Ralt RT1/77 Formula 2 car-by-car histories
Tony Rouff in Graham Eden's new Ralt RT1/77 at Mallory Park in May 1977. Copyright Alan Cox 2012. Used with permission.
Ralt had something a breakthrough in Formula 2 in 1977, when Eddie Cheever won at Rouen in June in his Project Four Ralt RT1/77. He had a string of good finishes, but Giancarlo Minardi's team of Ferrari-powered Ralts achived very little.
Ralt's impact on F2 in 1975 and 1976 had been very limited, but Ron Dennis had been impressed by the Ralt RT1/76 that his Project Four Racing had bought for Eddie Cheever to replace his March 762 in August 1976. He had qualified well in both his F2 races and had taken pole for a G8 race at Brands Hatch in November. Dennis committed to Ralt for 1977, and bought three new RT1/77s for drivers Eddie Cheever and Ingo Hoffman, using works BMW engines. Three more were sold to Giancarlo Minardi's Scuderia Everest for Gianfranco Brancatelli and Lamberto Leoni, using Ferrari Dino 206 V6 engines. Later in the season another three were sold: one in May to Graham Eden for Tony Rouff to race in Shellsport G8 in the UK, and one to Argentinian driver Ariel Bakst for F2 near the end of the season.
Cheever had very good results in his RT1: his win at Rouen in June, three second places and two third. Hoffman also had three third places, but the Ferrari-engined cars, despite the presence of Ferrari's veteran development engineer Giulio Borsari, were a great disappointment.
The 1977 Ralts were similar in specification to the 1976 cars, but one distinguishing feature is that the forward-facing stays on their rollhoops were anchored further forward in the cockpit. They were still black and still bolted to the rollhoop, as in 1976, but later moved to a metallic colour with the anchor point being again further back in the cockpit. If you can add to our understanding of these cars, or have photographs that we can use, please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com.
Eddie Cheever in the Project Four Ralt RT1 at the Nürburgring in May 1977. Copyright Harmut Schulz 2025. Used with permission.
New to Ron Dennis's Project Four Racing for 19-year-old Eddie Cheever to race in F2 in 1977 using Paul Rosche BMW engines. It was sponsored by MS, Italy's largest cigarette producer. Cheever's best result was at Rouen where he won from pole, but that was when using the team's T-car, RT1-68. He did not win a race in RT1-64, but was leading at Enna when he crashed late in the race, and also led at Misano but ended up losing out to the implausibly quick Chevron-Ferrari of Lamberto Leoni. Cheever finished second at Thruxton, the Nürburgring and Misano and took second place overall in the championship. The American injured his hand in a Group 5 race the weekend before the final F2 race at Donington Park, so missed the race. His Ralt was raced there by Ingo Hoffman, who had wrecked his regular car at Estoril. The Project Four Ralts were taken over by Heini Mader Racing for 1978, and the ex-Cheever car was driven in the opening two F2 races by Italian touring car driver Romeo Camathias.
Driven by: Eddie Cheever, Ingo Hoffmann and Romeo Camathias. First race: Silverstone (R1), 6 Mar 1977. Total of 12 recorded races.
New to Giancarlo Minardi's Scuderia Everest F2 team and fitted with a Ferrari Dino 206 V6 engine for Gianfranco Brancatelli to drive in F2 in 1977. Despite the presence of former F1 Ferrari development engineer Giulio Borsari, the very tall Dino engine was only installed in the Ralt at 1 am before first practice at Silverstone. Brancatelli qualified, but the car was pushed off the starting grid when a pool of oil was found under the engine. Subsequent history unknown.
Driven by: Gianfranco Brancatelli. First race: Vallelunga (R5), 15 May 1977. Total of 7 recorded races.
New to Giancarlo Minardi's Scuderia Everest F2 team and fitted with a Ferrari Dino 206 V6 engine for Lamberto Leoni and later Elio de Angelis to drive in F2 in 1977. Unknown in 1978. To Ray Mallock (Roade, Northamptonshire) for British Formula Atlantic in 1979, run for him by Mario Deliotti Racing and later by Cliff Smith Racing. To Alo Lawler (St Helens, Lancashire) for British Formula Atlantic in 1980. Lawler won the Phoenix Park Irish Formula Atlantic race in August, and sold the car in Ireland to Tom O'Leary (Dalkey, County Dublin). Raced by O'Leary in the Irish Formula Atlantic series from 1980 to 1983. Subsequent history unknown.
Driven by: Lamberto Leoni, Elio de Angelis, Ray Mallock, Andrew Neilson, Alo Lawler and Tom O'Leary. First race: Thruxton (R2), 11 Apr 1977. Total of 45 recorded races.
New to Ron Dennis's Project Four Racing for Ingo Hoffman to race in F2 in 1977. He was sponsored by Safari, a Brazilian bitters maker. Reported by Motoring News to have been "destroyed" in his accident at Estoril in October. Hoffman used Cheever's car at Donington Park, the only remaining race of the season, but it was noted that Dennis's team had three T-cars at this event, so RT1-67 had presumably been rebuilt. Assuming it survived, this car is likely to have gone with Dennis's other Ralts to Heini Mader Racing for 1978. Subsequent history unknown.
Driven by: Ingo Hoffmann. First race: Silverstone (R1), 6 Mar 1977. Total of 12 recorded races.
New to Project Four Racing and used as a spare car in F2 in 1977. Raced by guest drivers Hans-Joachim Stuck at Hockenheim in April and Clay Regazzoni at the Nürburgring two weeks later. Then used by Eddie Cheever to win at Rouen in June after he had damaged his regular car at Mugello the weekend before. Also driven by Cheever at Enna-Pergusa in July. To Heini Mader Racing and run for Walter Baltisser in Swiss Championship events in 1979. Sold to Kurt Buess for 1980, and raced in French and German hillclimbs until 1985. Then sold to Josef Binder (Switzerland) and retained by him for many years, until sold to Michiel Smits in 2018. Advertised by Complete Motorsport Solutions for Smits in September 2023, and still with Philip Cheek at CMS for sale in February 2025.
Driven by: Hans-Joachim Stuck, Clay Regazzoni, Eddie Cheever, Walter Baltisser and Kurt Buess. First race: Hockenheim (R3), 17 Apr 1977. Total of 15 recorded races.
New to Giancarlo Minardi's Scuderia Everest F2 team and presumably fitted with a Ferrari Dino 206 V6 engine as a spare car for Gianfranco Brancatelli in F2 in 1977. No known appearances. Subsequent history unknown.
New to Graham Eden Racing for Tony Rouff to race in the ShellSPORT Group 8 Championship in 1977, using Ford BDG engines and sponsored by Harrisons of Birmingham. Rouff won in this car at Thruxton in June. Retained by Eden for 1978, and raced by Mike Wilds in what was then the Aurora AFX British F1 Championship. Sold to Ian Briggs (Reading/Farnham) and fitted with a Swindon BDA for the British Formula Atlantic series in 1979 and 1980. Believed to be the car borrowed by Theodore Racing for Desiré Wilson to drive at Macau at the end of that season. This may have been one of the two Ralt RT1s advertised by Theodore Racing via Jack Kallay (Litchfield) in January 1981. One of these was said to be Geoff Lees, Macau GP winner (so RT1-9) so the other could be eitehr Desire Wilson's or Kevin Cogan's from Macau. Subsequent history unknown.
Driven by: Tony Rouff, Mike Wilds, Ian Briggs and Desiré Wilson. First race: Mallory Park (UK R5), 22 May 1977. Total of 31 recorded races.
New to Argentinian driver Ariel Bakst in September 17 to race in European F2. He appeared twice that season, but failed to qualify at either Estoril or Donington Park. Retained for 1978, when it was run for Bakst by Heini Mader Racing, who had also acquired at least two of the Project Four Ralt RT1/77s. Bakst appeared five times, but after failing to qualify at Mugello and Vallelunga, he moved to Scuderia Carlo Benelli to drive a March 782. The subsequent history of the Ralt is unknown.
Driven by: Ariel Bakst. First race: Thruxton (R1), 27 Mar 1978. Total of 3 recorded races.
1977
Of the six cars built for the start of the European F2, the three Scuderia Everest cars all disappeared at the end of 1977, one of the Ron Dennis/Project Four cars had been wrecked and the other two went to Heini Mader, reportedly in exchange for unpaid engine bills. Mader had also run the car for Ariel Bakst, so if he kept the wrecked car, up to four F2 RT1s may have passed through his hands. He sold one to Walter Baltisser in Switzerland in 1979, and another two appear to have gone to French hillclimbers: the first to Jean-Pierre Perrin in 1978 and the second to Nani Nerguti in 1980.
Mike Catlow (Dulwich, London/Charing, Kent) drove a Ralt RT1 in British Formula Atlantic from 1980 to 1983. The car was later acquired by Jackie Harris for hillclimbs in Ireland, at first with a 1600cc BDA engine in 1986 and later with a 2-litre BDG from 1987 to 1990. It then went to Andy Kittle, who ran it in hillclimbs around 1993. In 1996 he sold it via Simon Hadfield to Tom Calicchio (Erie, PA). Subsequent history unknown.
Driven by: Mike Catlow, Jackie Harris and Andy Kittle. First race: Brands Hatch (R2), 27 Apr 1980. Total of 40 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 51 Ralt RT1s in 1977, so chassis numbers 40 to 90, and nine of those are shown as Formula 2 cars. However, the table only shows two Formula C Ralt RT1s, so either RT1-70 or RT1-90 was missed by the compiler. We can be confident that Larry Perkins' RT1-91 was delivered in 1977, as it first raced on 2 January 1978, so we must conclude that there is an error in the table and there were actually 52 Ralt RT1s in 1977, chassis numbers 40 to 91. Of the nine 1977 Formula 2 RT1s, seven are straightforward as they all appeared in European F2: the six cars RT1-64 to RT1-69 for Project Four and Scuderia Everest, and RT1-87 for Ariel Bakst. The eight must be RT1-72 sold to Graham Eden in F2 spec for Shellsport G8. The puzzle is the ninth. It was thought to have been RT1-92 going to Japan late in the season, but it now looks more likely to have been RT1-71 delivered to Rob Turnbull for British hillclimbs.
Acknowledgements
Chris Townsend is the expert on this make of car, and the histories above ending 'CT' were supplied directly by Chris. My thanks to Chris for sharing the results of his detailed research into these cars.
Acknowedgements
... Michiel Smits
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 .