Harris Formula 5000 - Help?

I have what I think is the only Harris RH05 Formula 5000, which I plan to run next year after some renovations.

Can anyone help with any photo's or history for the car which was built in 69/69, by Ray Harris Limited in Eastleigh, Hants, England.

Is this the same car that came from the Hereford area ???It was nice and up together then

As well as F5000 it was also run in Formula Libre, Sprints and Hillclimbs. I'll see what I can turn up but it will be a few days before I get back with any info.

:)

Reference to the old trusty 'Formula 5000 A-Z' by Bernard Cowdery describes this as a 'one-off' F5000 which competed in its first (mixed entry) race at Castle Combe in March 1970. The late Brian Tarrant then drove it that season in 3 rounds of the European F5000 Championship. It was then sold in 1971 to Malcolm Dungworth who used it for sprints. It appeared at further sprints in 1973, driven by John Briggs.

Mark, did you purchase this from Malcolm Carter? He apparently owned it in the late 90's.

Also, welcome to 10-Tenths!

Is this the same car that came from the Hereford area ???It was nice and up together then
yes< thats where it came from, I bought the car about 7 months ago. Its a runner as you say but needed some cosmetic work. Also I'm adding its original front and rear wings as per an old photo I have acquired.

As well as F5000 it was also run in Formula Libre, Sprints and Hillclimbs. I'll see what I can turn up but it will be a few days before I get back with any info.

:)
Thanks Steve

That would be very helpfull, look forward to hearing from you

Reference to the old trusty 'Formula 5000 A-Z' by Bernard Cowdery describes this as a 'one-off' F5000 which competed in its first (mixed entry) race at Castle Combe in March 1970. The late Brian Tarrant then drove it that season in 3 rounds of the European F5000 Championship. It was then sold in 1971 to Malcolm Dungworth who used it for sprints. It appeared at further sprints in 1973, driven by John Briggs.

Mark, did you purchase this from Malcolm Carter? He apparently owned it in the late 90's.

Also, welcome to 10-Tenths!

Hi John,

Thanks for the welcome.

I actually bought the car from Martin Cowell and I think Malcom was a few owners befor him.

I'm adding its original wings at present, as shown on an early photo that I have acquired plus some cosmetics and wiring/ ignition / engine work...
, and then its off to silverstone for testing next year and maybe a few races (although I have run the car at Santa Pod, not for times but just an opportunity to give it a run.)

Main thing for me to get now is my licence!!!... so I'm looking to take a 5 day ARDS course at Siverstone next Feb, which is the earliest date available.

I think the chassis was rebuilt by Hadfield when Carter was running it in the late 80's.

Mark, I took quite a few photos of it between 1992-2000 when Malcolm Carter was ruuning it. If you want any, let me know.

Jeremy,

Thanks for this, have you got the pictures as digital files or are the standard film. It would be great to have a few shots of the car in action.
I will cover any costs of this, can you please advise?

Thank you once again

James

Was the chassis damaged, warranting this rebuild?

Mark,

They're on standard film, but some have been scanned alrready, so I can send you a couple by e-mail if you let me know your address by PM

Jeremy, Thanks once again

You can email me on info@race-cars-classics.com.

This is on my Historic Racing website, which is still in development but can take emails. I have actually got a shot of the car racing, I think in the hands of Malcolm Carter, on the front page (www.race-cars-classics.com)

Mark, just visited the website and you might want to change the wording to the caption as the two cars behind the Harris look remarkably like F2/FAt cars! (Brabham BT30 and Crossle?)

I have already got together some event details of the Harris which are as follows:

21/05/71 Harewood BARC Hillclimb Champ Rd - Malcolm Dungworth - 3rd in class
25/06/71 Harewood BARC Hillclimb Champ Rd - Malcolm Dungworth - unplaced (i.e. out of the first 5!)
August 1972 Cadwell Park BARC Hillclimb Champ Rd - Malcolm Dungworth - 3rd in class
05/09/72 Harewood Rd 13 RAC Hillclimb Champ - Malcolm Dungworth - 10th in Championship Run-Off
22/09/72 Harewood BARC Hillclimb Champ Rd - Malcolm Dungworth - 5th in class

More info as I collate it.

:cool:

From memory I think it was just stiffened and made good to race.

Thanks for this... the picture is great as well, how do you come to have such a wealth of info. regarding this and other cars

Mark

Thanks for this... the picture is great as well, how do you come to have such a wealth of info. regarding this and other cars

Mark

Now that would be telling! :cool:

Mark, the following are results gleaned from Autosport. The Harris was driven on each occasion by Malcolm Dungworth:

18/07/71 - Topcliffe Sprint - BTD in 168.48secs
22/08/71 - Woodvale Sprint - 2nd BTD in 89.34secs
10/10/71 - Castle Howard Hillclimb - 5th in class in 32.33secs and 5th in the BARC Run-off in 32.40secs
16/04/72 - Woodvale Sprint - 2nd in Class in 93.85secs
30/04/72 - Topcliffe Sprint (MGCC) - BTD in 173.03secs
20/05/72 - Barbon Manor - 8th in British Hillclimb Run-off in 26.07secs
21/05/72 - Harewood - 3rd in class
23/09/72 - Harewood - 6th in BARC Run-off in 41.82secs

Also I have spotted the ads in Autosport when the car was for sale in 1971 and also when Malcolm put it up for sale in 1972. I will email photos of these through to you.

:cool:

From memory I think it was just stiffened and made good to race.

Hi Jamie

How did you come to know this info, were you involved with the work on the car?

I have bits and pieces of notes on this car as well:


Autosport 10 Dec 1970: 5 Litre Harris-Chevrolet F5000, LG600, Webbers, etc.
Dungworth "has bought the Harris raced last year by Tarrant" (AS 15 Jul 1971 p5).
First outing "convincing BTD" at Topcliffe "last Sunday" AS 23 Jul 1971 p54.
Dungworth 5.0-litre Harris-Chev class win somewhere in Lancs AS 20 Apr 1972 p47;
BTD Topcliffe late April 1972 AS 4 May 1972 p45;
Harewood AS 25 May 1972 p55;
8th RAC Barbon Manor AS 25 May 1972 p47;
6th BTD Harewood AS 28 Sep 1972 p28.
John Briggs at Longridge AS 19 Apr 1973 p44.
Briggs & Harris-Traco won sprint at Woodvale, near Southport, on Whit Sunday 1974 (AS 30 May 1974 p54);
wins Isle of Man sprint 21 Sep 1974 (AS 26 Sep 1974 p58).
Harris-Traco winning sprint 3 Apr 1975 p46 with John Briggs.
Sorry it's a bit of a jumble but I've just been jotting things down as I spot them (and as Steve W sends them to me :) ).

So it looks like Briggs got it in 1973 and ran it for at least three seasons.

Allen

"AS" is Autosport of course

We were running a F5000 at the time in HSCC pre 71 series (late 1980's) and MC was running the Harris. I think its what MC told us (however this could be totally wrong because it was a long time ago)

Brian Tarrant was entered in the Harris at a number of Castle Combe meetings in 1970:

14 March - debut in Formula Libre race, "ended in a prolonged pit stop on the second lap" according to Motoring News. A photo of the car appeared at the top of the report in Autosport 19 March.
30 March - Formula Libre, retired lap 6.
9 May - F5000 debut, retired after 4 laps of first heat (engine).
13 June - Formula Libre, 3rd.
27 June - Formula Libre, retired (lap 2?), engine
25 July - Formula Libre, did not appear.
31 August - Formula Libre, retired lap 9, accident following a front wheel detaching.
17 October - Formula Libre, did not appear.

For the 27 June meeting the car colour was listed as purple, for Oct 17 as white.
Entry details from meeting programmes, race info from Motoring News & Autosport.

Mark, just visited the website and you might want to change the wording to the caption as the two cars behind the Harris look remarkably like F2/FAt cars! (Brabham BT30 and Crossle?)

I have already got together some event details of the Harris which are as follows:

21/05/71 Harewood BARC Hillclimb Champ Rd - Malcolm Dungworth - 3rd in class
25/06/71 Harewood BARC Hillclimb Champ Rd - Malcolm Dungworth - unplaced (i.e. out of the first 5!)
August 1972 Cadwell Park BARC Hillclimb Champ Rd - Malcolm Dungworth - 3rd in class
05/09/72 Harewood Rd 13 RAC Hillclimb Champ - Malcolm Dungworth - 10th in Championship Run-Off
22/09/72 Harewood BARC Hillclimb Champ Rd - Malcolm Dungworth - 5th in class

More info as I collate it.

:cool:

More info on the Cadwell Park Hillclimb:

28/08/72 Malcolm was actually 2nd in class with a time of 51.74secs.

:error:

Picked up the following from Motoring News:

1) 05/09/71 Rd 11 British Hillclimb Championship at Prescott - Malcolm Dungworth retired when he broke the suspension on the Harris in practice.
2) 23/04/72 Harewood BARC Hillclimb Championship - Malcolm Dungworth was 7th in class in a time of 44.19secs with the Harris.
3) 25/06/72 Harewood BARC Hillclimb Championship - once again Malcolm Dungworth was sidelined when he had a practice shunt in the Harris.

That's all for now. :cool:

I have bits and pieces of notes on this car as well:


Autosport 10 Dec 1970: 5 Litre Harris-Chevrolet F5000, LG600, Webbers, etc.
Dungworth "has bought the Harris raced last year by Tarrant" (AS 15 Jul 1971 p5).
First outing "convincing BTD" at Topcliffe "last Sunday" AS 23 Jul 1971 p54.
Dungworth 5.0-litre Harris-Chev class win somewhere in Lancs AS 20 Apr 1972 p47;
BTD Topcliffe late April 1972 AS 4 May 1972 p45;
Harewood AS 25 May 1972 p55;
8th RAC Barbon Manor AS 25 May 1972 p47;
6th BTD Harewood AS 28 Sep 1972 p28.
John Briggs at Longridge AS 19 Apr 1973 p44.
Briggs & Harris-Traco won sprint at Woodvale, near Southport, on Whit Sunday 1974 (AS 30 May 1974 p54);
wins Isle of Man sprint 21 Sep 1974 (AS 26 Sep 1974 p58).
Harris-Traco winning sprint 3 Apr 1975 p46 with John Briggs.
Sorry it's a bit of a jumble but I've just been jotting things down as I spot them (and as Steve W sends them to me :) ).

So it looks like Briggs got it in 1973 and ran it for at least three seasons.

Allen

1st June 1974 - John Briggs took a CLASS win at the Wallasey Motor Club sprint at New Brighton in a time of 80.62 seconds.

21st September 1974 - Ramsey Road sprint on the Isle of Man was as Allen says a BTD which John Briggs achieved in 76.96 seconds.

That's all for now.

thanks for this... I'm glad that I've had the engine and i=gnition sorted as it sounds it was unreliable!!... will be testing next year so we'll see how it goes.