Ralt RT1/75 Formula Atlantic car-by-car histories
Roy Klomfass in the Gunston Ralt RT1 during the 1976 season. Copyright David Pearson (motoprint.co.za) 2024. Used with permission.
Of the ten Ralt RT1s built for 1975, three were built for Formula Atlantic. They went to John Macdonald in Hong Kong, Pat Walter in California, and Team Gunston for Roy Klomfass in South Africa.
The Ralt RT1 was conventional for its time in having a monocoque chassis reaching to just behind the driver, and a steel subframe supporting the engine. Suspension was also entirely conventional, in that it followed the pattern developed by Tauranac with his Brabham designs, using outboard springs and dampers all round, double wishbones at the front, and a single top link, reversed bottom wishbones and twin radius rods at the rear. A full-width nose was used, with the main radiator mounted within it, and the rear wing was supported by its end plates. These early cars car be distinguished from later RT1s by narrow cockpit bodywork, rollhoop supports that were longer and reached further forward into the cockpit, and mounting points for the rear radius rods being located on the outer corners of the sidepods.
After the success of Larry Perkins with the one of the first Ralt RT1s built for Formula 3, Ron Tauranac recieved orders for three cars in Formula Atlantic specification. The first of these was for John MacDonald to use in Southeast Asian racing and was supplied with a Cosworth BDM engine, although it raced with Ford twin cam engines instead. The second was built for Pat Walter to use SCCA Formula B in North America, using the newly-allowed Cosworth BDD engine. The third was supplied at the end of the season to Eddie Pinto's Team Gunston for Roy Klomfass to drive in the upcoming South African Formula Atlantic series. The Gunston car varied from the earlier cars by having deformable structures and - very unusually - a centre-post rear wing.
If you can add to our understanding of these cars, or have photographs that we can use, please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com.
John Macdonald in his Ralt RT1 at Macau in 1975. Copyright Angus Lamont 2024. Used with permission.
New to John Macdonald (Hong Kong) and delivered with a Cosworth BDM engine. Macdonald and his mechanic Angus Lamont built their own Ford twin cam engines and Macdonald raced it in Southeast Asian 1600cc 2-valve category racing in 1975, when he won the Penang, Selangor and Macau Grands Prix. Retained for 1976 when 4-valve engines were allowed, so Macdonald bought two new Cosworth FVA engines, built by Cosworth on FVC blocks. With these engines, he won the Selangor and Indonesia Grands Prix in 1976. He ran it again in 1977, and it was also raced by Vern Schuppan at Macau that year. Macdonald then refitted with BDM engine and sold the Ralt to Peter Marshall, who raced it in Formula Pacific in 1978 and 1979, latterly with a Cosworth BDD. It was still in Marshall's ownership when raced by Sonny Rajah in 1980 and 1981. The car was then stored at Rajah's father's house in Kuala Lumpur until 1990, when Marshall retrieved the car and had it shipped to Sydney, Australia. The following year it was taken to Ralt importer Graham Watson to be rebuilt to original specification. It was sold in early 1999 to Peter Mohr (Sydney, Australia) who took it with him to the US when he moved there, and raced it in US historic racing in 2000 and 2001. It was then sold to Dennis D'Angelo and remained with him until 2006. It was then bought by Don Sandy and Art Hebert and raced on the west coast in 2006. In 2012, it was acquired by Harindra de Silva and raced by Timothy de Silva (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA) in west coast historic events. Sold in 2021 to Éric Verdin (Mill Valley, CA), who has continued to race it in historic events.
Driven by: John Macdonald, Vern Schuppan, Peter Marshall and Sonny Rajah. First race: Penang, 1 Sep 1975. Total of 20 recorded races.
Pat Walter in his Ralt RT1/75 at the 1975 SCCA Runoffs. Copyright Ted Walker 2023. Used with permission.
New to Pat Walter (San Rafael, CA/Novato, CA) and raced in Formula Atlantic in North American in 1975 and 1976, entered by Ameropean Racing. The car was then unraced for several seasons until bought from Ameropean Racing by Ted Titmus and entered by him for Ben Schillachi in SCCA events in 1979. This would be the car raced by Juan Carlos Bolaños at Mexico City in April 1981. [CT]
Driven by: Pat Walter, Howdy Holmes and Juan Carlos Bolaños. First race: Blackhawk Farms, 17 Aug 1975. Total of 7 recorded races.
Roy Klomfass in the Team Gunston Ralt RT1 at Killarney in 1976. Copyright David Pearson (motoprint.co.za) 2024. Used with permission.
John Connolly in his Ralt RT1/76 at Westwood in 1980. Copyright Brent Martin 2011. Used with permission.
New to Team Gunston for Roy Klomfass at the end of 1975 and used through the 1976 South African Formula Atlantic season in South Africa, during which time it was extensively modified. In early 1977 it was sold "to a guy in Los Angeles". This must have been Kevin Cogan (Torrance, CA, in southwestern Los Angeles County), who raced his newer RT1/76-33 in 1977 but kept chassis 10 as a spare car for the first part of 1977. It was borrowed by Pierre Phillips at Mosport Park in May for Juan Cochésa to race after the Venezuelan crashed his intended car in practice. Then very probably the car acquired from Brian Robertson by John Connolly (Brooklyn, NY) and raced by him at Trois-Rivières in September. The car is thought to have remained with Connolly until advertised by him in early 1982, but he also had a newer RT1/78 and a Ralt RT4. After Connolly, the car may have gone to James Malapanis (Carlisle, MA) 1982-83 and then Richard Mullins (Hannover, PA) up to 1993. We would be keen to make contact with Malapanis or Mullins. [CT]
Driven by: Roy Klomfass, Kevin Cogan, Juan Cochésa and John Connolly. First race: Killarney (R1), 24 Jan 1976. Total of 33 recorded races.
Differentiating the Ralt RT1s
A total of 165 Ralt RT1s were built, so the only way to research these cars is to split them between years and between formulae. Mike Lawrence's book 'Brabham Ralt Honda' contains a table on page 243 which has been relied upon for this split. It shows ten cars built in 1975, so chassis number 1 to chassis 10. Three of those are shown as Formula Atlantic cars, which means chassis 10 must be treated as a 1975 car even though it first raced in January 1976.
Acknowledgements
Chris Townsend is the expert on this make of car, and the histories above ending 'CT' were supplied directly by Chris, or are based entirely or almost entirely on information provided by him. My thanks to Chris, and also to Eli Solomon, John Macdonald, Angus Lamont, Art Hebert, Harindra de Silva and Éric Verdin for their help with the history of chassis 5.
If you can add to our understanding of these cars, or have photographs that we can use, please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com.
These histories last updated on .