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Hopefully you guys are still enjoying these so I will add some more
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Speaking personally, I'm loving them:)
:) agreed !
Don't get me wrong - I think an RT4 is about as good looking as a racing car can get - but it soon became 'Formula RT4'...up until then, the shapes just weren't different, they were quite different.
A casual observer could have been excused for not being able to tell a Lotus from a Brabham from a Cooper a decade earlier - but a Modus was distinctive from a March from a RT1 from a Chevron.
Keep 'em coming!!
Great photos, the side on ones in post #244 are sharp! Would you be prepared to sell a print of the last one?
Keep them coming.
No problem Howard.
Email me at cammick339@gmail.com
Cheers, Ross
She was a spare parts special all right. The rear cover was a modified 753 (F3) one, the oil tank mounted on part of the old style 742 (F2) "Monster Bracket" while the single pole rear wing was from Ron Dennis' Project 4 parts bin. The cockpit and nose were 761 (F1) made from a mould I flopped over some film cars John and I were involved with.
After much research by the guys at oldracingcars.com it appears the tub started life as a Brian Henton 732 F2 car which he crashed in 1973 (again) and sent back to March to exchange for a new one as part of their "swap-a-crate" scheme. March then rebuilt the tub and re-plated it as 742-U1, the pre production mule.
John bought it via Dave Price Racing from Val Muscetti who had run it in F/ Atlantic, ShellSport etc in the UK with a variety of engines. Practically a new car!
We are getting well off topic but Val Muscetti's credits include the first Italian Job movie. He was the guy who did the tunnel barrel rolls in the Minis.
Well not quite Howard - Val actually raced Atlantics, in fact in 1975 ran a March 742 in the British series - called something like 'Southern Organs', which is not what some might first think...
Muscetti had two "74" Marches at the time which only added to the confusion over the provenance of "our" car. He also ran them in a number of configurations/ classes and you can't help but assume there was a bit of interchanging of parts.
At one point he ran a 3 Litre V6 Ford/Cosworth GAA engine in the "other" car too. The engine frames on our car were really hacked about which suggests something other than an Atlantic spec BDA had been installed at some stage.
We bought the car as a rolling chassis less engine and set about updating it in the usual way, ie updated bodywork, wings and wheels. As purchased the car had 752 bodywork, "Monster Bracket" rear wing assembly and Melmag wheels. I sent some photos of the car as purchased to Chris at oldracingcars.com which helped them to identify the history.
Here's a final bunch of photos from 1977 - mainly Baypark. These are all I'll post for 1977 as I'm keen to start on going through my 1978 negatives.
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I'm still looking for photos or information about the B49 Chevron that Graeme Lawrence ran in Malaysia in Rothmans colours in 1979, We are rebuilding it for a customer to run in the Atlantic/Pacific series next year.
Barry L
Damn these are good. I am loving this stuff!!
Sure have, GL only raced the car once and photos seem to be really thin on the ground
Many thanks for the encouraging comments re photos guys - it has been fascinating going over all the old negatives I took 35 years ago.
An awful lot of these photos I have never printed before, so it has been good to get them out there for others to enjoy also.
Although it takes quite a bit of work in Photoshop after scanning to get results that are acceptable to me, I think it has been worth it.
Here's a teaser for the next batch - sorry its not the Chevron B49 Barry, but an interesting car also.
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Something you guys may be able to clarify for me. In Ross' posts #239 and #259. 239 is a side shot of Chevron #26 driven by Albert Poon. Then again in #259 there is a Chevron #25 first following Jim Stone in the Cuda as they pass Ivan Tighe in the Elfin, then on the outside, presumably allowing Andrew Miedecke to pass in his Lola, yet thi sis also Albert Poon, however Poon was entered as #24. Yet on here http://www.oldracingcars.com/results...?CategoryID=ZB and But car #25, was Beng Saswanto in his Lola? can some explain?
#25 is a Chevron
As I recall, the Saswanto Lola was run #14 in the GP because GHL drove it - Milan and/or David will have the details closer to hand than me but I'm guessing the Lola must have otherwise been #24
I've just breezed onto ORC - as correctly stated by '27', that site records race numbers that are different to the photos.
Given that the photos don't lie, and that two cars with the same number isn't a realistic option, I think we can say ORC has the race numbers around the wrong way.
Oh hell - until you look at the photos on page 12 and we see Poon now in #26...
And i have pics of both Lawrence 14 and Saswanto 25 at Pukekohe
The way I remember it was like this - Saswanto got crook and his car was made available for Graeme Lawrence who, not surprisingly, ran with his familiar 14 because it was available
Yeah, just been reading the season review. Very clear that the pictures I have of Saswanto is Saturday and Lawrence Sunday. Poons number 26 is confusing but the pics of the Chevron number 25 instead of the listed entry, is because that at BayPark, they Saswanto and Poon swapped cars, so therefore so as not to confuse time keepers, they took their numbers with them.
This could have been taken in practise
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Thank God Steve started this website otherwise these great photos might never have seen the light of day.
I didn't see a lot of these cars in period, but would sure like to see them back on track again in the future. We appear to have quite a collection of them here in NZ and doubtless Australia has its fair share. Now that would be another class to get the adrenaline flowing.
Yeah, its obvious when you look at the helmet!
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I wonder if that rear wing support was sturdy enough...
I would never regard the cars from that wide nose/'hammerhead shark' period as being things of beauty - handsome perhaps, but never gorgeous. It was part of the reason I always admired the Cuda.
I always thought the early bodywork on the RT1 as being the least attractive of the cars of the day but I've just been forced to reconsider - Lola is the winner!
GL raced it at least 3 times. Once maybe twice in NZ, this is after its arrival on April 20th 1979. It was then raced at the Penang GP where he finished 2nd behind Ken Smith and another which I can't remember off the top of my head. Beyond that he soon got rid of it and replaced it with the March 80a. The Chevron was on sold to Peter Haskett and Charlie Thomason.
There was a meeting at Puke in early 1980 - perhaps March...where GL ran it.
The only reason I recall that is that it was first, and definitely last, time I rode a push bike to a racetrack
Initially Charlie drove the car, as it was decided that he was faster than the current owner - was this Peter Haskett and the B49? Charlie drove the car for a period before purchasing the ex Oxton B34 I think. He later owned another Chevron when he was in possession of the Ralt that he bought from Kenny Smith, but I seem to think it was the B49.........sorry, its all a bit hazy, and I was only young.
It seems to be referred to as B48/9 Charlie drove Haskett owned then Haskett drove it. Performance wise Penang 2nd to Smith, Malaysia 2nd by 30s to Smith, Selangor retired 0 laps. So maybe contact Ken Smith, see if he has any information regarding the car.