GRD

Hi i am new to the forum which i came across whilst surfing for information and pictures on GRD 372 and 374. i am about to restore both the 374 is ex alex ribeiro.The history of the 372 is currently unknow,although painted in swedish colours. I am also looking for photos of Derek Bell in his early days in a lotus 41 which i believe he raced in red rather than usual lotus green.Can anybody remember?

If you need any parts or so forth speak to the GRD man, Peter Denty;
Tel 01953 498529
We have had GRD's in the past and he is very good.

Nick,

According to my GRD notes, Ribiero's 374 was chassis 088.
I have a couple of photos of it taken at Oulton in 74.

Re. your Swedish 372 - what chassis number is on it?
I have a (incomplete) list of GRDs in 72/73/74 with notes of some chassis numbers and appearances. As you probably know, there were several Swedish 372s in F3 at that time - some were later converted to 74 or 75 spec.
If you can give further details I'll see what my records show.

ADAM

Adam, would be interested in anything you can tell me, chassis 372-012, would be interested in the photos from Oulton as the car has been in America and repainted. Have heard of peter denty and will give him a call when i have understood more of the questions i need to ask

Nick,

Chassis 372 012 is a very early GRD - I believe either the second or third chassis built. Unfortunately I don't have a note of whose car this particular chassis was.
However, if it was originally a Continental-based 372 the possibilities are:-
1)the car raced by Bengt Gilhorn in 1972, which was, I believe, returned to the UK and raced/sprinted by Richard Wallinger, or
2)one of two early-built 372s sold to Switzerland and raced by Jo Vonlanthen and Hans-Peter Hoffmann.

I've sent you a PM re. the Oulton Photos of the Ribiero 374.

ADAM

Nick [and Adam]

372-012 would be the third car built.
010 the works test car later run in F3 by Sutcliffe
011 the first FB run by McConnell in New Zealand

GRD were incredibly good at telling the press when they sold cars [even when they hadn't!] and going through Autosport the earliest announced orders are

Gilhorn [January]
Hanspeter Hoffmann [Feb]
Rolf Zumstein [Feb] These two would be the Vonlanthen cars.
Reystan for Kazu Kuwajima [March]
Reystan for Riccardo Achcar [a 272 probably never delivered][March]
Martin Watson [FB March]
Keichi Tahara [a works car] [April, don't think he ever drove it]
Marcello Gallo [April]
Fernando Spreafico [April]
McConnell also ordered a new B72 for the Canadian season with the intention of taking this with his older car which was intended for Jacques Couture. Don't know if this happened or whether Watson ended up with chassis 010.

On the basis of this timing I'd say there was a good chance of 012 being the Gilhorn car if it has some Swedish history.

Chris

Chris

many thanks for the information, the car is currently in Sweden, hopefully about to be shipped to the uk.When it arrives it may come with some additional information, but your note is a fantastic start

many thanks again

Nick

Hello

Below are some links to some pictures of a Norwegian GRD 373 wich races in our series. I don't know much about it, It's raced by Petter Huse and has a Nova motor.

Regards
Henrik RF85 #50

http://www.classicformula.se/kinnekulle22/index.htm
http://www.classicformula.se/gellerasen2/index.htm
http://www.classicformula.se/gellerasen22/index.htm
http://www.classicformula.se/mantorpfinal/index.htm

Henrik

many thanks for the link contains useful photos, particularly for the nose on the 374.The 372 has been garaged for at least 10 years

regards

Nick

Nick/Chris,

I agree with Chris that the Gilhorn 372 is the most likely car. As far as I can now remember my link of Wallinger's car to this car was because his car was said to be "ex-Sweden".

Chris re. the other cars in your list :

I assume Kuwajima was Masami Kuwashima, who raced a Reystan 372 in 72.

Achar never appeared in a 272 (or any other GRD)

Tahara's car WAS a works car. He appeared at least 3 times in UK races in 72.

Gallo and Spreafico's cars were 023 and 026

ADAM

Nick

For chassis 012 could you tell us exactly what's on the plate?

The fact that it's been in America has set me thinking.

Chris

Chris,

I think it's Nick's ex Ribiero 374 that has been in the U.S., not the 372 012.

ADAM

Thats correct, Adam beat me to it

That's a relief. I was wondering for a moment if 012 might have been McConnells car which was supposed to go to Canada for Atlantic racing later in 72. There was a GRD B72 appeared in 1973 in Canada, which I guess is the second McConnell car sold on.

Chris

There are 5 of these cars over here.

Two in Australia , both owned by the Norton brothers in Northern N.S.W.
Both are devoid of chassis plates , both appear to be extremely original F3 cars , and correspondence from Classic Team G.R.D. Mr. Ekkehard Krause in Germany suggest one may be 373-053-F3, the engine in this car is an originall GRD unit that has been with the car since purchase from the U.K. 1985 , Numbers are , Block CBB599 , and Cylinder head BVBH,GRD, 293 F3.
The other Norton car is unknown .

Via my business , I sold gearbox components to a New Zealand man , who advised he had 3 GRD F3 cars , purchased from S.E. Asia a few years ago , which either had/were being used as driving school cars , no other details known to myself.
According to the Classic Team GRD correspondence , the car in the Donnington Museum is not the ex Roger Williamson car , but a replica built up by GRD and presented to Donnington for their assistance, and the actual Williamson car was for sale in Ireland some time later.

Also advised was the fact that GRD built some very sophisticated simulators mouted on trailers for fun fairs etc. and these used proper components and overlife tubs etc.

Sorry about lack of hard information in the way of chassis numbers.
One of the Norton cars was purchased by Mr. Andy MacGregor from the U.K. before resale to Bill Norton.

Bryan.

At least two GRDs found their way to SE Asia in period, and may even have been new cars. These were raced 1973 Singapore GP by Silitonga and Wiano and are described as 272s but new built end season. They were certainly running as FB/Atlantic spec with t/c engine, but you could also do that with a F3 GRD as a number of people [Robin Smythe/Tony Rouff etc] did in UK.

I had thought that they might be ex works F2 cars from 72, but all but one of those is accounted for in 73.

These might be the basis of at least some of the cars owned by Bryan's New Zealand guy.

Chris

Hello
I believe that there is 2 more 1973 cars in Norway. one for restoration owned by owner of car in red/white car and anotherone that is ready but havn't raced in 5-6years

Henrik

now have more info on the 372,it was sold by GRD on the 8/12/71 to a mr john watson (alas not that one) and raced by his son Martin Watson mainly at snetterton,it was sold without an engine but with an exhaust system for a BDA! if anyone comes across any references please let me know as i have found nothing so far

Nick

I'm sure the Watson GRD was yellow, yes it did race at Snett often, F.Libre etc.

Nick,

Martin Watson raced his car in Libre and a few Atlantic races, from 1972 to 1974. I have a couple of photos of it, plus a (probably incomplete) list of appearances.
I'll contact you when I return from Goodwood.

ADAM

Hi, I am also looking for information about 273 F2 077. I think that was Hiroshi Kazatos car.

I don't have an 077 on my (incomplete) list
But I do have Kazato in 054

Originally posted by Adam Ferrington
Nick,

Martin Watson raced his car in Libre and a few Atlantic races, from 1972 to 1974. I have a couple of photos of it, plus a (probably incomplete) list of appearances.
I'll contact you when I return from Goodwood.

ADAM

Adam, any pictures you can post on here. Martin W was pretty quick from memory in that car. He later had a March 77B, or that was how it was described anyway, and again he went reasonably well in it. Very nicely turned out as I recall, not like some of the rather scruffy Marches out at that time.

Znafrg,

My GRD list also lists Kazato's 273 as 054, with nothing for 077.
The F1 Register's record show 273 077 as the F2 car of Brendan McInerney, which was also run by the works along with Kazato. McInerney appeared 9 times in 1972, with the car being raced in the end of season race at Estoril by Noritake Takahara.

Dan,

I've lent my (2) Watson photos to Nick.......there is one clear photo which I'll post once I get them back.

ADAM

Hello David, hello Adam,
many thanks for the information.
Franz (znarfg)

Nick

In the history you've managed to gather for the Watson car, do the names of Adrian Russell or Terry Fisher crop up? Both these guys had BDA engined GRD 372s and there weren't that many in existence in the UK. One is probably Robin Smythe's late season F3 converted to Atlantic in 1973 and the other could well be yours.

Chris

I recall the Fisher car occasionlly in Indylantic over here in '76. I presumed this was the one Russell later used in Libre, from 77 onwards, before he got his Lola. Also, Alan Clennell had one about this time, was this the same as the Fisher/Russell car ?

Wasn't Clennell running on the hills?
The problem is that the Fisher and Russell cars appear together in 76, or at least in the same entry list so have to have different provenances.

The Watson car would be one likely source of a BDA engined GRD, the converted F3 car of Smythe is likely to be the other

Chris

Chris, Clennell entered in a 'GRD B73 1600 BDA' at Mallory April 76, and started evidently. Also entered at S'stone, 4-7-76, the "John Lepp/Ensign lap record" race. Don't know whether he started. Next I have him entered at Mall agian on July 25, also that race, Russell entered in a 'GRD372 Swindon 1600'. Russell finished 5th, no knowledge of Clennell. AR definitely started the Indylantic at Mall that year, in the 372, no other GRD entries.

In early 77 I have AR in the Lola T450/460 at S'stone in April, no mention of any GRD. That June M Watson is out in a 'GRDB72 1600', same race AR in the Lola again.

Finally that year, Mall on Sept 18, has AR in the Lola, Watson in his 'B72', and, at last, Fisher in a '372 Swindon'.

So... I reckon the Russell car was the one that Fisher later had, and the Watson one is completely separate. I don't see that the Clennell one goes to AR, TF or MW. is this clear? !!!

Don't you just hate it when history refuses to conform to theory!

Dan, many thanks. Didn't realise that Watson kept his car so long. That takes it right out of the equation as you say.

I now know that Clennell's car was 054, actually a 273, originally run for Kazato and McInerney in F2 and then used by Chris Oates and various rentadrivers in Atlantic in 73. He kept it until at least 1978.

The problem now is that we have two BDA engined "372s" going in 1976 which are distinct entities, in addition to the Watson car.
We have Russell and Dave Saunders, who appears in Indyatlantic at the same time as Russell. Now unless Saunders borrows Clennell's car - which is a possibility - there are another car in circulation.
The other question is one of misattribution. I don't know what happened to Doug Thompson's 273-051 [an ex Williamson car] after 1974. Does anyone know what became of this one?

Chris, re Scottish GRDs. I presume 'Robin Smythe' was actually our old mate Robin Smith, of Smith & Jones fame ? I remember the Doug Thomson car from reports, I think his backer was "Thistle Metallics" a very evocative name I always thought !

Hello
I'm about to restore a GRD 372 F3 and I'm also interested of the cars History

In 1973 it was raced in UK by Mo Harness

5'th at Cadwell park 10th of sept 1972 in a "GRD-Leabro 372"

It was sold to Jan Ridell in Sweden mid season 1973 who raced it in 1973.

Any recollection of Mo Harness?

Henrik

Yes! Mo Harness was a very quick driver who came up from the then usual FF route to enter F3 in 1972 with an old Brabham BT28 powered by a home built engine. He ran on a very small budget but despite that he was very competitive. He came from Spilsby in Lincolnshire, in England. Unfortunately, I don't recall why he didn't go any further than F3, although I guess lack of money must have had something to do with it. A lost talent, I think.

HH

According to the British magazine Motoring News, Harness' car went to Jac Nelleman early in 1973. He may have sold it on to Ridell. Do you have any more details on the history, 1973 on?

Also, does the car have a plate? From the date of its first appearance it can only be one of a few cars, but we don't have it noted anywhere in Adam Ferrington's excellent GRD records from the time. At a guess it would be chassis 31.

I've got most of the results for the car in 1972 backed up in a hard drive somewhere, and will dig them out for you

chris

Hello
Yes it's #10
The owner made some research and It is said that Ridell bought the car from Mo in 1973 equiped with a Vegatune 1600
Ridell raced it during 73
For 1974 the car was sent to GRD to be updated to 2000cc spec he didn´t get the car back until mid season -74 and did 4-5 races
He built his own BMW engine for it for 1975
He sold the car mid season -76 to Dikberg wo cxrashed it in -77 then sold on whitout engine.
The car now has a new monocouqe.


Ch #18 Bengt Gilhorn car sold new by Wendels
Ch #47 Hasse Wengstre sold new by Wendels
Ch #48 Anders Olofsson
Ch #49 Raced in period by Håkan Alrikson car might be in Norway

#10 and #18 is 1972
#47, #48 and #49 is 1973

Henrik

HH.

That it's 10 is rather interesting. It seems that GRD series began at 010 and if so, this was the original 1972 car raced by Sutcliffe and then became the team spare in early 72. So at some point in mid season it got sold to Harness rather than him buying a new car. This fits with what Dan says about his finances.

I think the first three cars are
010: F3 prototype raced late 72 by Sutcliffe then works early to mid 73
011: FB/F2 prototype raced in US by McConnell, taken to Tasman and then back to UK. Maybe taken to Canada by McConnell in 73.
012: First customer car for Martin Watson, UK F.Atlantic - see GRD thread elsewhere on this forum

BUT: I'm going to have to go and check when Harness first appears in the car, because it got rented out by the works as late as August when according to Autosport Roger Williamson used it after crashing the Wheatcroft car at Oulton, and he also used it at Silverstone in May.

It may be that there is some March style plate switching going on here. If not, you've got a car with a great history.

Also, what is the source of your other chassis numbers?
Was Wengstre an entrant rather than a driver, because we have a contemporary record for 047 as driven by Ingvar Carlsson in 73.
Same record notes 048 as Gunnar Nordstrom, but I agree car goes to Olofsson for the 1975 season.

018 is the problem, because F1 Register [admittedly unreliable] gives this as a F2 car raced by Claude Bourgoignie

Chris

Very Interesting!

Chris,

I agree that we should assume (at this stage) that Bourgoignie's F2 car was 018 per F1R. I saw this car at the last Crystal Palace F2 in 72, and I must have read 018 as 010 (easily done!). As its first appearance wasn't until 72 this probably fits.

This would make 010 a GRD works F3 "hack" used by various drivers until allocated to Harness in July 72 (his first appearance was at Brands on 14/7). I'm sure my association of this car with Nellemann would be from a contemporary "bit" in either MN or Autosport, as Nellemann didn't visit the UK in 73 with the car, so I couldn't have seen it.

re. 011 - As you know my records show this as the original F3 car used by Sutcliffe in 71 at Brands and Lydden and then used by Sutcliffe and Williamson. I saw this car at Oulton several times.

As we now know, 012 was Watson's Atlantic car - as you say the first customer car.

Adam

My source for Nelleman is probably the same as yours here! I'll look it up in my 1973 notebook tonight, but I think it's MN.

My point about plate switching concerned the Bourgoignie car, because at one point F1R have it as 010 too! But we know that to have been the plate on Sutcliffe's car that became the hack. However, if 010 goes to Harness in July, what does Williamson drive at Oulton in August? AS thinks it's the hack car he used at Silverstone [from my memory of reading the report a couple of months ago]. Is there another spare car for GRS.
For cars that appeared in 1972 there are only six numbers in the series missing. [Assuming Smythe's 036 which doesn't appear till October to be the last one of the racing season, and all the others appear well before that]
We don't know the numbers of

Hans Peter Hoffmann
Rolf Zumstein
Bengt Gilhorn [18 suspect?]
GRS car for Keichi Tahara
Wheatcroft for Williamson
David McConnell's new car for 1972 [if it wasn't 011 rebuilt]
Sutcliffe's replacement for 010 as regular car
A spare car replacing 010 as hack
8 cars

These are the missing numbers
13 maybe not built
17
19
27
28
29
31
32 appears spring 73 with Larry Perkins so there must be a press comment somewhere about its source.

Also, the GRS car 030 which appears in September for Ian Taylor and Barry Maskell must have an earlier life in someone's hands, given that 33 & 34 appear in July. Is this Sutcliffe's second car?
8 numbers available if 13 not built!

Chris

Re. the 73 F3 cars in Sweden.........

Yes, 047 was raced by Ingvar Carlsson for Hans Wangstre Racing. According to my records he kept it at least until 1975.

048 was raced by Nordstrom in 73 and 74 and by Anders Oloffsson in 75 (I saw it at the Silverstone BGP F3 in July 75).

Re. Alriksson, I have him appearing in a GRD (presumably the same car) in Sweden in 73 and At Nurburgring and Knutsdorp in 74 and 75.

Correction re. my previous post on the early 72 cars....Bourgoignie's car must remain a mystery if Harness's was 010 AND Gilhorn's was 018.

The mystery is Jan Ridell's 1973 F3 appearances. I don't have anything for him in my 73 records and neither do the F1 Register.
Henk, was he definitely a driver, and not just an entrant?

Henk, I will PM you what I have on Harness's car's UK appearances.

ADAM

I don't have Ridell in 73 either. He does appear in a GRD in 1974 entered by Autosport Cypressvaegen.

Chris

Chris,

Sorry - our postings crossed.

I'll study what programmes (with notes) I have from that time so that we can try to filter my actual observations from what I read in MN or Autosport. I'll see what I come up with.

ADAM

Hello
I'm just reading trough the map I borrowed for the car and There is a clip which presents Hasse Wengstres new F3 which Ingvar Carlsson is supposed to drive apperently this car was modified atumn 1974.
He was sponsored by Duckhams and He qualified 10th at Nürburgring and finished 8th.

The chassis numbers I quoted is from a phone call with SBF and take from old notes about who had registred for the Swedish F3 championchip

The Owner of #10 also have another GRD http://www.classicformula.se/Mantorpfinal2/images/6FNY040925-049_JPG.jpg

I believe he has some more input to the history.

Henrik

Interesting about Roger Williamson's car.Is the chassis number of the genuine one known?

Which Williamson car?
The F2s 273s used in 1973 were 051 and 052. We know 051 was Thompson's
At the end of 1972 he ran 272 016 [ex Kazato] in an Atlantic race.
We don't know [yet...] the chassis number of the 372 Wheatcroft ran in 1972
but Williamson ran 372 - 010 at Silverstone in May, the day after the Monaco meeting - this being the works spare and described in press as the prototype car - and at Oulton in August he again ran GRS's spare car, which we don't know the chassis number of.

Chris. Thanks for the reply. I was actually refering to the post by Bryan Miller about the car in the Donington museum, having only just caught up with reading this thread.

Chris,

From my contemporary notes in race programmes the is the following relating to 1972 cars :-

BH 23/10/71
Sutcliffe 372 011 (NOT 010!)

BH 22/10/72
Ginn 022
GRS/Gerber 024
Vermilio/Sc Italia 026
GRS/Maskell 030
Alan Jones 033
Robin Smythe 036

Silv 7/4/73
Perkins 032
Kuwashima 033

OP 20/4/73
Passadore 021
Ginn 022
Brise 035

OP 27/4/74
Hooper (F4) 034

Silv 19/7/75
Spreafico 023


From this, the F1R (for F2), what we've learned recently re. 010, 012 and 018, this is how I see the 1972 cars :-

10 372 ? GRS 1972, to Harness 1972, to Jan Ridell
11 372 GRS/Sutcliffe 1972,
12 372 Martin Watson
13 Assume not used
14 272 Saloman Switzerland
15 372 ?GRS/Sutcliffe 1972, GRS Passadore 1973
16 272 GRS/Various drivers
17 ?
18 372 Gilhorn 1972, ? Wallinger, Russell
19 ?
20 272 GRS/Ikuzawa 1972, McMaster 1973
21 372 GRS/Rousselot 1972,
22 372 Ginn
23 372 Scuderia Italia 1972
24 372 GRS/Pinhol 1972, Craven 1973
25 372 Reystan/Kuwashima 1972, Macdonald 1973
26 372 Scuderia Italia 1972
27 ?
28 ?
29 ?
30 372 GRS/Maskell/Taylor 1972, Stanton/Knight 1973, Rod Smith 1973
31 ?
32 372 ?GRS 1972, Perkins 1973
33 372 Alan Jones 1972, Kuwashima 1973
34 372 Tim Brise 1972, Gavin Hooper 1974
35 372 Tony Brise 1972, Brise spare 1973
36 372 Rbin Smythe 1972/73

There are at least 6 discrete cars not identified above :-
272 Dave McConnell's Tasman car
272 Dave McConnells FB car (these are more than likely to be one and the same)
372 Swiss F3 Vonlanthen
372 Swiss F3 Hoffmann
372 Williamson 1972, Moffatt 1973
272 Bourgoignie 1972 to 1974
S72 GRD Ikuzawa/Miles

This is very much just a hypothesis.........
One problem is that MCConnell's Tasman car must be an early chassis number, but which?

McConnell's Tasman car was 010, presumably the same car he had been using since the previous September.
I also have 014-F2 for Roland Binder in 1972 (in F2) and 020-F2 for Ikuzawa (in F3).
Were the 272s and 372s numbered in the same sequence?

David,

Thanks.

Yes the 272s and 372 (and all later GRD's) were all one numbering sequence, as with Ralt later.

If McConnell's Tasman car was 010 (I'm assuming you observed that number), which fits given it was the second ever GRD to race, then the number 10 given by Henk for the Mo Harness F3 car either implies that GRD converted MCConnell's Tasman car to an F3 on its return from Aus/NZ this becoming Harness's F3 car in mid-72 and McConnell's 1972 FAt/FB car was a later chassis OR McConnell's car was 010 throughout its life in Tasman/FAt/FB and Harness car was another number.
You refer to McConnell first using his car in September 71. Do you have more details?

Roland Binder ran a Brabham BT36 in 1972 F2 - where did he appear in a GRD?

I can only find Ikuzawa running in F2 in 1972, but his car was 020.

Thanks again,

Adam

McConnell ran the first GRD FB car at the end of 71 in the US FB series.
Like you I presumed this to be 010. MN describes the car McConnell takes to the Tasman series as the first GRD built - which tallies with our supposition about the series starting with 10.
AS says that the car is returned to the UK after this. McConnell is to get a new car to take to N.America for 1973 while the older car is to be refitted as an FB for Jacques Couture.

McConnell is entered for the Atlantic race at Snetterton on 31.3.72 but DNA.
[This is the first programme I've got for 72 so there may be earlier...] Again DNA at Brands 15.4
Martin Watson's 012 appears in both races.
McConnell does appear in Canadian FB races in 1972 using a B72, which clearly has to be a new car, given that 010 now appears to be an F3 car! But Couture uses a Lotus and no other GRDs seem to appear in N.America that year

I think this makes a kind of sense.
010 McConnell 1971 then Tasman. Returned to works for rebuild for Couture. Deal falls through. Rebuilt as F3 for Harness then to Scandanavia
011 Sutcliffe 1971, then early 1972 F3. Then works hack.
This fits observations. What happened to 011 after 72 still a mystery.
012 First customer car for Watson.

McConnell's second FB car [B72] seems to go to Dick Doran in 1973 and a new B73 appears in May for John Milledge in US and Harry Stiller runs one for Bev Bond in UK.

Chris

Originally posted by Adam Ferrington
David,

Thanks.

Yes the 272s and 372 (and all later GRD's) were all one numbering sequence, as with Ralt later.

If McConnell's Tasman car was 010 (I'm assuming you observed that number), which fits given it was the second ever GRD to race, then the number 10 given by Henk for the Mo Harness F3 car either implies that GRD converted MCConnell's Tasman car to an F3 on its return from Aus/NZ this becoming Harness's F3 car in mid-72 and McConnell's 1972 FAt/FB car was a later chassis OR McConnell's car was 010 throughout its life in Tasman/FAt/FB and Harness car was another number.
You refer to McConnell first using his car in September 71. Do you have more details?

Roland Binder ran a Brabham BT36 in 1972 F2 - where did he appear in a GRD?

I can only find Ikuzawa running in F2 in 1972, but his car was 020.

Thanks again,
Yes, the number for McConnell's Tasman car comes from first-hand (eye?)observation.
Can't now remember where my September 1971 reference originally came from, but it does tie in with Chris's notes.
I may well be mistaken about Ikuzawa being in F3(after all, 2 and 3 are next to each other on the keyboard!)

Hello
This car http://www.classicformula.se/Mantorpfinal2/images/6FNY040925-049_JPG.jpg
is 373#47 ex Hasse Wengstre/Ingvar Carlsson and have been in Norway since the 70's
373#49 have been and still is in Norway and for sale

There is another 373#47 currently beeing restored in Sweden but it has a different history to #47 in Norway tis is said to have been raced by among others Stefan (Lill Lövis) Johansson

Henrik

Hello
I seems that the Swedish importer Wendels imported a few cars as spares to avoid sales tax which were built up as full cars. The 2nd #47 is probably one of these, both cars has chassis plates and full history.
Henrik

Chris,

Yes, I agree with what you say about McConnell's first car.
I also have a note that it was "returned to England to be converted to F Atlantic spec to be raced by Tom Walkinshaw". This would be an Autosport or MN quote.
We know that Walkinshaw never appeared in such a car.
I have McConnell appearing twice in F Atlantic, 31/3 at Brands and 15/4 at Snetterton.
I have his first FB appearance as 7 May at Laguna Seca.

Re. your comment about Bev Bond's Stiller F.Atlantic GRD :-1) Do you know its number?
2) I have a photo of a similar car At Silverstone in 1976 being raced by one Peter Vincent. Have you come across him and is this the Stiller car?

Chris,

I've just come accross something which maybe corroborates the theory that MCConnell's F.At became Harness's GRD.......

The early 1972 F.Atlantic programmes show MCConnell's car livery as Green and Yellow.

Harness's F3 car when it appears is also shown as Green & Yellow. Normal GRD/GRS works colours were Maroon and grey, similar to their badge.

Not conclusive proof, but..

Adam

Re McConnell's 1972 races in Britain, he does actually appear at Snetterton on 31.3 and gets taken off on lap one!. In the copy of the Brands programme I have for 15.4 he is marked as N/A and doesn't show on the very full grid written in on it.

I also realise that I have confused McConnell's 72 appearances with the 1971 season! I'm now not sure McConnell does race the car in the US in late 71. [Some of my records are now incomplete after my laptop got swiped last month and I hadn't backed up the recent work I'd done on 1971 US] It might well be that the Tasman is the debut for this car.

Chris

Chris,

My Brands note for McConnell comes from my GRD records where it simply says "R" for retired. I would have based what I had on AU/MN, but your marked programme sounds more reliable.

According to my records McConnell's GRD first raced at Pukekohe on 8 Jan. 1972. As far as I know Sutcliffe was the on person to race a GRD in 1971 (2 F3 appearances).

Hallo,
I´m the owner of GRD375 with chassinr 0047K. The car has a special front rolloverbar made by Wängstre and a bodywork as used on -75 cars.
Q 1: what is the K standing for in the chassinr. ?
Q 2: what is the chassinr. of the car standing in the garage of Stefan Johanssons father ?
If any one have are intrested in photos of the GRD raced by some Brasilian guy send me a mail, I also know where the Lancia engine ar for the Italian car.

Bjorn

Questions to Adam and Chris!

Thanks for the information abouth my GRD #10 and#47. Henk is restoring #10 and he told me to check out this forum and all the wise people visiting the forum.

Have you agreed regards #10. Who drowe the car and where. It would be nice to restor it back to original. Was it a F2/FA/FB or a F3 Can anyone find some pictures of the car when it was new? As I understand it was painted Green and Yellow when Harness drowe it at Brands 14-15.7.72. Is it possible that some could have pictures of it when it was new?

Thanks

Petter

Off topic slightly but just spotted the name, Mo Harness. Not old enough to remember him in his prime but I do in Pre'85 FF1600 in 1991. I remember him being very fast in a Reynard FF84 and an absolute gent. Nice to see him mentioned.

Petter,

I sent Henrik a scan of the one (Harness) photo I have.

http://img67.exs.cx/img67/502/HarnessGRDBrandsHatch15July1972a.th.jpg (http://img67.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img67&image=HarnessGRDBrandsHatch15July1972a.jpg)

I have never seen a photo of McConnell's Tasman car.

When I next visit the LAT photo library, I'll see if they have anything clearer

I have the programme for the F Atlantic race at Brands 5th March 72 McConnell is a dna. Watson is 11th after qualifying 15th.

Might this be the first Williamson F3 car, the 372 run by Wheatcroft?
In 1975 Richard Wallinger appears in F. Libre races in a 372 with a BDA engine. The car is red and white - as the Wheatcroft car was - and Wallinger came from Hinkley in Leicestershire which is, I think, within shouting distance of Donington. Quite what he'd be doing with it, since Wheatcroft had his museum up and running for a while by then and presumably wanted to show Williamson's car, is another matter.
Dan! This one is in your area, know anything about Wallinger?

Petter.
I think that Adam and I are agreed that 010 was the prototype FB/Atlantic car used by David McConnell in the Tasman series, so its history is limited to those few races at the beginning of 1972. It then came back to the UK and may have been used a few more times by McConnell in the British Atlantic series. It is then converted to F3 spec and sold to Harness.

It looks as though 011 was the works F3 spare and prototype car.

RAP: Would it be possible to have a copy of the 5/3/72 Atlantic programme to update material for oldracingcars.com ?- this is one of the few gaps in 1972.
Do you have more?

Chris

Chris, I recall Wallinger as being a 1-litre Saloon man, with an Anglebox I think, then a 'wild' Imp of some sort. You're right re Hinckley/Donington, they're about 15 miles apart. Whether Dick W ever had any connexion with Tom W I don't know I'm afraid. From dim and distant, did that Libre GRD have a really outlandish rear wing, hung out miles the car? This doesn't really help I know on the link between his and the Williamson car, but good memories all the same !

Nick: With respect to Alex Ribeiro's 374, I believe that I have that car in the US, and am interested in comparing our respective histories. My 374 traces back to Jim Fikse of Seattle. Fikse first had conversations with Tom Wheatcroft about the car, although it actually belonged to Brian Henton, and understood it to be Ribeiro's '74 GRD (which took 6th place at Monaco); I believe Wheatcroft was merely a match-maker in the deal. The car was imported by Michael Gue, who remembers the transaction and confirms all this. I later spoke with Alex Ribeiro in San Paulo, who explained the situation: Alex and Brian Henton had finished the '74 season, Alex was heading to March for 1975. Brian wanted to buy Alex's transporter; Alex was willing to sell, and Brian eventually bought the transporter, including Alex's GRD 374 and all the spares. Fikse went on to convert the car to FC SCCA Specs (1100 cc BDJ Cosworth).

I later sent pictures of the car to Peter Denty. Peter confirms the car as a '74 chassis but with some "upgrades" to the front suspension. Peter recalls that these "upgrades" were put on Alex's car during the '74 season, as he was the only GRD driver with a shot at beating Henton, so the factory was supporting him to some extent. Peter is fairly certain that my 374 is the Ribeiro car. The chassis is presently in the configuration that Alex ran the latter part of the '74 season: "upgraded" ('75) front upper A-arms, '75 sportcar nose, "cone" housing for the rear wing support; these details can be seen on the F3 History site photos.

Nick, I'd like to hear your evidence so that we may settle this question.

Bob Darcey
Colorado, USA

I can confirm that Henton owned the Ribeiro 374 in 1975, it ran with Derek Cook in Monaco and Mike Tyrrell at Brands the next weekend.

In 1996 a GRD with the plate 72-030-FB was sold at Coys Silverstone.

This number was noted by Adam Ferrington on an F3 car raced by Ian Taylor and Barrie Maskell in 1972, a car which was retained by John Stanton in 1973 and then sold to Rod Smith.

Does anyone know where the car is now?
Does anyone have the Coys catalogue with any history of the car
Why had it got an FB designation on the plate?

Hello
I got a mail from Håkan Alrikson with some of the history on 373 #49

In 1973 he bought a rolling chassis from Wendels
The engine came from Bengt Gilhorns 1972 car a Holbay 1600.
He ended up as 3rd in SM 1973

For 1974 he bought a new chassis at the factory and rebuilt it as a 1974 at the factory, went to Holbay and got a new 2liter pinto and then off to Nürburgring!

Next race was at Knutstorp and then Monaco where he crashed the car.

The car was the rebuilt with the old monocouqe and raced during 1974 and -75

The car was sold to Ebbe Karlsson Who did some races
Car sold on to Björn Almström who restored it and did som e club races with SSK and then sold it on to Norway.


Henrik

Hello Henrik, I have a question: the Nürburgring race was May 18, where Alriksson finished 22nd (and last), and the Monaco race was May 25. When would the Knutstorp race have been? Also, did he crash in the Monaco final or in practice or a qualifying heat?

I have an engine question: the '74 F3 engine rules allowed 2 liter displacement, and many cars used Novamotor-prepped engines with Lotus T/C heads and sandwich plates to accept the longer stroke required. Question is, what bore and stroke was commonly used, and what was the thickness of the sandwich plate? Also, I see some 1974 results at F3 History describing some motors as "Pinto"; was the 2 liter overhead-cam Pinto used in F3 in 1974??

272 - 019 - F2 is currently for sale in Canada. Some information from the ad may be useful as it states the car was brought to Canada in 1974 by McConnell Racing as part of a 3-car group.

Following is from the ad:

According to the car's log book, it was brought into Canada in 1974 which would indicate that it was new or virtually new. It was brought in by McConnell Racing and was part of a three car group they brought in for the Formula "B" series. The car was purchased by the current owner in May 1978.

It was purchased as a Formula “B” rolling chassis complete with two spare engine frame sections and a single Hewland Transmission (Hewland FT-200 five-speed) with a number of spare ratios. It has two sets of wheels one for dry tires and one for wet.

The chassis is equipped with duel fuel cells in the side pods, dual master cylinder brakes with adjustable bias bar, fire system and duel fuel pumps. The suspension is completely finished with fully adjustable spherical joints. A second smaller roll bar was added in the cockpit in front of the driver to give added protection.

As a Formula “B” all the bodywork is complete including a front wing and two rear wings one for high speed and one for slower speed.

As a Sports Racer it has a complete wheel enclosing body. This body was cast for endurance racing, specifically the Molyslip Endurance Series where it would be competing with both sports-cars and sedans under the then single seat sports racing, class "B" rules. The body was designed by Robert Giannou and built at Triad Racing in St. John’s Newfoundland. It was made more substantial so as to give side additional impact protection. Removable side pods were designed to be collision absorbing as well as to hold the stepped out radiators. The side pods for the sports racing version can be removed and the formula body fitted in less than a half a day. The radiators just step back to their original mounts. Both rear wings are adapted to the sports racing body. The four body molds are also available.

The chassis comes with two 1600 ford crossflow engines. One is equipped with a Cosworth head and Cosworth pistons.

The car was completely tested but never raced by the present owner.

Although the car has been stored in a dry heated garage since 1980 you can expect that the car will need some TLC before hitting the track again. We can provide restoration services if requested by the winning bidder.

Spares: There is a fairly good selection of final and individual drive ratios with the transmission. and I have the ful manuel on it with all of the ratios and speed curves. There is a spare set of rear chassis frames with the vehicle but no spare suspension pieces. There are two sets of wheels and two wings high speed and low speed.

According to the info we have, the vehicle was built by Modus Group Racing Developments in Griston, Norfolk, United Kingdom. The chassis number is plated as 272 - 019 - F2. There is space for engine and transmission numbers but the spaces are not, nor have ever been stamped. Our read of the number is as follows: 2 = type of chassis 72 = year of production, -019 is the unit production number, F-2 = Formula 2 rules which was the source class of a lot of the Formula B's that came into North America.

This is very interesting , to say the least!
Number 19 in the GRD build run was never observed in the UK at the time by Adam Ferrington, who seems to have found virtually everything that did run here. This would suggest it to be either an F3 that went abroad, a spare F2 or an FB car.
From the known debut dates of the cars around it, 19 looks like it would be an April 72 production. This fits with it being the new car that was built for David McConnell to take to the Canadian and US championships in 1972. It is perhaps the car that McConnell ran in a few British Atlantic rounds in spring 72, rather than his Tasman chassis 11, which now seems to have been converted to F3 and eventually gone to Mo Harness.

McConnell runs a GRD 272 in Canada and US through 1972. I haven't yet found a reference to another GRD appearing in 1972 in N.American FB races. According to Canadian Motorsports Bulletin for 1973 [thanks to Rob North!] that car passed to Richard Doran of Montreal who seems to keep it up to 1976. Only one GRD [a B73] seems to go to US in 1973, for John Milledge of California.

I'm not sure how McConnell might be importing this to Canada in 1974 - unless he is hoovering a few cars up cheap from the works for the Canadian FB/Atlantic series then. This log book entry would suggest the car was a spare F2 car and didn't appear much in the N.American pro series. So, some more scrutiny of log book and known history might be useful. If there is a way of linking ownership back to Doran, or to the Montreal area, it might be that we've solved the problem of McConnell's 1972 car.

Chris

I have never seen a photo of McConnell's Tasman car.


Hi all

Scanning aimlessly through the Autopics F5000 section last night, I came across this and wondered if it is the car in question?

http://www.autopics.com.au/cache/item-1141public.html?cache=no

If for any reason this doesn't work, it is in the F5000 section, 1972, first shot on the second row. If you click on it, a marginally bigger version comes up...

Incidentally, further aimless scanning last night found that 272-014 (the ex-Salomon car) is apparently for sale on www.carclassic.com

The advert for 272-014 coincidentally confirms the F1R's records of Saloman's car.
This would seem to mean that 272-019 can only be :-

One of the 2 works F2s (but the GRS car was 016 and Ikuzawa's was 020)
Bourgoignie' F2 car (but that ran until at least 1974)
OR McConnell's 1972 FB car.

As Chris says, McConnell's 1972 FB car is the most likely candidate, although this doesn't gel with a 1974 importation date.

Adam,
Having just purchased the GRD 272-019-F2 I can tell you that it has green and yellow original bodywork, a old looking period dash placque with the above serial number still in position. The car has been stored in a heated garage in Newfoundland since 1978, never raced and only done limited track time by the last owner. Once I get it home I will share some photos.
Mike

Also the owner is not at all sure about the 1974 date as previously stated for the McConnell importation to Canada. The bodywork still has the #86 on it, which Dave McConnell is listed as using in some races I see.
Anyway more to follow as I do some cleanup on it.
Mike

Mike,

The green & yellow colour is, I believe, in line with it being McConnell's car.

Also, this is a photo of him from the 1972/73 Autocourse annual....

http://img113.exs.cx/img113/6831/mcconnellgrd0016uk.th.jpg (http://img113.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img113&image=mcconnellgrd0016uk.jpg)

No. 86!

Adam,
Hey thanks, you made my day !
Plus I spoke to Richard Doran tonight, who is still living in Montreal and I have arranged to meet next weekend. He purchased the car from Dave McConnell in he belives late 1973, and it was green and yellow. There is one other Montreal owner inbetween Doran and the Newfoundland owner, who I am looking for.
Doran said Dave had two cars and still had the other when he bought this one. The other may well have been 029-273 !! according to some of the doccumentation.
It should be interesting meeting with Doran as he is going to dig out his old information.
Mike

Mike,

Glad the info helped.

Would be very interested in any details of the "other" car - "029" is currently a gap in my records.

Mike

Agree totally with Adam about the colour scheme pointing to it being McConnell's 1972 car
However, whilst 029 is a gap in the records, as Adam says, I'm a bit perplexed about what McConnell is doing with it in early 73 when he sells this car to Doran. He raced a TS15 Surtees in Europe in 1973 and unless he bought this in and sold it on to John Milledge in California to become his B73 I can't think where it went. So, waiting further details on that with anticipation!

Chris

The Allan Clennell B73 of the mid-70s anyone ??

Dan

Clennell's car was 273-054 the ex Kazato F2 chassis that passed to Chris Oates and was used by a variety of rent-a-drivers in Atlantic

Chris

Adam,
Hey thanks, you made my day !
Plus I spoke to Richard Doran tonight, who is still living in Montreal and I have arranged to meet next weekend. He purchased the car from Dave McConnell in he belives late 1973, and it was green and yellow. There is one other Montreal owner inbetween Doran and the Newfoundland owner, who I am looking for.
Doran said Dave had two cars and still had the other when he bought this one. The other may well have been 029-273 !! according to some of the doccumentation.
It should be interesting meeting with Doran as he is going to dig out his old information.
Mike

How sure is Doran about the 'late 73' date? The only reason I ask is that I have come across a car which might be a potential second car for Dave McConnell, although it may not add up at all...

In round 4 of the John Player Formula Atlantic series (Snetterton April 14th 1974), Dave Walker makes an appearance in what Motoring News describes as 'a brand new GRD B74 powered by an SRE unit. This yellow and green car showed much promise...' The words yellow and green caught my eye, particularly as in an earlier MN (can't find it at the mo!) there was an announcement to the effect that he would be running a GRD in the North American Formula Atlantic series. He appears again in a 374 (B74?) in the May round but then disappears, presumably to the US? Does anybody know what chassis number this might be and whether this ultimately ended up with McConnell?

Michael

Walker's car was the Ken Swanson Racing B74. I don't yet know the chassis number but am working on it. The problem with the claim to be going to run in the North American series in 1974 is that in the end there wasn't a championship that year. There were only two 'pro' races in USA [Waterford Hills and Watkins Glen GP support race] and there was the Canadian series. I doubt that he would have gone to run in SCCA. Walker definitely doesn't appear in the Canadian series in 74 - Doran's ex McConnell chassis is the only GRD, when it qualifies. Walker's definitely not at the Glen either. That only leaves the relatively minor Waterford Hills event. [the one pro event in N. America in 74 where I don't have an entry list]

I think that the Swanson car might have ended up being converted to F2 spec and not run there either! By mid 74 GRD was getting into a bit of a mess.
On the basis of its position in the build run and the appearance dates of cars whose chassis numbers we don't yet know [negative induction!] I'd reckon that 273-029 should be 372-029 [ie 1972 build] since 030 is seen in Sept 72 and 033 and 034 as early as July. The likely candidates for it would be Sutcliffe's second works car, Keichi Tahara's works car or Williamson's car.

Michael

Walker's car was the Ken Swanson Racing B74. I don't yet know the chassis number but am working on it. The problem with the claim to be going to run in the North American series in 1974 is that in the end there wasn't a championship that year. There were only two 'pro' races in USA [Waterford Hills and Watkins Glen GP support race] and there was the Canadian series. I doubt that he would have gone to run in SCCA. Walker definitely doesn't appear in the Canadian series in 74 - Doran's ex McConnell chassis is the only GRD, when it qualifies. Walker's definitely not at the Glen either. That only leaves the relatively minor Waterford Hills event. [the one pro event in N. America in 74 where I don't have an entry list]

I think that the Swanson car might have ended up being converted to F2 spec and not run there either! By mid 74 GRD was getting into a bit of a mess.
On the basis of its position in the build run and the appearance dates of cars whose chassis numbers we don't yet know [negative induction!] I'd reckon that 273-029 should be 372-029 [ie 1972 build] since 030 is seen in Sept 72 and 033 and 034 as early as July. The likely candidates for it would be Sutcliffe's second works car, Keichi Tahara's works car or Williamson's car.

Hi Chris

Thanks for that. I guess it may have been more likely that he intended to race in Canada in 1974 as I am sure he told me his wife is Canadian and I know he went out there to race a Lola for Robert Joubert's team in 1975. I suppose like many plans, it didn't all work out!

BTW, where did Ken Swanson race: the US? It is not a name I am familiar with.

Hello again.
I have found some information abouth the GRD that Dave McConnel used in the Tasmas series in 1972. Regards the "oldracingcars.com" did McConnel take part in several races. He drove a GRD 272 with chassis number 012 with a Hard BDA 4 engine.
This is not the same result that Chris and Adam found out abouth my 372 010 that was driven by Mo Harness late summer 1972.
Adam and Chris I am still confused about who drowe my 372 010 when it was new and during the 1971 and 1972 season before Harness got it. It seems that maybe McConnel didn`t drowe my car at all. Who did?

Still confused racing driver!

Petter

Hi. Where does the information about McConnell in 012 come from. We have hard evidence that 012 was the car sold new to Martin Watson for F.Atlantic in UK, and that car still exists. [See other thread on GRDs on this site.] Also, 010 was noted as the chassis of McConnell's NZ car by both Motoring News and by David McKinney - and David's record keeping is impeccable.

I'd stand by the theory that Adam and I agreed that this was Mcconnell's car in NZ and then converted to F3 for Harness when a plan to run it in Canada for Jacques Couture fell through

Chris

Hello again!
I checked the site Old racing Cars.com. If you look under F 5000 and under the Tasman series 1972. You will find a lot of information abouth alle the cars taking part in several races in the Tasman series. They say that the informaton where based on informaton for Autosport, Autoweek, the 1972 Racing Car News Yearbook and Australian Grand Prix. There is a lot of information there. I have found out that McConnel almost never made it to the finish. He had a lot of problems with the HART BDA engine.

Best regars Petter

Petter

I think that Allen maybe needs to update that info [which is maybe from a certain book on NZ motorsport - or was it me!]
Anyway - I've just spent a happy day in the company of 1971 Autosport and Motoring News
A/S carries a very full report on the company 30.9.71 pp. 37 - 40
They show a photo of McConnell's car which they say is bound for NZ and decribe it as the first car built
There are a number of photos, in one of which you can see work going on on the prototype 372

14.10.71 A/S says that Martin Watson has ordered the first customer car to race in UK

M/N report is 23.12.71 pp. 6 - 7
It says that McConnell's car was first built and has already left for the Tasman series
The 372 driven by Sutcliffe at the end of the season is tested
Watson's car is seen under construction.

I think this backs up
010 McConnell, returned to UK converted to F3 for Harness
011 Sutcliffe [F3] which stays as works hack car until August at least
012 Watson, new for 1972

The differences of set up between F2/FB/F3 GRD was minimal - it was a matter of different fuel tanks and engine frames.

Chris

Chris, did we say where the Watson car is now, I can't recall ?

Petter

I think that Allen maybe needs to update that info [which is maybe from a certain book on NZ motorsport - or was it me!] No, not Vercoe. I changed it from 010 to 012 a while ago following a discussion on the main GRD thread. I'll defer to you on any Atlantic chassis numbers. Shall I change it back to 010?

Allen

Yesterday I got the results of an obscure Atlantic race at Road America in August 1974. Amongst the retirements was Cliff Hansen in a GRD-BDA entered by Swanson Racing!
It looks as though Bev Bond's car made it to the US, even if he didn't. This is still the only appearance for the car that year [so far] but don't have all the runners from Waterford Hills, where it would also have made sense for it to appear. It's not on the very full entry list at Watkins Glen, so wonder what happened to it.

Chris

Apologies
Meant Dave Walker, not Bev Bond, who also raced GRD FB briefly

I have just purchased a GRD 376 chassis 102. I would like to know its early history. I believe it has spent most of its life in Scandanavia, returning to the UK in the early 90's. It is rumored to have been driven by Slim Borgudd in 76. Any information would be appreciated.

Talk to Peter Denty. He should be able to help you .

Hi Dan

012 is sitting in my garage awaiting a complete rebuild, i have the original bill of sale and the original RAC certificate of conformity together with a letter from AB wild on its authenticity. The car was actually sold to John Watson (Martins Father -bill of sale.but that would be splitting hairs!)

regards

Adam,
The GRD is chassis 019 F2, which was apparently the 'backup' chassis according to Dave McConnell. Other than some tarnish from sitting it is excellent condition. The original car #10 or #11 that Dave drove he said was not changed, he belives it was the same car driven in the Tasman series then brought back to Canada; although he is not 100% about this. Jacques Couture still lives in California and Dave said he ask Jacques about the chassis.
I have purchased a David Wood BDA to put in the GRD as a number of GRD's have a Wood BDA listed, to keep it period correct. So I am looking for more information on the Wood engines.
Mike

How do guys ?

Here are two more GRDs to ad to the group. I'm the owner of "272 020 F2" and "B73 074 FB". 020 is complete and waiting it's turn to be freshened. 074 is in need of a complete restoration. It used to be owned by Willy T. Ribb's father and was (I assume) raced by Willy.

Great to find other GRD owners. brad moore.

Brad

Welcome and great to learn of the existence of another GRD Atlantic.
B73 074 FB would most likely be, I guess, either the John Milledge/Archie
Snider car - which would give the car a west coast history mainly in SCCA
from 73 to 75, or the 1973 DART car allegedly sold to Mike Hiss, though I can't find evidence of this appearing in UK or US. More remote possibility is
that it's the ex Bev Bond car, which would mean US history starts 1974 at
the earliest.

Do you have any back history of 074?

Chris

How do Chris ?

It's the Milledge car. I bought it as part of a deal and am slowly (very) getting all the parts together....still missing some odds and ends. Some of the bits are as hard as Hen's teeth to find........like wheels. It was always a San Francisco Region S.C.C.A. car. I received a record of the previous owners when I bought it. I have the names out at the shop and will send them along when I next get out there.

There are three other cars that I know of out here on this coast.

Do you know of any information sites for GRDs ? Or Books ? I have some period articles but am always looking for more.

Great to hear form you. brad moore.

Brad

That's great and look forward to getting the complete back history of the car.
There aren't any books, or for that matter contemporary articles - as far as I know - on GRD. I guess that this thread is it, based largely upon Adam Ferrington's expertise in gathering GRD chassis nos in the 1970s and keeping the records.

It did occur to me that the GRD build records might be with Van Diemen who took
over the GRD operation in 1976. Has anyone ever looked into this?

Can we discover more about the other 3 west coast cars? I presume that one of these has to be the ex DART car.

Chris

Chris.....

One is is Southern California and the other two that I know of are up north.

The person that owns the two thinks one car is the Wheatcroft/Williamson car. I think not, but maybe............

More info coming. brad.

Brad

Was there a point at which your Milledge car was fitted with a BDA?
It would have been delivered with a t/c for FB in 1973, but by 1975 Milledge was
able to beat Don Briedenbach's March 75B in SCCA, which I would have thought
unlikely if he still had a t/c in the back.

Chris

Hello
I found a Picture of #10 on the front of Autosport 30september 1971 as a F2 with FT400 gearbox with FT200 internals and BDG engine. Car was intended for "Canadian driver John McConnell to take to the Tasman series"

http://hhtech.se/slask/autosport.jpg



Henrik

Anyone need to talk to Milledge? Someone I know was talking with him about a M10A last week.

Allen

Isn't that a great pic. I guess the white coats are meant to signify what a high-tech scientific outfit GRD was. Anyone know who they all are ?

Isn't that a great pic. I guess the white coats are meant to signify what a high-tech scientific outfit GRD was. Anyone know who they all are ?

Left to right: Jo Marquart, Derek Wild, Gordon Huckle, Dave Baldwin. Jo and Dave were both designers but I am not sure who did what - I would guess Jo did the sports cars and Dave the formula cars as Dave had already designed the Lotus 59 and 69, maybe someone with more knowledge of GRD can put me right on that one!? As most of you will know, Jo sadly died a few years back. Dave still works for Van Diemen after all these years! Derek was a fabricator with Team Lotus and still works for Van Diemen today.

Gordon was a former Chief Mechanic at Team Lotus, he had worked with Alan McCall on Jimmy Clark's cars in 1967 and before that as well (e.g. on the 33s). After a spell IIRC on the 47s and 62s, he returned as Chief F1 Mechanic for the 1970 season. By the time Monza came round, he was suffering from exhaustion (in common with most of the GLTL F1 mechanics that year) so did not travel to that race and in fact I think I am right in saying did not do any more races that year. Gordon is now happily retired. I had recent contact with Derek, Gordon and Dave concerning a Gold Leaf Team Lotus reunion I organised earlier this year and in fact Dave came along to the event.

Hope this helps!

Cheers

Michael

Very interesting thanks Michael, did Derek do any racing himself, F4 rings a vague bell ?

Very interesting thanks Michael, did Derek do any racing himself, F4 rings a vague bell ?

Not sure about that, I haven't ever met Derek, only had a brief conversation on the phone and he didn't want to attend the re-union, so I didn't get a chance to talk to him in more depth...

I have just picked back up on this thread.
I purchased an F3 GRD back in March, and it came with an amount of paperwork. One piece was dated circa 2000 and was from a German guy who was trying to collate a record chasis and had set up Classic Team GRD. It said that he had picked up some of the chassis records of GRD on a trip to Van Diemen when he had met Derek Wilds. If anyone is interested I will dig out the contact details of this chap.
As an aside, Peter Denty has access to many GRD parts, moulds, castings and general information.

Oh yes, definitely interested!

Matthew,

Yes, I would definitely be interested in any factory derived records for GRD.
At the time I compiled an incomplete list of cars and there owners, but there are many gaps!

Sorry for the delay in getting back, few IT issues!

The name of the chap who Derek Wild gave some GRD information to was Ekkhard Krause. From looking at the letters they were dated end of 95. I you send me a pm I will forward you the address and phone/fax numbers that I have.
As an aside, I also have a letter from a chap named Per Erik Syverstad of Norway from the same period who at that time had two GRD's. He had 373 no.47 that he had restored, and he also had 372 no 10 which was in bits, but with a new tub. At the time both of these cars were for sale.

The car that I have is a Van Diemen / GRD 376 which I am restoring for use in the HSCC Classic F3 Championship. The chassis number is either 02 or 102 and I have it's history from 1980 to date but not the first 4 years. It appears to have always run a 2ltr Lotus Twin Cam engine and spent it's time in Scandanavia. Any info would be appreciated.

I have also come across 2 other F3 GRD's that are currently in bits but being rebuilt in Woking. At present I don't know what the chassis numbers are but they appear to be early cars as the tubs are tapered at the rear for side mounted rads.
When I find out the numbers I will let you know.

Thank you Matthew.

I have sent you a PM.

hello- I am completely new to this forum so please bear with me if I make a few mistakes. I am currently racing GRD chassis 021 in the eastern US and know very little about the history of the GRD cars. I was racing at Watkins Glen and happened to meet Mike Snowdon and John Milledge both of whom provided significant backround information. Mike mentioned this forum to me and I can see from the various entries that there are several of you who know a great deal about the cars and have quite a bit of historical information.
I am planning to keep the car as period correct as possible and would like to race it with its original livery which I understand was as a Gitanes sponsored car. Would anyone be able to tell me how I might locate a period photo of the car? Also would anyone have any information about the car after it was driven by Passadore in 1973?
Any background information that anyone might have about the car would be greatly appreciated.

Rob,

Good to hear of another vintage GRD alive and well.

I have a couple of (snapshot) photos of your car when raced by Pierre-Francois Rousselot in F3. I also have a feeling that it may have been featured in colour on the cover of Autosport at some time in 1972.(will check)

In the next few days I will send you an e-mail with the photos I have, plus a list of the appearances I believe it made in Rousselot's and Passadore's hands.
In the meantime could you send me your e-mail address, as I don't believe Ten-Tenths PMs allow the attachment of photos.

Hope this helps,

Adam

I was just flicking through the new Autosport A to Z Motorsport Directory and saw that there was an entry for Classic Team GRD. I wondered if there had been any response from Ekkehard Krause.

Matthew

Matthew,

No, no response from Classic Team GRD as yet.
I found an alternative address by Googling, so I'll try that after Christmas.

Hello all GRD enthusiasts out there,

I am astonished and delighted to find so many people discussing GRD's history: At the moment unfortunately there are very few occasions surfing in the www on this subject.

Seems someone was trying to contact me (Classic Team GRD)? I am not racing GRD's anymore already since 1998 mainly due to reasons within my profession, but of course still enthusiastic and owning two cars, one being the ex Tim Brise 372 034, which I have bought from Marcus Pye.

Ekkes

Welcome Ekkes

Allen

Ekkes,

Welcome - I have sent you an e-mail, re any GRD info you may have.

Adam and Allen,

thank you for your welcome. At first I wondered if I should start with: Please find attached with all the official data from GRD. But then I thought you might become a heart attack before I could apologize: no unfortunately I have no official data from GRD at all.

To my knowledge nothing like this exists, at least not anymore. Mike Warner should know, to whom I had no contact myself at all. I asked Peter Denty for this many years ago. I understand he has anything got from Mike Warner there was left.

I think you know - by far - more than I do on GRD's history anyway. What I started with was a list of all persons being involved with GRD, being it employees or customers, drivers et al - trying to collect and beware the history. There was a small article on this in Autosport in the mid 90's. I have had some correspondence with former and current owners, mainly on specific cars.

As well I have been in contact with James W. Bamber. He worked as fabricator/welder from the very beginning at GRD until some point in 1973 and had made some personal notes just for himself. Because of this I managed to be helpful with some details on early GRD's he had worked on. This is what someone obviously meant. If you have any questions concerning a specific - early - car maybe I can be helpful; just ask.

Ekkes

P.S. The other GRD I have is S73 - 054. I know it was raced by Andreas Christopherus from Greece (to my knowledge the drummer of the mid 70's band 'Aphrodite's Child'). But history of this car is still very incomplete: I never managed to find out very much on GRD's sportscar history - not even the number of cars which were really built - mainly because there seems to habe been a huge interest in Japan: I simply cannot read these damn letters!! If you know something on this matter, please help.

Ekkes,

Thanks for your reply.
Interesting that you have one of the S73 sportscars. I had 054 down as the number of Kazato's 273 F2 car, but it's not the first time that such inconsistencies have appeared.

I have sent you an e-mail with a list of the first (1972/early 73) cars as we know them, in case you can fill in any gaps.

http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/swhillclimb/images/2-picture3.gif

Ken MacMaster in his GRD 272 at Prescott in 1976

:tenths:

I owned the Kazato 273 until recently when it went back to Japan where it has history as well. Have some period pictures from the book that they made after he died in a sports car race.The car sat in a bar near Fuji for 30 years as a display tribute to Kazato with trophies helmets etc until it closed - all the cars were like a time warp - all put away in early 74. I brokered a deal for all his cars (908, Lola Can Am, Chevron B23) and they were brought back to the US.

The chassis plate was missing but 054 is what I thought the number was.There is a number on the roll hoop base that I recollect being 054. My Japanese customer is just starting restoration (and could confirm that chassis stamped number) and would appreciate any engine bay pictures. We also need a correct gearbox, brakes and driveshafts.
Any help would be appreciated.
Phil Creighton
Atlanta GA USA

Random GRD comments from my weekend buried in libre winners:

1. Richard Wallinger had his GRD as early as August 1974 if that helps.
2. Reg James won a libre at Brands in Sep 1974 in a GRD. He doesn't seem to be on our list.
3. Steve Holland had a very successful libre GRD at Lydden in 1987 and 1988. Anyone know which one he had?

Allen

Reg James still has 2 early F3 GRD's in his workshop awaiting restoration. What was he driving in Libre

Random GRD comments from my weekend buried in libre winners:

1. Richard Wallinger had his GRD as early as August 1974 if that helps.
2. Reg James won a libre at Brands in Sep 1974 in a GRD. He doesn't seem to be on our list.
3. Steve Holland had a very successful libre GRD at Lydden in 1987 and 1988. Anyone know which one he had?

Allen

Very vague bell rings for Holland in a 272??

Steve Holland's 1987 mount was reported at the time as being the ex-Harry Stiller/Bev Bond 273
Reports two years later described it as a 272.
It had however been retubbed by then, which might explain the change
(He still had this car in 1993)

My notes describe the James car as a 274 and Wallinger's as a 372. I wondered at the time of Wallinger's might have been the ex-Wheatcroft car

David,

I have been emailing Harry Stiller re my 74B and during the emails Harry advised that early in 1973 he purchased a GRD but '' that it handled like a haunted ----house and he ended up hanging it on the wall of a large pub he owned at the time ''.

I sent Allen and Chris looking but they came back empty handed.

Bryan.

Adam,
The GRD is chassis 019 F2, which was apparently the 'backup' chassis according to Dave McConnell. Other than some tarnish from sitting it is excellent condition. The original car #10 or #11 that Dave drove he said was not changed, he belives it was the same car driven in the Tasman series then brought back to Canada; although he is not 100% about this. Jacques Couture still lives in California and Dave said he ask Jacques about the chassis.
I have purchased a David Wood BDA to put in the GRD as a number of GRD's have a Wood BDA listed, to keep it period correct. So I am looking for more information on the Wood engines.
Mike
UPDATE-
The chassis 272 019 F2 is now with Peter Denty for a full restoration.
It should be complete the end of June '06 and will be tested in Britain before being shipped back to Canada. So anyone interested in seeing the car can contact me and I will advise when and where we plan to test it (probably at Snetterton). Racing Fabrications did the David Wood BDE engine overhaul and
looks to be strong.
Mike

The Richard Wallinger GRD wins a Cadwell Park libre on 8 Sep 1974 where it's described as "his modified GRD 273 (of unknown Swedish driver ownership)". There's a picture of it (AS 12 Sep 1974 p50) if that helps at all.

Allen

A Swedish 273 would suggest it was one of the Pierre Robert team cars from the previous season [061; 062; 063] run by Wisell, Nordstrom, Palm and Gunnarsson.

Chris

Hello
I have put together a small web page about the restoration of #10 which is almost ready to race again
http://hhtech.se/grd.htm

Excellent HH; well done!

From the photos it looks the car might be in better condition than it was in the1970's. It is nice to know that Snowy and I are not alone in our efforts to restore and preserve a GRD. Great job, HH. Last year I put chassis 021 back on the track here in the U.S.. It was very expensive and I was only successful in finishing two of the five events that I entered ( two engine and one suspension failure). This year I have completed all three events that I have entered and am planning a few more later this year. I think that both the car and I are getting sorted out.
When I bought the car I had never heard of GRD and had no idea of it's history. Now I feel fortunate to be able to drive a small piece of motorsports history. I hope in the near future to be able to post a picture of the car as it is now. This website and participants like Snowy and Adam have been a great help in getting the car back close to its original condition. Rob

I now know that Clennell's car was 054, actually a 273, originally run for Kazato and McInerney in F2 and then used by Chris Oates and various rentadrivers in Atlantic in 73. He kept it until at least 1978.
Confirmation of this while I was looking up that March 772 thing for Steve. On the same page (22 Jun 1978 p57) it says Clennell was hillclimbing his ex-Hiroshi Kazato GRD 273.

Does anyone have information about 373-050?
jim keller

Jim,

I don't think anybody does , I emailed Adam Ferrington but he must be away, the car has been sold to a fellow in Stuttgart , by the current owner Walter Hoffman who has had it for 30 years totally untouched , there is also a 2nd spare tub , so that was also probably a car at some time.
I had contacted the owner and was prepared to purchase , alas not to be.

Bryan.

Jim
GRD 373-050 was Tony Rouff's F3 car in Britain in 1973. Adam Ferrington noted the chassis number 4 March 73. [Adam has been kind enough to share his observations with me.]
Rouff retained the car 1974 and indeed ran an Atlantic race with it, by the expedient of taking the air-restrictor off. It was sold to Dan Greer, an American based in Germany who used it in the 1976 German championship.
Car f/s Autosport 8 Jan 76 and described as 'ex Rouff' - I guess this is where Hoffmann comes into the equation.

Chris

Hi Brian,

Yes, I have been away, but I didn't get your e-mail, unless my mailbox was full.
As Chris says, 373 050 was Tony Rouff's car - British F3 in 1973 and Atlantic in 1974.

Well we finally made the track. Chassis 021 F3 of Earl Roberts and my 019 F2 at Watkins Glen last week-end. It must be a long time since two GRD's were on the track at the same time. I'll try and post a picture.
We hope to have some magazine exposure to the cars in the coming month's.
GRD-Zippo2006-9
Mike

David McConnell had two chassis, the F2 and the FB. The F2 I own is 272 019 F2, and I have a brass tag in with all the bits that is a perfect fit to a dzus fastner hole spacing, that has FB 012 on it. So who knows ?
I am meeting with David this week-end and he may have some additional information.
I know that the FB was sold to Richard Doran then to a Michel Guilbault but have not traced it further.
Mike

012-FB plate is interesting, because that's the ex Watson car that's been discussed and fully documented on this forum. Maybe it needs reuniting with its plate.

A brass tag? Is that a GRD chassis plate or is it a SCCA tag? The SCCA used brass tags on F5000 cars in 1972.

Could be, Allen, but you'd expect a region code on it too.

Chris

In 1972, the FA cars registered for the Pro series had these small oval brass plates (I have a photo of one somewhere but can't find it at the mo) with numbers such as 72FA17, 72FA18, 72FA22, 72A49 etc. As this was the Pro series, the Region wasn't relevant. I think they were going for something closer to the USAC annual registration system.

It occured to me that the plate Mike referred to could be a SCCA plate and not a GRD plate. I would say it was a great likelihood but it's worth a picture to compare it.

Allen

Fair point, and McConnell did run in the SCCA series as well as in Canada

Chris

If someone can tell me how to post a photo to the site I'll do a photo, plus post some of 019 and 021.
There is a good photo of my 019 at SVRA.com under the 2006 Zippo event gallery.
Mike

See here:-

http://www.ten-tenths.com/forum/faq.php?faq=vb_read_and_post#faq_faq_post_pic

or, do as I do, which is to import a thumbnail via imageshack, here :-

http://imageshack.us/

(I'll move this post to the front page for everyone to view, after a couple of days)

I finally managed to get my 376 out for it's first race since it's rebuild at Thruxton on Saturday in the Classic F3 race. It caused quite a bit of interest as most people had no idea what is was.

I'm still trying to post the photo's; but looking at the brass tag it is stamped
'72FB12'.
David McConnell told me he did run in the SCCA Continental series with the GRD.
Mike

Mike

If you're having trouble, email the pictures to me at allen@oldracingcars.com and I'll post them for you.

Allen

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/1980/grdmiketheglen0011ws3.th.jpg (http://img87.imageshack.us/my.php?image=grdmiketheglen0011ws3.jpg)

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/4313/image014hu1.th.jpg (http://img87.imageshack.us/my.php?image=image014hu1.jpg)

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/5453/image016rc2.th.jpg (http://img88.imageshack.us/my.php?image=image016rc2.jpg)

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/6670/image124ak8.th.jpg (http://img87.imageshack.us/my.php?image=image124ak8.jpg)

I haven't posted the image of the oval '72FB12' brass tag as it occured to me that as it was such a good image it would act as a perfect template for anyone unscruplulous wanting to fake up such a tag. It probably isn't a good idea to make it that easy for them! However, comparing the tag with other pictures I have, I have no doubt it's a 1972 SCCA 'Pro' series tag. It's the first FB one I've seen but it's otherwise the same as the FA ones. Somewhere out there, the notebook saying whose car got which brass tag may still exist...

Allen

Thank-you Allen for posting the photo's.
I see on the 'Old Racing Cars' site under the 1972 SCCA Continental Formula B/C race results that David McConnell did race and qualified first and won many of the races with the GRD noted as being 019-F2. So that ties in well with the brass tag and the chassis # of my car.
Mike

Allen- I want to echo Snowy's thanks in posting the photos. I think it is safe to say he and I had a great time running with the 30 other open wheel cars in our group.
On another topic I have been looking for a second engine for my car and that search led me to a gentleman in Florida. I visited him to see the engine and when he learned that I had a GRD he produced photos of himself driving a GRD in 1977 F3 races. He was apparently quite involved in the British race car industry during the 1970's and 1980's and was quite familiar with GRD. I asked him if he knew anything about the 1972 F3 championship car of Roger Williamson and might he know the chassis number. He said that the car he raced was Williamson's car and that he had purchased it from the Donnington Museum. He did not recall the chassis number but told me that it made no difference because he had crashed the car and damaged the tub such that he replaced it with a spare one that he had. He was unclear what he did with the damaged tub.
I know from reading the various postings that their is some interest in Williamson's car so I thought I would pass this information on. Rob021

Excellent! What was his name Rob?

Allen

I don't recall any GRDs in 1977 F3 here, was it Libre he raced in I wonder?

I'm just working through 1977 libre now and I haven't spotted any unexplained GRDs.

Allen- His name is Roger Andreason. He gave me several photos of the car. One photo was in a pamphlet which was used to solicit sponsorship for both he and his wife who was driving an MG midget. One photo shows the car with two other open wheel cars all three cars have air restrictor boxes. The car number was twenty and it appears to have a Holbay engine. Mr. Andreason at one point apparently had some affliation with Chevron cars.
Rob021

Roger owned Chevron Cars Ltd from the mid-1980s until earlier this year.

Yes, and I think he was in the Druid in F3 in 77, not a GRD.

Dan

Roger Andreasson raced a GRD 374 at the end of 1977
12th at Thruxton, 31 Oct.
But did use the Druid that season too

Chris

So could that be the ex-Williamson/Donington Museum car?

Allen

I'd have thought the Williamson car would have been a 372. I guess it could have been updated into a '374' though. I'm fairly sure the Druid was out in 1977, tho' maybe in Libre only, not F3.

Reading some early '74 A/sports, I see that GRDs were quite popular in Italy at that time, to the extent that March sent Henton over to a race, trying 'to put them in their place', and retain the market for them. I wonder what the GRD/Italy connection was?

Dan

Andreasson entered, at least, in the Druid in the support race for the 77 British GP

I figure the popularity of GRD in Italy stemmed initially from the Lotus connection - the 69 had sold well there. I think only two or three of the first year's production went to Italy, but then 73 at least five, including good drivers like Colombo, Mantova and Pesenti-Rossi and Pedro Passadore, who'd raced in England the year before. And then there was Renzo Zorzi and his Monaco performance, supported by an engine of doubtful legality.

Chris

Nick [and Adam]
Fernando Spreafico [April]
Chris

I haven't look far into this thread so I don't know the value of ads like this

1973 Autosprint 29 Ottobre, p.51
GRD F.3 vendesi Autodelta SPREAFICO - BARZANO Tel. 039/95.53.33

Considerable, I would say.

That Autosprint got to Oz quickly!

Andrew

Would that Autosprint have Italian F3 results and race reports in it?
Is it the only one you have?
Also, yes any more ads? [Allen and I now get most of our kicks out of reading ads in Competition Press etc, preferably no later than 1976]

Chris

Allen and I now get most of our kicks out of reading ads in Competition Press etc<indignant splutter>

:rofl:

Couple of other ads, a BT35, but no way of guessing which one.
Report on F2, will scan & send.

Hello all.......

As promised, albeit very late, here are the names that go with my GRDs.

B73-074-FB: Archie Snider(new ??); Jon Milledge; father of Willy T. Ribbs; Frank Briggs(1980); John Treder(1980-81); Lou Pavesi(1981-96); Brad Moore(1996-).

272-020-F2: Tetsu Ikuzawa(new); Ken MacMaster(November 1972); Alan Dix(approx. 12/89); Brad Moore(January 3, 2003).

Once again, thanks for this site. brad moore.

Brad

There's a photo of Archie Snider in your car on another thread on the general forum - I think it was taken at Laguna Seca in 1975
Have you been in touch with any of the early owners? Would like to talk to John Treder about his Ralts, if anyone knows him, also Archie Snider

Chris

How many GRD sportscars were produced in total ?

Brad- I happened to meet Jon Milledge at the Zippo Grand Prix at Watkins Glen in Sept.2005. He approached me because I was driving a GRD. He told me about his car and driving it in races on the West Coast. He also mentioned Willy T. Ribbs use of the car. At that time he was I believe living in Conn. building race engines. I don't know if this info. is of any help or interest but when I saw Jon's name as one of the owners of your car, I thought I would pass it on. Rob

Rob......

Thanks for the input. Through Allen and Chris, I found Milledge and we exchanged emails. Jon gave me Archie's phone but I haven't reached him yet. We didn't speak of Willy so that is a second confirmation of that piece of the puzzle. Thanks again. brad.

How many GRD sports cars were built in total ?
Where did they go and who raced them in period ?

I think the first S72 is for Kazato in June 1972
May have been a second one.

S73
Autosport 1 3 73 p.2 says
5 S73s sold via Obermoser in Germany
2 to Augusto Palmo in Portugal [Presumably the Team Palma cars]
5 to Rene Herzog; Hiroshi Kazato and DART
So 12 built

S74s not sure...

Chris

Jürg Dubler makes a handful of appearances in French hillclimbs in 1975 in a F2 GRD. Any suggestions? I haven't seen a model number mentioned yet. It has a 2-litre (ish) Hart engine.

Allen

At a guess ex Vonlanthen. Both Swiss

Chris

Just found a "Brack" in a "GRD F2" a few weeks later. No other clues I'm afraid.

Greetings,
Regarding GRD B73-074 FB (ex-Milledge/Treder). When I was crewing for John Treder a, Willy T. came by where we were located. When he saw the car, he began to tell us that he had driven it at some point in his career. He commented that the car really liked to be "very tail happy". JT just said something like, "Oh?"
cheers!

Welcome Steve. You should enjoy it here.

Allen

Allen,
I may be welcome, but what about my trivia??
cheers,
Steve

Your trivia will be even more welcome!

Chris,

From my contemporary notes in race programmes the is the following relating to 1972 cars :-

BH 23/10/71
Sutcliffe 372 011 (NOT 010!)

BH 22/10/72
Ginn 022
GRS/Gerber 024
Vermilio/Sc Italia 026
GRS/Maskell 030
Alan Jones 033
Robin Smythe 036

Silv 7/4/73
Perkins 032
Kuwashima 033

OP 20/4/73
Passadore 021
Ginn 022
Brise 035

OP 27/4/74
Hooper (F4) 034

Silv 19/7/75
Spreafico 023


From this, the F1R (for F2), what we've learned recently re. 010, 012 and 018, this is how I see the 1972 cars :-

10 372 ? GRS 1972, to Harness 1972, to Jan Ridell
11 372 GRS/Sutcliffe 1972,
12 372 Martin Watson
13 Assume not used
14 272 Saloman Switzerland
15 372 ?GRS/Sutcliffe 1972, GRS Passadore 1973
16 272 GRS/Various drivers
17 ?
18 372 Gilhorn 1972, ? Wallinger, Russell
19 ?
20 272 GRS/Ikuzawa 1972, McMaster 1973
21 372 GRS/Rousselot 1972,
22 372 Ginn
23 372 Scuderia Italia 1972
24 372 GRS/Pinhol 1972, Craven 1973
25 372 Reystan/Kuwashima 1972, Macdonald 1973
26 372 Scuderia Italia 1972
27 ?
28 ?
29 ?
30 372 GRS/Maskell/Taylor 1972, Stanton/Knight 1973, Rod Smith 1973
31 ?
32 372 ?GRS 1972, Perkins 1973
33 372 Alan Jones 1972, Kuwashima 1973
34 372 Tim Brise 1972, Gavin Hooper 1974
35 372 Tony Brise 1972, Brise spare 1973
36 372 Rbin Smythe 1972/73

There are at least 6 discrete cars not identified above :-
272 Dave McConnell's Tasman car
272 Dave McConnells FB car (these are more than likely to be one and the same)
372 Swiss F3 Vonlanthen
372 Swiss F3 Hoffmann
372 Williamson 1972, Moffatt 1973
272 Bourgoignie 1972 to 1974
S72 GRD Ikuzawa/Miles

This is very much just a hypothesis.........
One problem is that MCConnell's Tasman car must be an early chassis number, but which?

GRD 372-26 - on 23/07/72 at Imola it failed to qualify whilst in the hands of Cesare Doneda who had earlier driven for Delta Corse. Lorenzo Sassi drove 26 at Monza on the 3rd Sept coming second in Ht 1 and 9th in the final. At Monza on the 10th Sept 26 was driven & entered by Luigino Grassi who qualified 16th for the race. Adelmo Fossati is credited with trying to qualify at Monaco. Whilst Marcello Gallo is also credited with retiring 26 from the F3 race at Monza on the 1st May.

GRD 372-23 - driven by Fernando Spreafico from 16/04/72 onwards.

:cool:

If anyone would like to see some photos of the GRD factory etc you can go to my web site www.jonathangreaves.com (http://www.jonathangreaves.com/) I was the mechanic looking after the F2 cars in 1972.

hello, it is me again with a foolish question !

I read somewhere that the Sigma Mazda which ran Le Mans in 1973 was a GRD chassis... is it true ? And who know about this story ?

Thanks...

On the next site you will find the swedish driver Rolf JOHANSSON with a GRD FAtl.B74 with a Cosworth 1600 BDA/BDD :
www.racefotos.nl (http://www.racefotos.nl)
After entering clic on "auto's", then the choice of marks and clic on all evenementen.
Good luck.

no one knows about the Le Mans Sigma 1973, wich perhaps is a japanese developement on a GRD shell ?

There were a few GRD sports cars in Japan in 1972 and 1973 but I have not heard about one being transformed into the Sigma. Maybe some Japanese contributors may help. I will try to make some contacts on my own.

i found in Autosport, that the Sigma MC73 was designed by Jo Marquart ... That is all i ve got

According to this link, the Sigma MC73 was a "pure domestic race machine":

http://www.sardracing.com/history_of_sard_japan.htm

Yes i know, but Constanduros said that Jo Marquart was involved