Racing a la mode

[Chris Townsend]

That should be Ã* la Modus

Along with those troublesome Chevrons I'm trying to track down what happened to, [and what were] the Modus M3s run in the Indyatlantic and Shellsport series in 1976 by Dicksons of Perth and sponsored by British Caledonian airline.

They ran in Atlantic with BDAs, and with Swindon BDX engines in G8 - effectively making them F2 cars, but with smaller tankage. They were very quick propositions, especially in the hands of Richard Scott who raced one alongside Norman Dickson.

Both cars were sold to Ireland in 1977, one being used by Des Donnelly and the other by Mike Nugent, who kept until 1979 when he sold it to Patsy McGarrity.

Don't know who got the Scott car and who the Dickson. Don't know the chassis numbers, don't know nuthin'...

The other Modus is even more obscure and perhaps more interesting. It ran in F5000 and was the first car to run in British F5000 with the Ford GAA V6 engine [3.4 litre] and which was, I think, the motor out of the Transit van! It was described as an M5 and was raced by Tom Walkinshaw at the closing races of the 1974 season.

I'm guessing that this engine found its way into the March 75A that ran with a GAA engine the following year, but what was, and what happened to the M5.

And what happened to Modus generally? Teddy Savory and Jo Marquart built a lot of cars for F3 and Atlantic in a short time, before going bust, but you don't see many about in historics and the factory records don't seem to exist. Be pleased to hear from any owners with histories.

[Andrew Kitson]

David Sears at Supernova ( In the old Argo factory) at Griston has the rights to the Argo name etc. Perhaps he has some old Modus records too?

[Jeremy Jackson]

Chris,

All I can help you with are the chassis numbers from Sheldon (Providing you believe the source!):

Dickson used 025-FA
Scott used 027-FA

[Chris Townsend]

Jeremy

I didn't realise that Sheldon had covered the G8 races.
Is that in the F5000 book?

If so, does he give the Walkinshaw car in 1974? Those numbers are a bit odd, because 047 was Phil Sharp's car, and that had [allegedly] been raced by Brise in 1975. [But then again, it might have had a new tub in it, It didn't appear until late on in 76, by which time Modus might well have built another 20 cars.]

[Does he give those damned Chevrons?]

I sort of believe in Sheldon, despite the fact that the F2 races are often inaccurate. [this is where I spent a lot of money and then a lot of time trying to reconcile the GP and Voiturette records with what was being said in contemporary reports.] The two things that F1R get badly wrong are a total lack of proofreading, and the assumption that once a chassis number is seen, the driver uses it all season.

One interesting way to check this would be to compare my records for a G8 race [say Brands August '76, where I got a lot of the chassis numbers myself, and still have the records] with Sheldon's.

If I PM you the sheet for this race that will eventually go onto Allen's site, would you check it and mark where Sheldon differs?

[Jeremy Jackson]

The B29 chassis you're looking for are also given in Sheldon - Yes, they're in the F5000 books.

Have to say I agree with your "gripes" about the books - Especially thr assumption of a chassis being used all season.

The latest F1/F3000 volume I have was awaited eagerly because of F3000 chassis in 1988, and it didn't help because I know for a fact that some chassis (Especially the ones I was looking for) are wrong!

Anyway... yeah, drop me a PM or e-mail, and I'll check what I have.

[Armco Bender]

Some useless Modus info,2 Atlantic cars came to NZ in '77 for the Altantic series here,John Nicholson(the McLaren engine builder)drove one,and Phil Sharp drove the other.Nicholsons car was sold to local saloon racer Robbie Francevic who heavily modified it and ran it as a "Typhoon".The Sharp car was sold to another saloon racer Steve Emerson,who had a big crash in it.That car is actually for sale on the net,they must have rebuilt it.They were only mid feild runners here.

[Chris Townsend]

Armco Bender

That bit about the "Typhoon" is interesting. Was it still a single seater or super-saloon or something?

Can you confirm the name of the guy who had the second car? My notes, which come out of Autosport show it as Steve Empson. Was it really Emerson?
Do you have the address for the car on sale, and do they [I bet they do] describe it as 'ex Brise'?

Too many questions, but thanks for the help!

[Peter Mallett]

Um,

Can't add too much to this but the GAA 3.4 litre engine was actually the Cosworth built V6 that Ford used in it's 1973/4 Group 2 Capri. I know that David Purley used one in an F5000 car (don't know what) in 1976.

The Transit connection comes from the fact that the block was the V6 Essex block but in order to cope with the stresses in Group 2 it was er, enhanced(?).

[Armco Bender]

Chris,the Nicholson car was purchased by Robbie Francevic who modified it with new angular(ugly,it looked pretty homemade) bodywork,it was raced as a "Typhoon" Atlantic,as they(a kitchen appliance company) were Francevics main sponsor at the time.He drove it a couple of seasons in the Altantic series here.The new body work didnt make it go any better than it did as a Modus.The cars weren't really competitive in the '77 series.
The Phil Sharp car was sold to Datsun saloon racer Steve Emson,Emson didn't race it long before he had a major accident,I'm pretty sure he never raced again after it and I'm sure the car was pretty much destroyed.This is the site with the Modus for sale http://www.ralt.com.au/restoration.htm .As it says it is the ex Brise/Emson car,but it must have been built from a lot of parts.

[Chris Townsend]

The Sharp - Emson Modus. At least the ad is right when it says that it was built in the UK from parts. If I'm right, Phil Sharp was a New Zealander working at Modus, and he built the car himself to race in the Atlantic series here, then took it home with him for the '77 Tasman. Graham Vercoe, in his often unreliable book on NZ Motor racing, gives the car chassis number 047. This is about right for a Modus built in mid 1976. Problem is, Tony Brise couldn't have driven it. Brise finished with Modus in mid 75, and would have had a chassis number lower than 25 [the lowest build number for a car produced in April 76].

Also, a Modus M3 was sold in late 75 to Mike Domingo in S.Africa. This was also claimed to be ex Brise, and given the date of sale might have a better case. Any S.African correspondents care to help on this?
[Two Modus M3 went to ZA for the 76 series there, one brand new for Dave Charlton, who gave up on it and bought a March, and the other for Team Domingo.]

Did Sharp use Brise's rev counter I wonder, or the clutch pedal? Where do you get Modus parts these days, without using another car?

[Armco Bender]

Just been reading a book at the library it also had the Sharp car as 047,said it had been used by Brise as an F3 before conversion to an Atlantic.Sharp had a big crash in the opening NZ race and the car was rebuilt before Emson took it over for the 4th race in the series,then he had his big crash in so there cant have been many original parts left on it.
The Nicholson/Francevic car was 066.

[Richard Young]

Ha...
I'm a new boy here, but I noticed the question about Moduses (Modi ?). One of the Irish ones - don't know if it was the Donnelly or McGarrity car - was last seen in the hands of Pat Plunkett in Dublin. He had a couple of chunky accidents in it, the last when he tangled with a real, live mountain in a Galway hill climb. The mountain won.
I'm sure Pat is about somewhere, and may even read this.....

[Chris Townsend]

Richard

Hi and welcome to the madness of the histories of cars in the "lesser" formulae.

According to what Bryan Miller has sent me about Modus the Plunkett car was M3-027 and went from Dickson to Tyrrell Arnold for hillclimbs and then to Pat. It seems as though there was a spare Dickson tub at least M3-048 which was also raced by Ian Grob for the works, and this was the car that went to Kinnane for Donnelly. On this basis M3-025 should be the Nugent and McGarrity car. It would be good to hear from ex Atlantic racers in Ireland. I just discovered the other day that Patsy McGarrity also raced in the TT [the bike one] in the 1960s - must have been quite a boy.

I noticed your Kirkistown thread. Do you know if the circuit has archives that would help with the compilation of Irish Atlantic race results?

[Richard Young]

Chris,
Re:archives, yes I have some. However when I inherited the secretary/managers job in '93 the office had moved twice since the Atlantic era and inevitably some stuff had gone AWOL. I do have race files from the 70's but not all of them. I'm currently trying to trace the outright lap record which was variously held by Tommy Reid, John Watson and others during that period, but dates & speeds remain elusive.
I'm in irregular touch with many of the old Atlantic folk, but many of them are a bit hazy about history and chassis numbers etc. I'm happy to do a bit of ferreting.......
There are still a few cars hidden away over here - mostly Chevrons, but a couple of Ralt RT1s also, although not all of them had any Irish Atlantic history in period.
And yes....Patsy was a star !

[Bryan Miller]

Richard , G,day from Australia ,
Do you know anybody that may have Mondello Park and even Phoenix Park info.
I still don,t know where they are in relation to each other , just know the circuit names from when my March 74B ran there with ex. everybody.

[Peter Mallett]

Actually I used to run with a Simpson LXP but now I use an OMP Super Tourism.

[Armco Bender]

A poor picture I know,but I just spotted it when I was surfing along,Robbie Francevic in the Typhoon sponsored Modus,prior to its rebuilding as the "Typhoon".It was pale yellow in colour.

[Richard Young]

Bryan,
Hail, fellow rookie !
Mondello Park is the permanent circuit a couple of miles outside Naas, to the West of Dublin. Phoenix Park is a temporary 'once a year' venue almost in the centre of the 'Fair City' and liberally equipped with lampposts, trees, park benches and other bits of what I'm told are now called street furniture.
Mondello, during the Atlantic period, had a lap length of 1.24 miles with lots of second gear corners. Phoenix had/has a variety of layouts dut during that 70s, used the 'Hawthorn Circuit' - reputedly decided on by the late, great, Mike in Jan 59, which was roughly 2.1 miles round
For comparison, think Albert Park in the pre-Bernie era.....
Whose was your 74B ?

[Bryan Miller]

Richard ,great to here from you thanks for the input.

1975 Frank Blanchard in March had it advertised , I still do not know if he is Irish or English.??

1975 July and rest of 75 , Bill Gowdy.

March 1976 to Gerry Kinnane for Des Donnelly .

1977 March 1977 Marlboro Team Ireland Eddie Jordan.

Thence according to Chris TOo Scottish Hillclimb C/ships for Colin Simpson then to Australia 1979 .
Wish Ihad done as many overseas trips as some of these cars.

[Kevin Miller]

Three Modus # 022 from Bryan' collection. Bryan may like to elaborate. #1 - John Nicholson.

[Kevin Miller]

#2 NZ Modus #022 Picture - Robbie Francovic.

[Kevin Miller]

Third picture - Robbie Francovic -revamped into Typhoon car.

[Chris Townsend]

The early Moduses [Modi?]

In the records that Bryan Miller has provided there is a gap in the production records for early cars

We have 001-F3, the car tested in January '74 and run by the works in F3 in UK driven by Arnott and Brise and
006-F3, a 1975 car sold to Mike Rand for Formula C.

Marcus Pye suggests that all these missing chassis are '75 production, but here are my suggestions.

[M1-002-F3] At Monaco F3 race, 1974 Modus turn up with two cars for Rudi Gygax and Tony Brise. Brise's car is described as new and unsorted. Gygax probably has 001-F3

After Monaco Modus start to race Brise's Monaco car in F.Atlantic - that's how contemporary reports describe it.

Tom Walkinshaw has two cars in 1974. There is a F.Atlantic, M3, destroyed in a very big accident at the British GP meeting when [allegedly] the steering wheel spokes broke.
Later in the '74 season he tests and debuts an M5 for F5000 with a GAA engine in the back, but this is not the same car as he races in F5000 in 1975 which is in the factory records as 021-F5 built in Jan/Feb '75.

So M3-003-FA
M5-004-F5

Clearly this leaves one other car of 1974 production which I can't readily track down. I think it might have been an F3 belonging to Jean-Louis Schlesser but does anyone have race results for '74 F3 which suggest that there were a couple of cars in circulation after mid-summer.

[Bryan Miller]

Chris, troublesome Chevrons and pesky Modus .
Surely if ACBC decreed the plural of Lotus was Lotus , then the same will apply re. Modus.

I have gone through all 1974 A/S .of which I have most copies. The following is presuming you have the article on Modus, A.S. nov. 14.

If you read and take at verbatim , then I end up with about 17 cars for 1974 .
No ch.no. allocated yet , way too early to do that.
Car 1 Works /Arnott.
Car 2 Super Vee Scharman/ Austria
Car 3 Built but not sold.Seemed to indicate F.SV.
Car 4 Atlantic for Brise.
Car 5 Atlantic for Walkinshaw.
Car 6 F5000 for Walkinshaw.
Car 7 Sports car in photo .
Car 8/9/10/11/12/13/14/15/16/17. allto Georg Obermoser , plus F2 car said to be ready for eng. in middle of year.
Car for sale by Ivor Goodwin , who ran the car at Silverstone in August 74 , sale adv. states car updated at factory to same spec. as Brise. However in 27/3/75 p7 Dick Parson's car is said to be in fact the chassis used by Brise at Monaco in 1974.
I have never been comfortable with some things in the ch.list.
I don't think M1-006-F3 is 75 , rather just about has to be 1974 , maybe Goodwin's and end 75/76 to U.S.A. for 77 season.
I think M1-009-FA. is probably Brise's, with maybe Walkinshaw as #4 or #5, as if you see one race report where both Brise and Tom finally make it to Silverstone in May , Brise's car literally just been finished that day.
Brise's was F3 based even running Mk.9 Hewland and F3 wheels .

That is my first go , you may have more info. available to you.
Bryan.

[Bryan Miller]

Chris, I missed typing this in, 27/2/75 Peter Clark has purchased the ex Brise/ Ivor Goodwin M3 and will run 75 as a F3.
That could be a bit of new chassis in one car and old chassis built up with new running gear ala March.
Maybe it is the old FA car turning into a newish F3.
Bryan.