecking a Lant "83A" at Kyalami in January 1983, and Wayne Lahner's accident at Goldfields in March 1984. Lahner believes the car he crashed at Goldfields was the Ralt, so that would lead us to believe the first and second Lants built ended their lives in the accidents of van Rooyen and Charlton respectively. However, a Lant was also wrecked by Mike Nish in January 1985, so it may be that the Ralt and three Lants were wrecked, meaning seven Lants were built.
Niall Bernic in Ivano Moavero's Lant at Kyalami in July 1984. Copyright David Pearson (motoprint.co.za) 2024. Used with permission.
Ivano Moavero bought a new Lant monocoque for the 1983 season and it was built up for him by Eddie Pinto using Ralt components, new RT4-size Marston bag tanks and a new Hewland FT200. The resulting car was usually entered as a Ralt, and although it was entered for a number of events in 1983, it did not race that season. It was finally raced by Moavero during the 1984 season, when he was sponsored by Niall's Car Radio. Later that season, Moavero acquired the ex-Graham Duxbury March 832, and the Lant was then driven by Niall Bernic. Moavero raced the Lant again in the 1985 season. The car went to Bill Dunlop in 1986, when it was raced by Allan Dunlop. Dunlop then swapped it for Trevor Trautmann's Chevron B29. Trautmann considered using it to build a 'Can-Am' sports car, but the project did not proceed. It was subsequently sold to Vicky Chandhok in India, who raced it at Madras in 1989. It was next seen with John Payne in the UK, who raced it in Sprints between 1994 and 1996. It was then sold to Cyril Orme-Lynch in Ireland, and by 2005 was owned by Peter and Simon McKinley in Ireland. Peter noted that the car carried the chassis number "RR 8302", but other Lants do not carry a number in the same position. Simon McKinley ran the car in hillclimbs in 2013 and 2014, using a 2.4-litre Millington engine with Warrior head. In April 2015, he crashed the Lant during the Clare Motor Club Hillclimb and was killed.
Driven by: Ivano Moavero, Niall Bernic, Allan Dunlop and Vicky Chandhok. First race: Killarney (R2), 25 Feb 1984. Total of 19 recorded races.
Wayne Taylor in the Rack-Rite Lant at Kyalami in 1984. Copyright David Pearson (motoprint.co.za) 2024. Used with permission.
Built in early 1984 by Rack Rite Racing team manager Dave Morgan for Wayne Taylor to race in the Formula SA series. It used a Lant tub, locally-made cast alumnium uprights, a Hewland FT200 gearbox supplied to Lant Cars, and a larger Ralt RT2 fuel cell supplied by Premier Fuel Systems. Raced by Taylor for the remainder of the 1984 season, without notable success. Retained by Taylor for 1985, when it was entered by Brian Ferris Racing, with backing from BP and Mainardi Civil Contractors. Taylor won four races, and finished second in the championship, but he also used Ferris's Ralt at an unknown number of races that year. From July onwards, Lant Cars was shown as one of Taylor's entrants, and at the Kyalami race on 27 July, Tony Martin raced a Lant in BP livery, which seems likely to have been Taylor's Lant. It is assumed here that Taylor also raced the Ralt at Aldo Scribante in August and Killarney in September. Basil Mann was due to drive "the BP/MMI Lant" at Aldo Scribante but it was canibalised for parts so that Taylor could race. For 1986, the car returned to Rack Rite and was raced by Trevor van Rooyen. The championship was then cancelled, and the car was retained by Rack-Rite until 2010, when it was sold to Ian Hebblethwaite. Still with Hebblethwaite in August 2024.
Driven by: Wayne Taylor, Basil Mann, Tony Martin and Trevor van Rooyen. First race: Kyalami (R10), 2 Jun 1984. Total of 13 recorded races.
Roy Klomfass in the Rack-Rite Lant at Kyalami in 1984. Copyright David Pearson (motoprint.co.za) 2024. Used with permission.
Mike Nish in his rented Lahner Lant at Kyalami in February 1985. Copyright David Pearson (motoprint.co.za) 2024. Used with permission.
After Wayne Lahner crashed his Lant at Goldfields Raceway in March 1984, Floris du Plessis (the father of Andre and Jan) built up a new car for him. It used a Lant monocoque, a Lant FT200-copy gearbox numbered '002' and had at least three orginal Ralt magnesium uprights. Given the '002' gearbox and other anecdotal evidence, it appears that this new car contained some parts from the previous entity Lant 'No 2' wrecked by Dave Charlton at Kyalami in January 1983. This is believed to be the car raced by Roy Klomfass at Kyalami on 2 June 1984, but exactly where else it was used remains unclear. It is then likely to be the car driven by Mike Nish at Killarney in February 1985 as the #14 entry after he crashed the team's other car at Kyalami. Then probably for Tony Martin later in the season. Photographs suggest that it was then the #22 car driven by Tony Martin and Basil Mann for Mel Lahner's team in 1986. This is then believed to be the Lant retained by Rack-Rite until about 2003 when it was sold to AJ and Peter Kernick. Still with AJ Kernick in August 2024.
Driven by: Roy Klomfass, Mike Nish, Tony Martin and Basil Mann. First race: Kyalami (R10), 2 Jun 1984. Total of 10 recorded races.
Billy Maloney in his Lant-Mazda at Kyalami in November 1986. Copyright David Pearson (motoprint.co.za) 2024. Used with permission.
Billy Maloney in his converted sports Lant at Welkom in 1990. Copyright David Pearson (motoprint.co.za) 2024. Used with permission.
Believed to have been a new car raced by Roy Klomfass at the Formula South Africa race at Kyalami on 28 July 1984 for Rack Rite Racing. It was loaned to Bill Maloney and raced by him at Goldfields in September. Then bought by Maloney and raced by him through the 1985 season, when it was described as a Lant RR85, but it is possible that his 1985 car was a new chassis. The car has a Lant chassis and a Lant-built gearbox, a copy of the Hewland FT200, numbered '003'. Maloney used the car again for the 1986 South African 'Can-Am' season, still in single-seater form. He then fitted it with open sports car bodywork and it in the sports car series that replaced the national series in 1987 and 1988. He then fitted closed bodywork and raced it as a Group C car in 1989, In the early 1990s, it was sold to Dorino Treccani, and returned to single seater specification. In about 2018, it was restored by AJ Kernick for owner Ben Havenga (Cape Town, South Africa). Still owned by Ben Havenga in August 2024.
Driven by: Bill Maloney. First race: Kyalami (R13), 25 Aug 1984. Total of 13 recorded races.
Acknowledgements
These histories could not have been compiled without the diligent work of Ian Hebblethwaite tracking the histories of racing cars in South Africa, and his remarkable generosity in sharing the results of his research and working with the author to document the South African Sigma series between 1980 and 1986. Thanks also to Stuart Thompson for his help and for his generous co-sponsorship with Ian of the David Pearson photographs used in these histories. Als, thanks to Steve Wilkinson, Peter McKinley, Rick Larner, Guy Botterill, Peter Kernick and Ben Havenga for their assistance.
If you can add to our understanding of these cars please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com.
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