Ralt RT1/75 (F2) car-by-car histories
Freddy Kottulinsky in his Ralt RT1/76 at the Nürburgring in May 1977. Copyright Harmut Schulz 2025. Used with permission.
After the success of the Ralt RT1 in Formula 3 in 1975, three more RT1s were built near the end of the season in Formula 2 specification. All three were race winners, one in British libre, one in Formula 2 and then in French hillclimbs, and one at the Macau Grand Prix.
The Ralt RT1 represented a good value-for-money Formula 2 car, and the first to be ordered was for John Wingfield, a regular racer in Formula 2, Formula Atlantic and Formule Libre for the preceding five years. He fitted his car with a Ford BDG engine built by Swindon Engines, and debuted it at the Silverstone F2 race at the end of August 1975. Three weeks later, a more serious effort made its first appearance at the Vallelunga round. Fritz Lochmann had financed a new Ralt RT1 for the veteran F3 racer Freddy Kottulinsky, but it blew two of its BMW engines during practice and was unable to demonstrate its potential. In May the following year, he won the F2 race at the Nürburgring in this car, but this was not quite the breakthrough it might appear. It was a non-championship race and only attracted a field of 15 cars. Kottulinsky won both heats, but Rolf Stommelen had been quicker in Harald Ertl's Chevron B35 until its works BMW engine broke. The third of this disparate trio of Ralt RT1/75s was built with a Hart 420R engine, an engine designed by Brian Hart for the new and less restrictive F2 regulations coming into force for 1976. The JAF Grand Prix in Japan in November 1975 allowed racing engines up to 2000cc, so Teddy Yip had commissioned a Ralt RT1 to take the potent Hart, and to be raced by Australian F1 driver Vern Schuppan. This latter car stayed in east Asia for five years, winning the Macau Grand Prix in 1976, 1979 and 1980, handled by Schuppan and Geoff Lees.
Due to its late arrival, the Ralt RT1/75 made little impact on F2 in 1975. Ron Tauranac offered the RT1 in F2 specification for 1976 as well but only attracted a couple of customers and it would be 1977 before Ralt won another F2 race.
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 Wingfield in his Ralt RT1/75 at Mallory Park for the Shellsport G8 race in March 1976. Copyright Rich Harman 2009. Used with permission.
New to John Wingfield (London NW11), fitted with a Swindon BDG and raced in the F2 events at Silverstone and Zolder in 1975, entered by Marshall-Wingfield Racing. Retained for 1976 when Wingfield used it in Shellsport Group 8 and the MCD Open Single Seater Championship. Later in the season it was raced by Ray Mallock in the F2 races at Hockenheim and Rouen. In September 1976, Wingfield crashed at the Thruxton G8 race, sliding off at Village at hitting the concrete Marshal's post side-on. Wingfield died instantly. The Ralt was severely damaged and it is highly unlikely that it was rebuilt.
Driven by: John Wingfield and Ray Mallock. First race: Silverstone (R11), 31 Aug 1975. Total of 17 recorded races.
Freddy Kottulinsky in his Ralt RT1/76 at the Nürburgring in May 1976. Copyright Harmut Schulz 2025. Used with permission.
New to Freddy Kottulinsky, fitted with a BMW M12 engine and raced in F2, entered by wealthy German brewer Fritz Lochmann. Kottulinsky debuted the car at Vallelunga in October 1976 but failed to qualify after his first engine ran its bearings and his replacement blew up after an oil line came adrift. The car was loaned to Gernot Lamby for the opening rae of the 1976 season, then Kottulinsky raced it for the rest of the year, winning at the Nürburgring in May. Retained for 1977, when Kottulinsky used Heidegger BMW engines. Sold to Freddy Roland (Mulhouse, Alsace, France) for French hillclimbs from 1978 and 1979, during which time it was substantially modified. After winning at Bagnères-de-Bigorre in July 1979, Roland suffered a motorcycle accident and did not return until May 1980, when he had a newer and more standard Ralt RT1. Photographs indicate that his older 1975 car was sold to Roger Ecoffet, who ran it during the 1980 season, still with a BMW engine. Subsequent history unknown.
Driven by: Freddy Kottulinsky, Gernot Lamby, Freddy Roland and Roger Ecoffet. First race: Hockenheim (R1), 11 Apr 1976. Total of 63 recorded races.
New to Teddy Yip's Theodore Racing Team and fitted with a Hart 420R for Vern Schuppan to race at the JAF Grand Prix in November 1975. Then converted to Formula Atlantic specification for the Macau Grand Prix but vital parts did not arrive in time for Schuppan to use it. It was next raced at the Macau GP a year later, when Schuppan won the race. Yip himself drove it at the Malaysia Grand Prix meeting in April 1977, but did not start the race. It was then driven by Alan Jones at Macau in November 1977 but he retired. After that, it sat idle for nearly two years until it was taken to Ireland for the Phoenix Park Formula Atlantic race in September 1979, where it won in the hands of David Kennedy. It then returned to Macau for the 1979 race, when Geoff Lees took over the drive and won. Lees took the Ralt to its third Macau GP victory in 1980, in only its sixth known race start. It was then sold to Richard Hawkins, who drove it in the British Formula Atlantic championship in 1981. He sold it to dealer Roger Cowman who ran it for Vivian Candy at Phoenix Park in August and at Mondello Park in September. It stayed in Ireland and in late 1983 was sold by Jim Flynn to Tony Skinner. Still owned by Skinner in 2022.
Driven by: Vern Schuppan, Theodore Yip, Patrick Tambay, Alan Jones, David Kennedy, Geoff Lees, Richard Hawkins and Vivien Candy. First race: Suzuka (R5), 2 Nov 1975. Total of 15 recorded races.
Acknowledgements
The chassis numbers of these three 1975 F2 cars were given in an article in Autosport 31 March 1977, and the chassis number of Wingfield's was also mentioned by Motoring News when it first appeared and that of Kottulinsky's by Autosprint in its report on the Vallelunga race in May 1977. The history of chassis 8 in French hillclimbs came from OldRacingCars.com's collection of Echappement magazine, and Roland's car being ex-Kottulinsky came from Echappement's report on the Ampus hillclimb in 1978. The history of chassis 9 in East Asia is largely from Eli Solomon's 'Snakes & Devils' (a history of the Singapore Grand Prix), Philip Newsome's 'Colour and Noise' (a history of the Macau Grand Prix), and Newsome's biography of Teddy Yip. My thanks to Tony Skinner for information on chassis 9 and to Chris Townsend for his expertise on the broad subject of Ralt.
If you can add to our understanding of these cars, or have photographs that we can use, please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com.
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