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Ok now this may go part way to an answer.
Beat has told me today that the car they bent at Imola was a BT36 but with BT30-7 chassis plate and number stamped into it.
Ted your comment that BT30-17 had no signs of damage would support this.
They took the bent BT36 frame back to the UK where Tauranac said it wasn't worth repairing and sold them another.
So, given this update it now looks as though 30-17 was retired at some point in '71 and for customs the idendity put on the new BT36. This new BT36 is then crashed and replaced with another 36 chassis, both running under the original carnet for 30-17.
Beat finishes by saying they never raced a BT36 with a BT36 plate on it. They always used the 30 plate. Thats not what the press reported, but the paperwork used for the race entry might not been the same as used for border crossing especially if there was a financial insentive to enter it as a 36.
Did chassis numbers get checked at the the race track by the race organisers to see if it matched the paperwork?
The press after all would have been given the list of entries by the race organisers.
I am well out of my depths now, can anyone add to this?
footnote, There must have been a point where 30-17 is recorded by Swiss customs with a double entry. Maybe they did not cross check such things. I know I did this once with a carnet without any resulting problems.
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