March772-05 History? - Page 2

Kevin Miller · 15 May 2003, 05:47 (Ref:1696355)

Thanks David, the forum inspired me to get back into tracing the history and with a bit of detective work traced the second and third owners who were a mine of information. I would still like to somehow trace exactly how/when the tub got from Europe to NZ, but that may be 'mission impossible'. Cheers, Kevin.

Armco Bender · 15 May 2003, 09:42 (Ref:1696356)

I guess by the time the new tub was fitted, NZ was awash with March bits,lots of the cars were bought back here by Kiwis who had been struggling around in F3 in bitsers they cobbled up from parts and returned home with them to do the Atlantic series,
I guess this is the car when run by Finlay as a hillclimber.

Bryan Miller · 15 May 2003, 10:13 (Ref:1696357)

Armco bender, looks like it , he also had untill very recently one of the Gary Clare 77B cars C2 .
Bryan.

Armco Bender · 15 May 2003, 10:18 (Ref:1696358)

Are you going to restore to an authentic colour scheme of one of its past lives?

Kevin Miller · 15 May 2003, 23:23 (Ref:1696359)

Thats the beast, A B. The current distinctive features are the add-on to the top of the roll bar (circa 94-95?) and the step down engine cover(origin unknown-probably Kenny Smith). I guess my thinking at present is to restore it as per Riley car '77 -'78.

Chris Townsend · 16 May 2003, 00:02 (Ref:1696360)

Kevin

I know this is off thread, and should be over on the B29 one, and also probably a bit of a cheek, but if you are in touch with Riley, any chance could you find out who he sold his Chevron to at the end of '75? [and anything else he remembers about it!] I always thought Brett was a really good racer and was disappointed that he went back without making the grade. I remember well his efforts in Dr Erlich's March 762 in the 1978 Aurora series, and one F3 race in 77, Donington I think, where he just ran away from everyone like he was in a different formula. When he was in the mood he was real class.

Chris

Bryan Miller · 16 May 2003, 00:15 (Ref:1696361)

Chris this is also off thread but I have sorted 3 x BT30s , where will I post it ??
Re.Brett Riley, agree , in 90s went very well in N.Z. touring cars.
He is also one of our Modus F3 users I think.
Pls. check Chevron B29 thread.
Bryan.

Kevin Miller · 16 May 2003, 00:59 (Ref:1696362)

Chris, I have had trouble ringing or faxing Brett. I had no trouble in '99 and talked and faxed both him and his father, John. Now there is a message on the old no.(I think from Peter Riley) giving a mobile no., so I am not sure what has happened. I will keep trying to contact as I would like to expand on some of the nitty gritty for my car. I will bring up the Chevron questions too if I make contact. I tried to scan a profile of Brett that I have, but it was unreadable, I think you are right in that he never reached his full potential in Europe. In the profile he considers that his best overseas results were in winning the '77 and '79 F3 races at Donington and his most remembered race and I quote "Donington Park F3 race 1979. European Championship. Qualifying the Unipart March Triumph 14(out of 45). Did not suggest a great race result. However it rained on race day and after finishing 2nd in my heat went on to win the big event defeating Alain Prost and others on verge of F1". His biggest disappointment:-" British Grand Prix F3 support race 1980 Brands Hatch. After qualifying my March-Alfa on pole there was interest shown from both Williams and McLaren. Provided I won there was a possibility of being tested. However the pressure got to me and I made a dreadful start and could only finish 3rd, which effectively was the end of the road in Europe for me". Seems a shame.

Armco Bender · 16 May 2003, 02:20 (Ref:1696363)

Quote:

restore it as per Riley car '77 -'78.

That would look quite tasty in the "BlackHawk" colours.

While Brett Riley was a good driver, the biggest crime in NZ Motorsport was that his arch rival in his FFord days here, Grant Walker was never given the same drives Riley got,Walker could drive the wheels off Brett Riley,it was a real shame he was never put in an Atlantic at the time.

Smellybeard · 26 May 2003, 20:25 (Ref:1696364)

My God! What a minefield!

I'm just about to start the same sort of research on our 74B. I don't have the chassis number handy but I'm not sure it would be that much help. How useful are USAC and SCCA numbers?

Dave.

allenbrown · 26 May 2003, 21:45 (Ref:1696365)

What 74B is that?

SCCA numbers can be very useful.

Allen

Chris Townsend · 26 May 2003, 22:09 (Ref:1696366)

Chassis numbers are definitely a start.
Where did this car come from? I'm presuming that if it has an SCCA number stamped on it it has spent some time in the USA.
In period the only 74B I know to have gone into Ireland was 74B-12 [the Jones/Jordan car now owned by Bryan]
There seem to have been only two 74Bs sold in UK in period [plus Chris Cramer's hillclimb special, all the others went to North America]

Chris

Bryan Miller · 26 May 2003, 23:19 (Ref:1696367)

Smellybeard , suggest you also have a look at the Chevron B29 thread , and wade your way through there , you may pick up some clues.
What makes you define your car as a 74B??
If it is ex U.S.A., did you get the old S.C.C.A. log books etc. as these can be a mine of information.
Bryan.

Bryan Miller · 26 May 2003, 23:24 (Ref:1696368)

Chris, I know this is slightly OT , however do you have any thing on 722-38? I have just been contacted by a chap in Vail Colorado who now owns this car.

Bryan.

Chris Townsend · 27 May 2003, 08:42 (Ref:1696369)

Bryan

Don't have anything on 722-38 but with that number it's probably a July '72 build, and I'd guess that it was originally built to race Atlantic.

Does the guy have anything on it? There were a number of 722s in the US which raced for several years in various states of modification.

Chris

Bryan Miller · 27 May 2003, 10:38 (Ref:1696370)

Chris , thank you , I will start asking questions of the gentleman now,I checked F1R. first and just needed to know if anything was in your records before I went back to him,he did advise that he believed the car only had U.S. history.

Bryan.

allenbrown · 29 May 2003, 13:23 (Ref:1696371)

Also completely OT, do you guys know if Ralt records survive? I'm interested in the 167-172 number range.

Allen

Smellybeard · 29 May 2003, 15:34 (Ref:1696372)

Bryan,

Our March has a chassis plate that calls itself a 74B. It has cast front bukheads, embossed "753" and a steel rere bulkhead. The bodywork is like a works 742 with a huge front overhang and side rads. It has the conical, rere mounted oil tank. The engine frame is for a BD.

Mmmmm... confusion.
I'll have a look for a tub number...

Dave.

Chris Townsend · 30 May 2003, 01:20 (Ref:1696373)

Allen

Ralts 1-72 were listed in Autosport in 1977.
Don't know about the numbers youre after. I guess most of these are RT2s. The nearest I have is 152 raced by Henton at Mugello in 1979.

Chris

allenbrown · 30 May 2003, 06:49 (Ref:1696374)

Chris

Yes, they were probably RT2s but I'd like to know for sure. I was hoping you or Bryan may have tracked down the RT1 and RT4 records for your Atlantic research. Several of the RT2s ended up in Can-Am, which is why I'm interested.

Allen

Bryan Miller · 30 May 2003, 08:21 (Ref:1696375)

Allen , I only have same as Chris.
Ron T. is the guest of honour at Eastern Creek in Sept. for the massive historic meeting held there each year,a question and answer sesion is planned for one night after racing , and I was with Kevin Bartlett today who is going to be the M.C. and we are already dreaming up questions , such as my one , as I only rec'd 1 x petrol filler cap and it is obviously ex some period car , we are going to test his memory and ask what production road car it came off so I can duplicate.

Regards Bryan.

Bryan Miller · 30 May 2003, 08:28 (Ref:1696376)

Smellyb. If the car has a fabricated rear crossmember that the gearbox hangs from , which also bolts to the eng. frames coming from the rear of the tub, then this sort of indicates it is pre. 75 as the 75 cars to the best of my knowledge had a cast magnesium unit as per say 75B-8 which is over here.
Any more questions just ask , it might even be good if you could put up photo's
Regards Bryan.

Chris Townsend · 1 Jun 2003, 18:43 (Ref:1696377)

Allen

RT2 167 was for sale by Dolson a while back. Described as ex Henton/Dougall and then raced in revived Can Am by Gary Gove and Dallenbach

Chris

allenbrown · 1 Jun 2003, 21:27 (Ref:1696378)

Chris

Thanks. That's the one number we do know about and why I'm reasonably confident I'll find the other RT2s not far after it.

Allen

IANHEB · 23 Sep 2003, 07:10 (Ref:1696379)

Guys,
Hope you don't mind me reviving this thread along the March and Ralt lines;
Chris,the Ralt you mentioned RT2-152 was bought by Rackrite Racing and Bernard Tilanus from Toleman sometime in 1981.Apparantly it had been standing for a while.It raced with Klomfass as the driver during the 1981 SA Championships,and was several copies were made and raced under the name "Lant".The original Klomfass Ralt RT1-10 did leave SA at the end of 1976.
Can anyone help with a couple of March 722 queries.Autosport mid Jan 73 reports that Guy Tunmer has bought an ex Peterson 722 for the new SA F2 Champs,but the car that arrives seems to be 722-11(Brett Lunger?).During 1975 Verwey/Ainscough appear with a car entered as a 74B,but is actually 722-17 in Atlantic spec ready for the intoduction of Atlantic in '76.It has 74B bodywork.
These are not one and the same,as 2 cars existed.However,there is scope for error in the reading of a chassis number ( -11,-17,-7,/7,/1 etc etc ).Who last had 11 and 17 ,and when did they dissapear off the European/US scene?
Ian

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