Alan Jones at Castle Combe in 1970

[Pete Stowe]

Hi there. allenbrown suggested someone here might be able to answer this.

Was anyone at Castle Combe on 14 March 1970 who can help solve a small mystery?

The program for that club meeting lists Jones as driver of No. 15 Merlyn Mk 11A 1600 (entered by P&M Racing Preparations) in Race 3 for single-seater & sports-racing cars.
For Race 5 Formula Ford the program lists Brian McGuire in No. 15 Merlyn Mk 11A (entered by P&M)

The Motoring News report by Archie Lund has Jones finishing 4th in Race 3, and mentions McGuire in Race 5. However Alan Henry’s report in Autosport has McGuire 4th in Race 3, and makes no mention of either of them in Race 5.

So, was Henry on the ball, spotting a driver change for Race 3, or did he just get confused over the pair of them sharing a car?

Jones’ biography Driving Ambition doesn’t help, being a bit vague on that period when he teamed up with McGuire in Earls Court selling Minivans to Aussies and first began racing in the UK.

Later in 1970 AJ did appear at ‘Combe with an F3 Brabham BT28 in Formula Libre races on 31 Aug (5th) and 12 Sept (3rd), and then again in August ‘71 when he scored his first F3 win, ahead of Colin Vandevell and Jody Scheckter. But did he race at ‘Combe in March 1970?