Chevron B45

I am currently researching the 1978 Chevron B45 Formula Atlantic and hope to pick your brains for any and all information. As far as I know 4 of these cars were built: chassis 001 went to South Africa, chassis 002 and 004 were delivered to Opert Racing and were driven by Rosberg and Elghe, and chassis 003 was delivered to somebody in California. At this point my history is a bit shady and I'm really looking to develop a better timeline of these cars. Can anybody help? Thanks in advance.

Cameron

001 Tony Martin, burned out in fire in 1980s
002 Opert, Rosberg's regular car. Maybe sold to Japan and fitted with Nissan engine, if so the B45 trashed by Rothengatter at Macau, 1980.
003. Rick Shea Racing for various drivers in US. Probably sold in Japan, and could be the other candidate for the Rothegatter write off
004. Opert. Elgh/Galica/Rosberg [including Macau] 1979-80 Jim Crawford, then to Vin Malkie.

Only four built

Chris

Thanks Chris. Given that two of the cars have been destroyed, 001 and either 002 or 003, do you know what happened to the other cars? I guess 004 is the only one that is known to still exist. Does Vin Malkie still have this car?

Cameron

The Crawford B45 was a real star, especially when he fitted a 2-litre BDX in 1980. He whacked the Aurora F2 field that year, even winning outright at Oulton in the rain. At that time, though I'd been a big Jim fan from 74 on, he used to beat Kim Mather, who I went racing with, quite easily, so I didn't take too kindly to him !

I recall the 1980 Silverstone F2 race that year in June, Jim had the car really flying, outdated though it was. He was well in with the midfield, a great effort in a 2 year old non-ground effects car, and a less than powerful motor. I think he did a few continental races with the car after that, setting him up for a go at Euro F2 the next year. That Chevron was always beautifully turned out, a credit to Jim, his team, and the original design .

Cameron,

I own the B45 Chevron FA chassis #4. I bought it in the UK some years ago and had it shipped over here. I am currently in the process of restoring the car to its original Atlantic trim. It has few Opert pieces on it, including some of the original bodywork, as well as the g'box spacer that Crawford and his engineer developed to move the engine forward and improve the handling (i.e. reduce the understeer).

Chris Townsend accurately describes the history of this chassis - which complements the info I obtained from Paul Owen of Chevron fame - though Chris has added some later info about the other tubs that I was not aware of - many thanks for that.

I have spoken several times with Vin Malkie as well as Jim Crawford before his untimely passing. Jim was very excited by the restoration project - and I had hoped that he might have an opportunity to drive the car again. He did put in some amazing drives in the car including a win in the wet at Oulton Park in the Aurora F1 (or AFX?) series, where he outclassed many more powerful cars.

As I piece together the car's more recent history I would be grateful if anyone could supply me with information about the car in the late 80s, early 90s.

Thanks,

Jeff

Dan = thanks for the story and memories of the Carwford era of B45-04

Jeff = I'm very excited to learn that one of these cars is still in existence and that you are restoring it to original spec. I also appreciate your additional information about the history of your car. As I understand you are unsure of the cars history between Malkie and yourself.


Cameron

Yes Cameron some more info about this period of the car's history would be interesting. Obviously I know the person from whom I bought the car, but nothing about the owners between that time and the Vin Malkie days. When I bought it the car did sport blue/white bodywork and had non-factory side pods with tunnels - something I think that Jim Crawford and his engineer (Jim or John somebody? - help here needed)designed and manufactured. These were not fitted to the tub when I bought it, but I still have the pieces ofcourse. As I metnioed earlier the car also came with some characeristic Opert pieces including some bodywork. I do not intend to remount these side pods but rather keep it in its original Atlantic trim when it first raced in the US and Canada.

Jeff, was th chap who modified it with Jim C called John Connell, or similar. I guess he was also ex-Chevron. Who did you buy it from, ISTR a chap over here called Duncan Gray had a few races in what was called a 'B45' in the mid-80s. Whether this was -04, or maybe a different Chevron entirely I don't know. Chris or Jeremy ???

Gray's car was blue/white, but I don't recall sidepods. (I saw the car race in 1983, I think). Only saw it on track, not in a paddock so can't make any definite comment on it's ancestry.

Autocourse archives show only Rosberg in an Opert B45 during the 78 Atlantic series. Tom Gloy started out in a 77B for lane sports but was entered in a B45 by Lane Sports from round three for the rest of the season. What is also interesting is that although Opert entered B39's for Patrese and others at Trois Riveres that year neither Rosberg nor Gloy nor any other B45 is mentioned at that particular race yet rosberg returned to win the final round in Vancouver and gloy was placed, both in the B45's. was the gloy B45 one of the cars imported by Opert?
Ed swart is also contesting some Historic Club races on the West Coast of the US in 2003in a B45! Which B45 could this be? Jeff's is being restored so what is Ed driving?

The Shea Racing B45
and the other Opert car.

Not in Autocourse, but courtesy of race reports in Competition Press and Autoweek; Formula; and NZ Motor Action

45-78-02 is probably Rosberg's regular car. Maybe only one B45 at Long Beach, Rosberg eliminated with engine failure on lap 1.
There is another "Chevron" finishes 25th in the hands of Page Roos [not Bertil who was 9th]. This might be the Shea car. Several B39s appear.
06 for James Crawley
08 for Galica
another Opert car for Elgh
what must be an ex Opert car [11?] for Bob Earl

Westwood
Rosberg 1st in Long Beach car
Shea 14th in a B45 so 03
Elgh retires with engine trouble in what must be 04

Quebec
Rosberg 1st
Elgh retires with overheating.
Incomplete results, so the Shea car may be in there!

Elkart Lake
Rosberg 7th, uses the Elgh car as spare
Bob Earl 20th [R. Accident] in a B45 so the shea car

Lime Rock
Rosberg races Elgh's regular car [04] 4th
No other Opert runners?
Again incomplete results here

Hamilton
Rosberg 1st in regular car
Galica 5th in Elgh's car
No sign of the Shea B45

Trois Rivieres
Merzario an Opert B45 [11th]
PAtrese an Opert B45 [R on warm up lap]
No sign of the Shea car but results only to 20th

Quebec City
Tom Gloy 8th in Shea car
Richard Spenard has first race of year in Elgh's car
Rosberg races a spare Opert B39 so I guess does something to 02 in practice.

Any help on incomplete results much appreciated

Chris

Thanks to everyone for all this valuable info. Dan, you are correct it is John Connell - recognized his name as soon as I saw it. I think he lives in the Indianapolis area somewhere - maybe owns a transmission shop - not sure though.

Chris thanks for the details on the FA series. Bits of it I knew - but you have filled in a lot more info. Thanks. John Zimmerman's book has a wonderful image of Rosberg in a B45 (chassis unkown) kissing the wall at a street circuit it appears. There is also a photograph of him at Montreal in 1978 in what is clearly a B39. Curiously, I was competing in an AFFA FFord race there the same weekend (finished 10th in a field of 35)- the weekend that Gilles had his historic victory in the Ferrari.

Ed Swart has a B42. I met him at Road Atlanta a couple of years ago when he had a sports racer there. I sent him a single use camera to photograph all aspects of the car which helped me in putting together my car since they are essentially identical. It has a 2 liter BDG motor - so he runs it as an F2 in the HSR series.

Jeff

Wow! I never imagined that so much valuable information/history could be obtained so easily! Thanks to everyone for contributing to the thread.

I have a question about the events that Chris mentioned:

I believe the last race, ‘Quebec City’, must be the GP in Montreal. This would make sense as the race was on October 8th, ’78 [i.e. probably the last race of the season] and the Zimmerman book has a picture of Keke in a B39 in Montreal and Chris results indicate he was in a B39 in the final event.

I am unsure of the third race of the season, ‘Quebec’. Was there a street race in Quebec city?

Cameron

The last race of the season was on the Ile de Notre Dame.
The third race I just have Quebec City and assume this
was a street race as there wasn't a circuit handy

This race, I have no reports for and just results down
to 8th, plus a few retirements.

Chris

Chris
According to the Autocourse Archives both Mezario (finished 14th) and Patrese (finished 9th!) are in B39's. Galicia was in a B39 at Hamilton. I got it wrong about Rosberg winning the final round at Montreal, he with rtd engine problems but is listed in a B45.
Elkhart Lake Gloy 5th in B45, Rosberg 7th in B45, so was Bob Earl in the other Opert car? or in his Brolin B34 at Elkhart Lake?
lane Sports sponsorewd gloy for the season but he ran the 77b at Long Beach (2nd) and Westwood (10th), incomplete results for Quebec, appeared at Lime Rock in a B45. Did he do a deal for the Shea car for the rest of the season?
Bob Earl was at Long beach and Trois Riveres in a B34 entered/sponsored by James Brolin.
The races for the series according to thses archives were
Long Beach April 1
Westwood April 23
Quebec June 11 (is this Ste Jovite?)
Lime Rock July 4
Road America July 23
Hamilton August 7
Trois Riveres September
Montreal September 24

Originally posted by Chris Townsend
Any help on incomplete results much appreciated

Chris Oh dear - Allen has been a bad boy.

Temporary consolation follows:

http://www.btinternet.com/~allen.brown/images/results/Atlantic-78-06-11-Quebec-Rosbergpic-500x.jpg (http://www.btinternet.com/~allen.brown/images/results/Atlantic-78-06-11-Quebec-Rosbergpic-1000x.jpg)

I'll be back in a moment!

I can confirm the Quebec City race - it was a one-off event sponsored by the racing afficiendos in Quebec. There was another AFFA FFord race that weekend too (finished 5th there where the Crossle was well set up for the many 90 degree turns you get on a street circuit). I honestly can't remember the FA results. I don't think there was another race there again, with Trois Rivs and Montreal taking the lead. Regrettably however, it looks like the Trois Rivs weekend may be scrapped.

As Chris pointed out earlier in the thread, Elghe (in chassis #4)was a teamnate to Rosberg, but parted ways with Opert (disappointing results/money?), and that car became available to Rosberg if needed (which it was on occasion)as well as rentadrivers when they presented themselves.

Originally posted by Chris Townsend
Quebec
Rosberg 1st
Elgh retires with overheating.
Incomplete results, so the Shea car may be in there!

Note Marcel Talbot (frequent hire driver in Can-Am) below:

http://www.btinternet.com/~allen.brown/images/results/Atlantic-78-06-11-Quebec-Results.jpg
Originally posted by Chris Townsend
Lime Rock
Rosberg races Elgh's regular car [04] 4th
No other Opert runners?
Again incomplete results here
Rosberg "wrote-off" his usual car in practice. Note Skeeter McKitterick below:

http://www.btinternet.com/~allen.brown/images/results/Atlantic-78-07-04-LimeRock-Results-small.jpg

Chris - the reports are now in the usual place - sorry I missed Quebec and was daft enough to fail to scan page 2 of the Lime Rock report!

Note that in your history of the US B45s above you have Lime Rock and Elkhart Lake the wrong way round which does confuse the Rosberg car history.

Allen

Sorry to list again - but that's the photo!! Absolutely typical Rosberg! The bodywork is all B45 - including the characteristic goal post rear wing set up as opposed to the monopost wing on the B39. Its possible that this was in practice and Rosberg moved to the B39 chassis for the race.

I would also draw your attention to the naughty appendage on the nose of the car.....Rumour has it that he had a similarly sculpted gearshift lever - can you imagine that happening nowadays? Well no - there wouldn't be enough room would there?

As Chris noted earlier, Rosberg raced B45-78-04 at Macau, but failed to finish. Paul Owen told me that Rosberg's mechanics were Derek Bennett (the other one) and Barrie Green. The world gets smaller once again.

Chris

Any chance 02 met its end at Lime Rock and the team used 04 thereafter? The Hamilton results I have say Galica drove an Opert B39 at Hamilton. Could either Patrese or Merzario at TR have been in a B39? That explains Rosberg being in a B39 at Montreal too.

Allen

PS Just noticed I didn't scan the Montreal report either!

Jeff

The picture is at Quebec. Couldn't say whether it was in practice or the race but either way it could be a B45 if he took over Elgh's car and left him with the spare B39.

Allen

PS Chris - Montreal report and results now in the normal place.

Allen

There is very good chance that happened at Lime Rock. Apparently Rosberg had a comprehensive shunt in practice(easy to do there - especially then), so its pretty sure that he ran 04 - at least for that race (I think Elghe had left the team by then) and likely that was the B45 chassis available for the next few weekends until 02 was repaired - if it ever was.

Jeff

Originally posted by jlcw
Paul Owen told me that Rosberg's mechanics were Derek Bennett (the other one) and Barrie Green. The world gets smaller once again.
Dick Bennetts, surely
(making the world even smaller)

David,

Yes that's who I meant - sorry for the mis-type.

Jeff

Rick Shea often rented his cars out on a race by race basis which probably explains McKitterick and the far from tardy Talbot in B45s. [Witness Shea's famous 722, which between 75 and 77 was probably driven by every European ever to visit Canada]

I think we can explain the disappearance of 45-02 as due to Rosberg bending it. However, it may well have been resurrected at some point for the Japanese series [except that both or neither of those cars may be B45s - at the Jap F.Pacific GP one is called a B40 and the other a B42, and I doubt that the two tail end drivers in question bought 'new' B45s just to do Macau.]
That gives Opert one B39 and one B45 to do Trois Rivieres and the end season races, and Rosberg chooses to run the B39 at Quebec City.
Opert may have kept more than one. In 1978 there are nine B39s in existence.
01 is owned by John Sisk in USA - running SCCA
02 is in S.Africa with Tony Martin
Harold McGarrity has his brother's car
Peter Robinson has 07
Marcello has one in S.E.Asia?
Albert Poon has 09

At least one was reduced to bits at St Felicien in 1977 but Opert could have rebuilt this and the one Rosberg did at the same meeting.
That means three or four to choose from!

Chris

Chris, I posted a while ago re Jim Crawford's B34 Atlantic car he used in a Gp8 race at Brands in October 76. I surmised this may have been an ex Opert US/Canda chassis, brought back to Bolton. Any ideas as we're into Fred's cars at present??

Dan

Yes, you were right. I'd completely forgotten that car which is described as 'a development model'. That might mean it was Chevron's works mule with a few B39 bits being tried out, or it could be an Opert car bought back to the mother country.

Problem is: Opert had at least six B34s that season as I see it.

Does anyone have the F1R book that gives the results of that meeting, which might give us a clue?

Chris

Chris,

F1R doesn't enlighten the situation.

B34-Hart 420R, race no. 26, no chassis info., entrant is Crawford, but I donm't know if that means much, given some of F1R's entrants.

Chris

I briefly glanced at the 1979 US results last night in Formula. There is a McCaig in a B45 and someone I'd never heard of in a B39/45. Those were the only Chevrons I could spot.

If we're right about the fate of B45-02, the B39/45 could be the late-season Opert car which I guess he'd have modified with spare B45 bits by Montreal.

Allen

Allen

When do we get to see those 1979 results?
Was the guy you've never heard of Marco Tolama?

Chris

Jeremy, I'm sure the Crawford B34 at late season Brands was an Atlantic car, ie not a Hart 420R engined one.

Dan,

I'm only quoting F1R as requested, I wasn't at the meeting & don't have a report, so I can't really confirm any of the data, but F1R obviously isn't infallible.

Chris

Yes, Marco Tolama rings a bell. The 1979 results were in David's copies of Formula and this was the first time I'd had a chance to take them out of the bag. Very few Atlantic reports in 1979 but full lists of finishers tucked away in results pages at the back of each mag.

I'll try to get them done this weekend.

Allen

Jeremy, point taken re F1R, I've never seen one of these tombs so can't comment on their accuracy at all. The Atlantic engine source for the car comes from my memory, very fallible (!), more reliably the '76 Autocourse. BTW Jim C had a few goes early in 76 in a 'Coin Monthly' backed B29 in G8 plus Indylantic I recall. Was this his ex-SDC car from 1975 does anyone know ?

Marco Tolama was Opert's only driver in 1979.
Started out with a B49 and didn't get anywhere
which might have been because Tolama wasn't very good
or the car wasn't [or both]
Switched to a B39 as far as I knew - but a B39/45 might
make a certain sense.

However, I have rejected the idea of the demise of 45-02 at Lime Rock and Opert seeing out the season with only one B45.
At Hamilton both Galica and Rosberg are in B45s. Galica's is described as ex-Elgh in Chris Waddell's report for NZ Motor Action, and there's a picture. Also, how is Rosberg in a B45 in practice at Montreal [even if he raced a B39] when Spenard is also using an Opert B45 at the same meeting. Perhaps Keke got even closer to the wall than he is in that picture!

Chris

Dan

The B29 used by Crawford in Indyatlantic in 76 was the Peter Williams car [Williams owned Coin Monthly] B29-75-17
This was then sold to MArtin Birrane mid season

Jim used two cars with SDC in 75 - the works development car [02?] then 29-75-15 from mid season. [I think it possible that this was Choularton's car until that point, and that Choularton got chassis 19 at the meeting where he handed 15 to Jim.] The development car went to Jim Crawley in 1975, 15 went to Len Booysen in S.Africa for 1976, and Phil Dowsett used the other SDC car.

Chris

Chris, thanks that tidies it up nicely.

ISTR Peter 'Coin' Williams on tele at a Boxing Day Brands meet in about 1975, with a B27. Think Musetti won in one of his F2 Marches, did Gerry Marshall in Baby Bertha also race in this? Great to remember when clubbies used to get on the Beeb ! Again dredging up memory, I think the race was sponsored by a Disney Film, of all things ! Anyone else remember this?

Jeff
Your car, B45-4 at Oulton Park in 1983, in the hands of a Duncan Gray for the 'Oulton Open' part of what was to be a series but ended up a single event. Car Rtd during the day (Autosport April 7)

Teretonga,

Thank you for that info.

Jeff

Quick update on Chevron B45s

45.78.01 New to Tony Martin, initially with B39 bodywork, December 77.
Burned out in garage fire, 1980
45.78.02 Opert's regular car for Rosberg in USA/Canada. Retained 1979 as car for
Marco Tolama and Doug Titus. Sold in NE USA and raced in SCCA after 1980 - more information to come soon!
45.78.03 Rick Shea until end 1979, then Colin Tuckey [1980] and Dave Farmer [1983]
45.78.04 Opert's other car, used by Rosberg as spare and at Macau 78. Then to Jim Crawford, etc.

One of the crucial things about this update is that having now traced the histories of chassis 2 and 3 [in the case of 2 up to date] it means that all the "B45s" that appear at places like Macau in 79 and beyond are not real B45s but updated B39s or B40s

Chris

Or B42s Chris I'd imagine, eg the Stokes/Wainwright car in Britain in 79 was described as a B45, when we know it was really a 42.

Indeed
Fumio Moto car at Macau 1980 is probably a B40
The Kiyoshi Misaki B45 at the same race is a B42 at Suzuka a month earlier...
The LC Kwan entered B45 for Miedecke maybe B39-04 or the ex Albert Poon
B39/B40 or whatever..

The Wainwright B45 is almost certainly the same car as the Stokes B42.
They never appear at the same race together and share sponsors.
Only the B42 appears for sale subsequently.

Chris

If this was one of the ICI cars, where did it go to after Stokes, Chris ?

Jeff
Your car, B45-4 at Oulton Park in 1983, in the hands of a Duncan Gray for the 'Oulton Open' part of what was to be a series but ended up a single event. Car Rtd during the day (Autosport April 7)Just to pick up the Ray Rowan Chevron B45 issue from the B49 thread, I've no idea who Duncan Gray was but I've double-checked this in Autosport and the report does indeed confirm that the "lementably slow" Gray was in the ex-Crawford B45. So does this mean Gray had hired the car from Rowan or does it mean that Rowan must have had a different Chevron B45?

Steve - how did you identify Rowan's car in your Sprint results for 1982 and 1983?

Allen

Gray [who was only marginally quicker than Ken Brill] ran the car in at least two rounds of the triumph of motorsport that was the 1983 British Formula Atlantic championship.
Given that Fisher is meant to own the Rowan car before him [ie in 1981] this conflicts with the known ownership of the ex Crawford B45-04 at that time [with Vin Malkie].
I think that we can rule out the B45-04 and just confuse ourselves between B42 and B48...

I've also noted Duncan Gray in a B43 out in '81 Libre race at Mallory. Was he connected with Malkie/Chevron I wonder, given these drives?

Interesting. Another question for Vin or Helen.

I've also just noticed Rowan getting into the Top 10 at Bardon in 1982 in his B45-BDA (Mason p332). Mason also calls it a 1.6 B45-BDA in his commentary on 1984 (p343) and in a photo caption on p345, and confirms on p350 when reviewing Rowan's career to date that the "methanol-fuelled" B45 had gone to Simon Ridge.

Interesting. Another question for Vin or Helen.

I've also just noticed Rowan getting into the Top 10 at Bardon in 1982 in his B45-BDA (Mason p332). Mason also calls it a 1.6 B45-BDA in his commentary on 1984 (p343) and in a photo caption on p345, and confirms on p350 when reviewing Rowan's career to date that the "methanol-fuelled" B45 had gone to Simon Ridge.

That would be Stuart Ridge who I am still trying to contact wrt his TWO Maurer F2 cars.

:)

MM80 and MM81, Steve ???

I've also noted Duncan Gray in a B43 out in '81 Libre race at Mallory. Was he connected with Malkie/Chevron I wonder, given these drives?

Any link to Don Gray I wonder, another fairly slow Chevron runner of the late 70s !

MM80 and MM81, Steve ???

Yes

Steve

What do you have on Rowan's B45 apart from what I'll have seen in Autosport? Do you have any other clues to its identity?

Allen

Steve

What do you have on Rowan's B45 apart from what I'll have seen in Autosport? Do you have any other clues to its identity?

Allen

Allen, I have it as follows:

1.6 Chevron-Ford/Cosworth BDA B45-78-04

Rowan sold it to Stuart Ridge in 1984 and he added some B48 bits to the car for 1985. Ridge ran the car until the end of 1987.

:coffee:

Thanks Steve. Do you have a note of where you got that chassis number from?

ridge has mm80 cars
before u start on a maurer thread i know the FULL list of cars where when who and why with fotos and no i am not going to list them here -its mine took me ages to get it & it will stay that way and yes i am stuffing the ball up my jumper on this subject so until i have A CERTAIN CAR in my collection

Thanks Steve. Do you have a note of where you got that chassis number from?

Can't remember off hand, possibly from this thread or one of the posters!

I tend once I have identified a chassis to add the details to the data base then delete the records from my email account etc. If I don't do this I usually end up trying to trace something I already have!

:error:

... but the danger is that if we later question an identification, we can't go back and see what your evidence was. I'd strongly recommend keeping anote on file of why you associated a particular chassis number with a particular car. Ask Adam one day about F1R's experience with their records being "corrupted" by a source that seemed reliable but later turned out to be speculating.

I'd guess you got the number for Dan's comment earlier on this thread and we've now changed his mind on that one. As there was only one B45 in evidence in the UK, it was reasonable to assume that Rowan had the ex-Crawford car. But now we can see the ex-Crawford car going to Malkie and Gray so Rowan's Chevron has to be a different one. It's perfectly possible that it wasn't even a B45 but was entered as a B45 because it had been rebuilt to Atlantic spec. Maybe a B42? Maybe even a B40?

asking RR now what he had
b40 or 42 45 or in fact a 48
he does recall cars but not chassis#
i await his return call
what else u wanna know?:woot:

I don't think we know the origins of the March 742 that he used before the Chevron but just getting the Chevron straight will be fine for now. If he recalls the model and the person he bought it from, I'm sure we can figure out the chassis number.

march was 74b i think he said as he has foto on his wall

Was the 74B the ex Chris Cramer car?

Chris

its posible i will ask him he is away so will mail him the full list of queries on b40 45 48 74b

Steve

What do you have on Rowan's B45 apart from what I'll have seen in Autosport? Do you have any other clues to its identity?

Allen

Just a thought from somewhere, could the Rowan 'B45', be the Stokes/Wainwright B42, the ex Daly/ICI car?? Only reason is that they were both West Mids based, and I can't recall where that car, the B42, went after 1979-80. It was also a 1.6 BDA car, so maybe ...

That's a good thought. And didn't Wainwright use quite a lot of licence in the way he described his Chevrons?

is that b42 in ireland with tommy reid or the likes?

You could well be right. Chris has B42-02 as Stokes/Wainwright 1979, Patsy McGarrity 1981.

So the Fisher B42-14 does look favourite for Rowan's car, with the Evans B42-16 another possibility.

Heard from Ray yet?

not yet left tel message sent email as he was away racing
I will harrass him later for answers

Hi, I know this thread is a liitle old now! But the Chevron B45 that everyone was talking about was indeed the Plygrange Ex Jim Crawford Car! It was 1st put into Atlantic trim in 1982 and ran in Blue with the multi coloured strips around it, as when Jim drove it, The car was painted white in 1983 and still maintained the F2 side pods, I happened to be the lucky driver on 3 counts! 1...It was a Great car to drive 2.. Jim crawford was a wonderful tutor & 3 The B45 was being run by one of the Best teams in the UK in the 80's PLYGRANGE RACING from Bolton.

The B43 Chevron that was also mentioned, was infact an F3, it was an Ex Steve Malin car, and before he owned it, It was the Very original Ex Derek Daly B38 !! i know this for sure as i had the UK Customs track the car back to myself after pursuing it for nearly 2 years!! It had NOT been logged back into the UK after it had been raced or tested in Europe.
I sold this car to Adrian Reynard in 1981

i do have some pics of both cars, so please just ask!;)

Duncan Gray, I presume.

Welcome. I'm sure we'd all be very interested to see pictures.

Daly's McMahon B38 was F3.77.07, sold to Malins for 1978 season. VERY badly damaged in testing shunt at Donington AS 11.5.78 p. 3. Replaced by B43, brand new at Oulton 20.5.78. Remnants of the B38 rebuilt by Rob Moores, "an ex Malins B38" AS 2.11.78 p. 23

Chris

Aha, Moores 6th in a June 1981 Mallory Park libre in a B38. Thanks Chris - another libre car identified.

PS Do you know Eddie Heasell's B38?

F3.77.08

I wonder what Reynard did with the ex-Malins B43? Did Duncan race this car does anyone recall??

Thanks Chris. Should these read B38.77.07 and B38.77.08 as per normal Chevron notation or did B38s have a 'F3' prefix?

Apologies Allen
As Pantah can tell you it's my week for yptos...
I think the prefix should be 38 rather than F3. Heasell's car one of two sold to Wolf. How long do you have him with the car?

As for the ex Malins B43... How about converted into an Atlantic and run by Michael Roe at Phoenix Park in 1979? [That's just a guess.]

Chris

I only have two results for him so far: a couple of fourth places in libres at Donington and Mallory in June 1981.

Is that Walter Wolf you refer to, Chris? And did Michael Roe do that 'famous' 79 Phoenix Park race, I'd forgotten that. Would it be on to put a BDA into a
B43?

bda should fit into the b43 i wonder if they used the Mk9 hewland or upgraded to Ft200 as most FA cars had them
Brake calipres should be ok but discs would need to be larger wheels are a wider rear wing may be ok

Dan

Yes it was that Walter Wolf, running his F3 team from Reading I think.

Roe DNA for the Phoenix Park race but there was a press item [MN I think] which said he was going to run with a B43-BDA.
B42-43-45 basically same tub I think.

Chris

Chris, I wonder why Roe would modify someone-else's B43, when he had his own B47 that could, presumably have been 'BDA'd'. Or perhaps the conversion was trickier on the GE cars??

same effort of work

But a B43 would probably be more effective around Phoenix Park than a B47.
Come to think of it almost anything [wheelbarrow, forklift truck, armoured personnel carrier] would have been more effective than a B47 - except perhaps for an Argo JM9 Allegro...
That people entered converted B48s for the race suggests either a certain contempt for the opposition or [more likely] desperation over what to do with the thing, rather than any faith in the car's ability to win it.

Chris

Given the usual technology lag between F2 and F/Atl, maybe they thought a lame F2 might make a reasonable F/Atl?

That and a certain driver lag... [In that the average club driver in Irish Atlantic was not going to be a match for an F2/F3 hotshoe]
Come to think of it, in the usual first corner scramble at Phoenix Park the APC was probably the best bet

Chris