Ralt RT 4

[Pete Brennan]

Chris

The 2 USA cars,Farrell has no ID# that i know of,will try to get hold of him to clarrify.The other, RT4-311 Michael Henderson.
Other 82's if you are interested.
John Clegg New Zealand RT4-286
Graham Mein Australia RT-4 292 ex Dan Marvin
Vince Holland RT4-313 Australia ex Lawrence
Pete Brennan RT4-331 Australia ex Alan Jones/Allison/Oxton
RT4-344 is here somewhere,but was only a slider,needs work

Pete

[Chris Townsend]

Pete

311 was the car of Canadian driver Brian Mcloughlin. Very lightly raced in period [at least by McLoughlin] who sold the car in 83 after one pro race and a few Canadian Clubs... I lose it after that. Does Michael Henderson have any back history into the mid 80s? [All the RT4s used in the USA in 84, bar one, are 81-83 build so second-hand history is essential]
If Farrell has tub/fuel cell nos can probably identify, as I recently did with Mark Moore's car in the USA.

286 was originally an American car too - run by Lane Sports for one of Rosen, Hunter or Rodriguez. Back history useful here too for same reason as 311.

292: Dan Marvin? When? This too was Lane Sports car in 82, but run in NZ series in early 83 for Mike Rosen. [chassis noted by David McKinney] Rebuilt on "new" tub after shunt at NZGP '83. This was the original tub out of RT4-355 [Norm Hunter] so if we're lucky it should now have tub 83/9 in it, not 82/158. [This might be the Marvin connection, as 355 was an Alan McCall car, and he ran Marvin later in the 80s.]

313 new to Lawrence and rented to some very useful drivers in its time.

331 Graham Watson/Bob Jane and used by Jones/Allison and Oxton

Chris

[Chris Townsend]

Missed one:
344 was an American car. Somewhere between August and October 82 delivery.
No idea who for, so again, any back history is useful.
Gradually sorting out RT4s for Atlantic histories in the 1980s, and since about a quarter of the build seems to now live in Australia that could solve a lot of problems!

Chris

[Pete Brennan]

Chris
292 maybe correct for Rosen,my mistake maybe was thinking it was the Marvin car,Graham Mein has 2 x 82 RT4's,the other is RT4-317 which maybe the Marvin car.Also will get the AM# off 292 from Mein

311 Will contact Hendo next week

286 John Clegg has no idea of history

344 will locate car

Pete

[Chris Townsend]

Does anyone in Australia have a contact for Andrew Miedecke?
There's a peculiarity in RT4 history he can help with

[Bryan Miller]

Col Haste has just moved to the country of N.S.W. and Andrew Miedecke owns virtually all the car dealerships in Port Macquarrie where Col is , so send him a P.M. maybe.

Bryan.

[andy97]

Great photos - RT2/3/4/ series are some of my favourite ever cars - but its interesting to see how many helemt appear to at the same level as the top of the roll bar!

[Charles Warner]

Good to see these cars. I have just picked up RT4-254 (Robertson Team car) and RT4-259 (Schollum). We are in the process of manufacturing new factory spec rear wings as well as rear wing mounts. Also mild steel exhaust headers. Any interest from that side of the water?

[Chris Townsend]

Charlie

Not sure how much use the team got from 254 as this car went to Mark Moore, mid 81 and the works didn't run a car until later in the season.

259 was indeed new to Schollum for Steve Millen, but it looks as though
after Long Beach 82 the car was sold in the USA, because at Trois Rivieres
Price Cobb turns out in a car, run by Sanders Racing, that is described as 'ex Millen' NZ champ winner. Then I have an add from "Rick" in Denver in On Track 30.7.84 p. 72 selling a '81 RT4 ex Cobb, and guess it is this car as Cobb only ran the Sanders car in late 82 season.
Any suggestions on who Rick might have been?

Chris

[Charles Warner]

Chris,

The logbook on the Schollum car shows the following owners.

Allen Michelet
Bob Kucharski
Kurt Hansen
Steve Hull
Don Huston
Roy Buralli
myself.

I can look at the logbook for 254 after I get homr from this trip.

[Charles Warner]

Chris,

Do we have a comprehensive list of who owns the 1980-1982 RT-4s? I know Derek has 2 1980 versions, I have 2 1981 versions, Dale Lang has a 1981 RT-4 and a 1981 RT-2. Others? Any websites devoted to these cars?

[mathew]

Require all imformation, photos, logos etc for atlantic ralt driven by Thomas Skaff,toledo Oh #22 Ralt RT-4/ Paine Webber/ Quaker State raced Montreal, Grand Prix Labatt of Canada, June 14 1986. The Atlantic event formed part of the e-z wider challenge series. the ralt was owned by T.Carmichael from 82-86 then Peter Gates 86-88. scca log book ID# 29-152 and model RT4-354.
The vehicle was imported to Australia in 2001. Asking for help to restore this ralt to its most significant history.

[Chris Townsend]

Mathew, Hi. Consigned to Ralt American late 1982 [no date in sales record
but probably early November.] Original tub 82/8 or 82/5. Gearbox FT1561
Fuel cell Marston JM39256.

Might T.Carmichael be Dan Carmichael? 7th with an RT4 in 1984 SCCA run-offs
Can't find any pro results for a Carmichael in 1983 or in 84 WCAR, which suggests
SCCA history
Afraid don't have Atlantic history from 1985 onwards anything like complete yet, but would guess used in ECAR and SCCA
Peter Gates uses a March 81A throughout 1986 so I guess he bought it at the end of the season.

Looks as though this might be a lightly raced car and its ECAR appearances would be the high point.

Chris

[Ol'_Motorhead]

It's a long shot but I think a fellow racer may have run that event in '86 with in a Player's Challenge Camero in a support race. He may have the entry, program, etc. I'll check with him and let you know. Here's a link that shows the results. HTH.

http://www.autocourse.ca/archives/us.../fatlantic.htm

Season's greetings to all.
Cheers.

[Ol'_Motorhead]

Followup to my last post, the chap I had in mind didn't run that event.
However I see your man did finish the race, albeit well down the field but if nothing else it confirms the car was there.
Formula Car magazine (USA) likely covered that event well. You might try searching out the July or August issue to see what they may have. I have a partial collection of that mag but none from that year.
Cheers.

[mathew]

Thanks all for feed back,can any help with driving history of Tom Skaff or help with sponsor colour scheme of vehicle from 86 GP.

[Neptune]

Mathew,

With almost complete certainty, your T. Carmichael is actually Dan Carmichael, of Bexley, part of the metropolitan Columbus, Ohio. Dan was quite a skilled racer, only retiring from active competition within the last 10 years. He is legendary in this area as a driver of Sunbeam Alpines and Tigers back in the 60's and later with formula cars, mostly SCCA FB and FAtl. He won his last SCCA national championship at around age 75 in the late 90s, in I believe a Ralt RT 40 or 41.

I think Dan was a fighter pilot in the Korean war and the skills of flying served him well in race cars.

I guess the reason I am fairly certain of this is that you included the SCCA logbook/ rollbar number, 29-152. For those not familiar with this numberiing system, the first part of the number is the SCCA region where the car was registered and the 2nd part is the consecutive number assigned by that region. And region #29 is Ohio Valley Region, of which I was a member for over 25 years and it is based here in Columbus.

I would not be surprised if Dan didn't have some photos of the car when he was running it.

Roger

[Charles Warner]

If Dan drove the car it should show some modifications relative driver size. I believe Dan is about 6'5" or so. I believe he usually stretched the tubs about 4 inches.

[mathew]

Thanks Roger & Charles,have searched for contact of Dan although not successful can any one advise?Dan Carmichael Jr, Naval aviator ace flew in WW2.

[Neptune]

Mathew,

I'll contact him for you if you wish. I bought some tools and weber jets from him when he retired from racing and he should be in the local phone book. I've already checked to see if he was in the last OVR member directory, but he must have dropped out after he quit racing. Charlie is right, he is pretty tall, but not so sure he is so tall he would have to stretch the tub to fit.

Roger

[mathew]

Roger, can you also enquire to when Dan sold ralt to Tom Skaff. Spoke to R.P Gates who purchased vehicle from Skaff damaged in 1987. I think late 85 early86 as log book does not show pass of ownership to Skaff although there is entries in log book.
Matt

[dereklola]

Chris

Could you look up RT4-357 on your list please. It has just, maybe, surfaced here in the US. The pages you sent me only go to 350 [at my request] which was delivered in Oct 1982. Hope 357 is on there - date, colour, AM#, Cell# etc all appreciated. Current owner thinks it is a rare 1983 model - how many are there on the list? Has been rebuild with a Bahner tub.

Thx - Derek

[Charles Warner]

Chris,

As the "other one" I am wondering if you have any data on how many RT4s of each year were built. Especially 1983 and 1984. I was under the impression that quite a few 1983 models were built but less than 10 1984 models. One source is saying 130 1983 cars were built and this sounds a bit high to me. I would guess more like 40-50 units. Do you have the correct numbers? This is the same issue that Derek is asking about.

Cheers,

[dereklola]

Doug Nye's book says 10 in 1983 and 2 in 1984 - but we know he's been wrong before. Chris - can you help?

[Charles Warner]

Derek,

I have seen at least 4 different 1984s for sale at various times - and they were ALL driven by Michael Andretti! (I believe Mikey went to CART in the KRACO car in 1984 but the urban legend is that he drove the 1984 RT4. I believe he drove the 1983 RT4 in 1983 with the first race at Long Beach in a Tiga Atlantic.)