Ralt RT 1

[Dan Rear]

Chris, -64 wasn't used by Alo in FAt here. He bought Ray M's RT1-66 after the 79 season, used it early-mid 1980 here, then sold to Tom O'Leary. So he owned both -64 and -66, the former as a F2, the latter FAt.

[Chris Townsend]

Dan

Thanks for the correction, he only ran 64 in the AFX series! But what did he do with 35?

Chris

[Steve Wilkinson]

Terry Perkins - Thruxton Easter Monday 1978

[Dan Rear]

Great pic Steve, but its Larrykins in fact, not Terrykins. This car didn't do much that year, its best race was the 79 'Ring F2 race, with Winklehock, 3rd.

[Dan Rear]

Re that RT1, no. 99, the ex-Cassani car. I met James Ledamun and his dad yesterday at Cadwell, what a great couple of blokes!

James said he sold the car, but has another RT1 now. I'm not sure how much I can say about what he told me, so I'll say nowt!!

[driftwood]

the car he has is a car i dialled him into last year
we have discussed a while ago
not sure what it is has no tag all we know is Blaton owned the car believed ex euro hillclimb car a german owner was mentioned driving it sometime in the 70`s/80`s but we cant find much on it and its not worthy of pursuing to hard
1 day someone is going to walk upto the car and mumble all about it
i think its F3 car converted to run the euro hills

[Dan Rear]

Thats what James told me too DW. He also said he and his Dad have another single seater, a v rare UK based 80s one, but again I'll say nothing in case I say the wrong thing! Though Drifty probably knows about this too...

[driftwood]

Erlrich i cant recall the year i dont think its the mid 70`s Flux atlantic car i know its got march uprights on it it might be 79-80 model not seen it for 2 years when it was a tub on stands

[Dan Rear]

Thats what James and Ralph told me too Drifty. They said it IS the 1980-82 Atlantic car, and has a 792-ish nose. This would make it that car, tho' it may well have been based on the 1976-77 RP4 F3 car. They said they thought it had some March 762 parts, and mentioned the name Richard Robarts. This would make sense as OTOH Dr E ran the ex-Robarts 762 in Aurora 78 for Brett Riley on occasion.

[driftwood]

a mate of mine knows Robarts via a friend
in our conversations on race cars he has mentioned the myson f3 F3 march cars etc

[jamesl]

I'm not 100% sure what year the car is, but looking at some of the parts I suspect it might be a 1970 something Erlich F2, which has modified over the years. The thing has got original 1976 twin F2 sized fuel tanks, March F2 76/78 suspension, and F2 wheels. In the 1990's it ran as a hillclimb car with a 2000cc FVC and FG400. Bizarely, the front baulkead is held on with 4 bolts, and off this the front suspension is bolted. All in all its not as good as a RT1, or as desirable as a 782, but its quite a nice little thing, especially if you like odd ball stuff.

The Jean Blaton BMW hillclimb car should be ready for the Euro F2 round at Silverstone in May 08. We have changed the engine frames and will be running the car as a 1600cc Atlantic. Good to see you at Cadwell Dan.

[driftwood]

are u sure elrich is not an FA car i cant recall F2 car from them I dont have my book to hand ) but i am waiting to be corrected!!!

[Dan Rear]

Like DW, I don't think any Ehrlich ever ran in F2 spec, not even in G8/AFX. F£ and FAt only from memory. The car I assume James has, the ex-Fluxie RP5, went very well though against more modern and 'better' cars eg RT4s, Tigas, newer Marches, though that might have been due to Fluxie himself more than the car. Didn't it win the odd FAt race here in 1980-82??

[Chris Townsend]

There were two F Atlantic Ehrlichs 5A and 5B first one 1980 second one early 81. Thatcher ran the 1980 car in the first round at Brands in 1981 and Flux the new car. Don't know what happened to the older car after this as Ehrlich didn't field a two car team after this

Chris

[jamesl]

Does anyone know if Joseph Erlich built his own tubs for the FA cars? This tub looks a March thats had the front cut off (possibly inspired after an accident to a March tub?) Joseph Erlich did enter cars in F2 for 1978. At Thruxton in 78 he entered a March 762 (which according to Rablagatti's result book had no chassis plate) Could a 762 been the basis of my Ehrlich? This would certainly help explain the March 762 fuel tanks and suspension.

[Dan Rear]

Originally Posted by driftwood

the other P4 cheever car is in UK racing with bmw

Drifty, is this the one John's posted a pic of, the Richard Eyre car?

[driftwood]

show me the post if its the french car then no
RE now has the ex tony thompson Cheever car now painted in correct livery

[John Turner]

I think Dan means this one (HSCC Silverstone, 10/11 May, thread):-

Originally Posted by John Turner

Another early retirement was Richard Eyre in the Ralt RT1. He lasted 4 laps:-

[driftwood]

thats it today car used io be green when Tony ran it
only 2 true f2 ralts in UK both in RE garage
others are in euro land
heard 1 rt1 has arrived from usa im assuming its FA car to a man who did race 1 in "period" or a tad after they where new

[phdm]

Eddy D'Hoe (Belgium) told me he bought a Ralt RT1 F3 rolling chassis circa 1980 from Roger Cowman in/near Derby.
He also bought an FT200, a BMW M12/7 and other bits and pieces to convert it to F2 and hillclimbed the car in Belgium.
He did not really like the car as he had difficulty setting it up properly.
He also bought a Martini nose from Marcel Tarrès.
He later sold the car to Jean Blaton.

[driftwood]

aha so that is the car that has floated around in UK last 2 years from JB collection as an f2- i always thought it was f3 due to narrow wishbones it had no eng gbox when it came out of the collection

it has now been made into bda FA spec car to race in hscc DBT/Euro F2 series

[jamesl]

Originally Posted by phdm

Eddy D'Hoe (Belgium) told me he bought a Ralt RT1 F3 rolling chassis circa 1980 from Roger Cowman in/near Derby.
He also bought an FT200, a BMW M12/7 and other bits and pieces to convert it to F2 and hillclimbed the car in Belgium.
He did not really like the car as he had difficulty setting it up properly.
He also bought a Martini nose from Marcel Tarrès.
He later sold the car to Jean Blaton.

Thanks Philippe for filling in some of the gaps in the cars history pre Blaton - I will get you a beer next time I see you at Spa for your investigation work.

Do you know when Eddy D'Hoe sold the car to Blaton? We are currently doing the FIA papers, so it would be as good to get as much information and dates as possible. Did he achieve any good hillclimb results?
Kevan's right, we have changed the 2000cc BMW M12 engine frames for BDA, and it now runs as an Atlantic. Interestingly, IMO this car handles better than my old Cassani F2 RT1 did when I raced it in EF2 from 2006-2007.
In the context of RT1's, the D'Hoe / Blaton car doesnt have the glamourous F2 pedigree of others, but it is what it is with its F3 / F2 hillclimb history and is a cracking car to drive.

[phdm]

James,
I regret I did not ask him precise dates.
He said he bought the R/C when it was 4 years old.
I know at the same time that this car followed the Brabham BT36 he had before and that he sold in 1980.
I don't know when he sold it to JB.
I suggest you contact him. He is very nice and open.
He now runs an MG restoration business and you can find his details on his website as follows: www.classic-cars.be

phdm

[driftwood]

worth chasing the cars f3 history maybe better option for the car

[Chris Townsend]

Thinking aloud...
Wasn't John Village's RT1 run by Cowman in 1980?
That was an ex John Neilsen car also used by Nogues in 1979

Chris