Modus

Chris Townsend · 25 Apr 2003, 14:49 (Ref:1556175)

I'm trying to track down what happened to, [and what were] the Modus M3s run in the Indyatlantic and Shellsport series in 1976 by Dicksons of Perth and sponsored by British Caledonian airline.

They ran in Atlantic with BDAs, and with Swindon BDX engines in G8 - effectively making them F2 cars, but with smaller tankage. They were very quick propositions, especially in the hands of Richard Scott who raced one alongside Norman Dickson.

Both cars were sold to Ireland in 1977, one being used by Des Donnelly and the other by Mike Nugent, who kept until 1979 when he sold it to Patsy McGarrity.

Don't know who got the Scott car and who the Dickson. Don't know the chassis numbers, don't know nuthin'...

The other Modus is even more obscure and perhaps more interesting. It ran in F5000 and was the first car to run in British F5000 with the Ford GAA V6 engine [3.4 litre] and which was, I think, the motor out of the Transit van! It was described as an M5 and was raced by Tom Walkinshaw at the closing races of the 1974 season.

I'm guessing that this engine found its way into the March 75A that ran with a GAA engine the following year, but what was, and what happened to the M5.

And what happened to Modus generally? Teddy Savory and Jo Marquart built a lot of cars for F3 and Atlantic in a short time, before going bust, but you don't see many about in historics and the factory records don't seem to exist. Be pleased to hear from any owners with histories.

Andrew Kitson · 25 Apr 2003, 15:06 (Ref:1556176)

David Sears at Supernova ( In the old Argo factory) at Griston has the rights to the Argo name etc. Perhaps he has some old Modus records too?

Jeremy Jackson · 25 Apr 2003, 16:52 (Ref:1556177)

Chris,

All I can help you with are the chassis numbers from Sheldon (Providing you believe the source!):

Dickson used 025-FA
Scott used 027-FA

Chris Townsend · 25 Apr 2003, 17:25 (Ref:1556178)

Jeremy

I didn't realise that Sheldon had covered the G8 races.
Is that in the F5000 book?

If so, does he give the Walkinshaw car in 1974? Those numbers are a bit odd, because 047 was Phil Sharp's car, and that had [allegedly] been raced by Brise in 1975. [But then again, it might have had a new tub in it, It didn't appear until late on in 76, by which time Modus might well have built another 20 cars.]

I sort of believe in Sheldon, despite the fact that the F2 races are often inaccurate. [this is where I spent a lot of money and then a lot of time trying to reconcile the GP and Voiturette records with what was being said in contemporary reports.] The two things that F1R get badly wrong are a total lack of proofreading, and the assumption that once a chassis number is seen, the driver uses it all season.

One interesting way to check this would be to compare my records for a G8 race [say Brands August '76, where I got a lot of the chassis numbers myself, and still have the records] with Sheldon's.

If I PM you the sheet for this race that will eventually go onto Allen's site, would you check it and mark where Sheldon differs?

Jeremy Jackson · 25 Apr 2003, 18:46 (Ref:1556179)

Have to say I agree with your "gripes" about the books - Especially thr assumption of a chassis being used all season.

Anyway... yeah, drop me a PM or e-mail, and I'll check what I have.

Armco Bender · 25 Apr 2003, 20:30 (Ref:1556180)

Some useless Modus info,2 Atlantic cars came to NZ in '77 for the Altantic series here,John Nicholson(the McLaren engine builder)drove one,and Phil Sharp drove the other.Nicholsons car was sold to local saloon racer Robbie Francevic who heavily modified it and ran it as a "Typhoon".The Sharp car was sold to another saloon racer Steve Emerson,who had a big crash in it.That car is actually for sale on the net,they must have rebuilt it.They were only mid feild runners here.

Chris Townsend · 25 Apr 2003, 21:29 (Ref:1556181)

Armco Bender

That bit about the "Typhoon" is interesting. Was it still a single seater or super-saloon or something?

Can you confirm the name of the guy who had the second car? My notes, which come out of Autosport show it as Steve Empson. Was it really Emerson?
Do you have the address for the car on sale, and do they [I bet they do] describe it as 'ex Brise'?

Too many questions, but thanks for the help!

**Peter Mallett** · 26 Apr 2003, 06:16 (Ref:1556182)

Um,

Can't add too much to this but the GAA 3.4 litre engine was actually the Cosworth built V6 that Ford used in it's 1973/4 Group 2 Capri. I know that David Purley used one in an F5000 car (don't know what) in 1976.

The Transit connection comes from the fact that the block was the V6 Essex block but in order to cope with the stresses in Group 2 it was er, enhanced(?).

Armco Bender · 26 Apr 2003, 07:28 (Ref:1556183)

Chris,the Nicholson car was purchased by Robbie Francevic who modified it with new angular(ugly,it looked pretty homemade) bodywork,it was raced as a "Typhoon" Atlantic,as they(a kitchen appliance company) were Francevics main sponsor at the time.He drove it a couple of seasons in the Altantic series here.The new body work didnt make it go any better than it did as a Modus.The cars weren't really competitive in the '77 series.
The Phil Sharp car was sold to Datsun saloon racer Steve Emson,Emson didn't race it long before he had a major accident,I'm pretty sure he never raced again after it and I'm sure the car was pretty much destroyed.This is the site with the Modus for sale http://www.ralt.com.au/restoration.htm .As it says it is the ex Brise/Emson car,but it must have been built from a lot of parts.

Chris Townsend · 26 Apr 2003, 08:15 (Ref:1556184)

The Sharp - Emson Modus. At least the ad is right when it says that it was built in the UK from parts. If I'm right, Phil Sharp was a New Zealander working at Modus, and he built the car himself to race in the Atlantic series here, then took it home with him for the '77 Tasman. Graham Vercoe, in his often unreliable book on NZ Motor racing, gives the car chassis number 047. This is about right for a Modus built in mid 1976. Problem is, Tony Brise couldn't have driven it. Brise finished with Modus in mid 75, and would have had a chassis number lower than 25 [the lowest build number for a car produced in April 76].

Also, a Modus M3 was sold in late 75 to Mike Domingo in S.Africa. This was also claimed to be ex Brise, and given the date of sale might have a better case. Any S.African correspondents care to help on this?
[Two Modus M3 went to ZA for the 76 series there, one brand new for Dave Charlton, who gave up on it and bought a March, and the other for Team Domingo.]

Did Sharp use Brise's rev counter I wonder, or the clutch pedal? Where do you get Modus parts these days, without using another car?

Armco Bender · 27 Apr 2003, 02:51 (Ref:1556185)

Just been reading a book at the library it also had the Sharp car as 047,said it had been used by Brise as an F3 before conversion to an Atlantic.Sharp had a big crash in the opening NZ race and the car was rebuilt before Emson took it over for the 4th race in the series,then he had his big crash in so there cant have been many original parts left on it.
The Nicholson/Francevic car was 066.

Bryan Miller · 4 May 2003, 08:00 (Ref:1556392)

For the record I am the Senior Historic Eligibility Officer for C.A.M.S in Oz , handling the post 1960 Racing and Sports Racing cars and have been for some years.

Re. Modus, I have just 2 Months ago sold to dear brother the ex.Brise/Gygax/Nicholson/Frankevic Modus M1-022-F.A.75

Bryan Miller · 4 May 2003, 09:50 (Ref:1556393)

Walkinshaw Modus, M5 / GAA, this was destroyed in snappy Tom's accident when he claimed the steering wheel broke, letter /article by I think Intertech, wheel manufacturer refuted this, seemed to be a case of Tom throwing car at closest hard object and then blaming broken steering wheel.
In 3 years worth of Modus info searching, I never found another mention of car, so maybe this car really was destroyed

Chris Townsend · 4 May 2003, 09:53 (Ref:1556394)

Don't want to preempt a Modus debate, but M1-022? Brise - Gygax makes sense. The number makes sense for the car that Brise ran from mid season 75. But Nicholson - Francevic? I thought that was M3-066

Tell me more! Please?!

.

Bryan Miller · 4 May 2003, 11:04 (Ref:1556396)

Modus .ref. at start of 75 series in autosport refers to a new car for Brise with different body and bulkheads. At first the way it is written made me think they had pulled the tub apart and then refettled it, but I dont't believe that happened. I think it was a brand new car. Brise used this car with good effect until Monaco F3 race where Autosport reports that he converted to Atlantic car .
He won 1 heat and was disputing final with [I can't remember] until Brise ran up the back wheel of ?????? and took them both out.
Atlantic support race British Grand Prix, Autosport reports Brise in newly built up car and Ruedi Gygax in Brise's ex Monaco F3, which is actually his reconverted Atlantic.
Brise crashes in practice in the F1 and run either but both Brise and Gygax are in Atlantic programme.
After this meeting Brise carries on to finish winning Atlantic c/ship in new car and it is even driven at least once by Tim Brise.
Meanwhile, John Nicholson does some sort of deal and runs the ex Gygax Atlantic car updated ???? in the last 4 rounds of the Southern Organs Series, damaging it at, if my memory is correct, Oulton Park, [QUOTE GIVING DAVE PRICES boys some work to do ]]
John must have purchased car, maybe on the 'you bend it, you own it' scheme, anyway I can't find any record of him using it in 1976, but real late in 76, they send it to N.Z. for the Peter Stuyvesant Series where he came 4th overall, then sold it to Robbie Frankievic.
The rest I can update some other time, however I rang John Nicholson just after buying car and asked him about it .
Fabulous conversation, about 1995, he absolutely refused to believe he ran the car in 1975 and said he was in Canada looking after his engine customers, until I insisted and faxed him the results out of Autosport.
I then phoned a few nights later and he said he still did not believe it except he had to because of the results and dates. He asked if I had got all the spares that went to N.Z. with the car, and when I said no, he said there was a /////load, so I got in touch with Ken Smith where both mine and the ex Sharp/Emson car came from, and sure enough Ken had some of them, namely the 4 front and 2 rear uprights which are the hard parts to replace.
After the Oulton Park crash, which crinkled tub, I rather think, but have no evidence that when the decision was made to go to N.Z. they slid a new tub in my car and that is how it comes to carry chassis pl. M1-022-F.A.75 ., but tub. no. is 054-7-76.
Modus was gone about now, end 76, after Teddy Savoury blew his brains out with a shotgun, and this could well be the last tub they did.

Another poser, at the Monaco F3 race, also entered, were Danny Sullivan in what was at least a semi-works entry and Ruedi Gygax. Gygax failed to qualify and Sullivan stuffed his into a tree or something, so they robbed Gygax's car for Sullivan.
I should have mentioned earlier I have acopy of the Modus works records, along with Marcus Pye and Peter Denty.
Did you know these existed ??????
Anyway, in that list originally scheduled by factory as works/brise.
But also shows 022 as 1976 car forMike/Joe Domingo in Sth. Africa with ex Gygax running gear.
Nobody had found the tub no. on my car until I discovered it, and the car very definitely carries the chassis plate to this day.
Iwill fill in the rest of the history of both N.Z. Modus soon.

Bryan Miller · 4 May 2003, 11:19 (Ref:1556397)

Correction , what I should have said was list states 022 as originally scheduled by factory as works/Brise but also---------

Chris Townsend · 4 May 2003, 13:05 (Ref:1556399)

Bryan

The Modus sales records! We've been looking for those [see related thread on the Dickson/Scott/Walkinshaw cars]. Do you have any other little gems tucked away there? I'm worried about my heart...

The Domingo car is described in race reports as "new" when it first appears and "ex Brise" later in the season. So we know we have a problem there.

Can you clarify a few of the more obvious Atlantic queries from the records? [I hope they're obvious, but the saga of your car suggests this isn't going to be the case.]
1: Brise's car mid 74 M1 or M3 converted F3 to Atlantic
2: M3 sold new to Dave Charlton end 75
3: M3s sold to Norman Dickson/Dicksons of Perth early 76. F1R list as 025 and 027.
4: M5 run by Tom Walkinshaw in F5000 at end 74 early 75 with GAA engine
5: M7 run by works for Grob in F2 in 76
6: Any sales to US or Canada
7: Is the Sharp-Empson car 047? [Another ex Brise car with a new tub? Perhaps the 74 car?]

I do agree with you about the unreliability of Vercoe's numbers in many areas. Allen Brown and I have certainly experienced this in researches on F5000. But the funny thing is that many of the numbers that David McKinney gave us last night tally with Vercoe [perhaps because Vercoe got his facts from Motoraction.]

Johnny Nick did spend a lot of time in Canada in '75 - he ran the Tui in the Players' series, where he did have a lot of customers. But funny how the memory plays tricks.

Chris Townsend · 4 May 2003, 13:20 (Ref:1556400)

Snappy Tom's wheel breaking... I was reading about this yesterday. We are talking about the accident at the British GP Atlantic support race? Tom blamed everything but brain fade. The race report suggests that the car was absolutely totalled.
Are you saying that this car was the same one that Walkinshaw had raced in F5000 with the GAA, converted to Atlantic?

Bryan Miller · 4 May 2003, 14:36 (Ref:1556402)

Chris, I thing faster than I type .
These are Atlantic portions of Modus records.
M1-009-FA Works car.

M4-011-SH 1975 Ken McMaster hillclimb car.

M5-021-F5 1975 Tom Walkinshaw 3.4 GA

M1-022-F.A.1975 scheduled by factory as works/Brise.

N.B.factory records also show 022 as 1976 car for Mike/Joe Domingo in Sth. Africa , with new 16swg. monocoque with ex Gygax running gear.

M3-024-F.A. 24-9-75 Dave Charlton , Sth. Africa Nicholson/McLaren B.D.A. N.M.E.047 ,F.T.200/1038

M3-025-F.A. 18/12/75 Dickons of Perth / Norman Dickson Nicholson McLaren N.M.E. 046 , F.T.200 /1039

M3-027-F.A. 18/12/75 Dickons of Perth / Richard Scott
own 2nd. hand eng. F.T.200/1043

M3-034-F.A. 1976

B.Miller notes .untill about 2 months ago this was for sale on internet , with ch.pl. photo which I saw and confirm as 034 ,said to have been Swiss Hillclimb car.
Silver and Pink . Will advise site name tomorrow.

M7-039-F2 1976 Works / Ian Grob.

M3-041-F.A. 1976 xxxxx Bentson U.S.A. production started 27/3/76.

Mi-047-F3 factory records show 1976 works/rental car

Do you have a fax no. and I will fax the whole lot .

That should keep you busy in the meantime.

I Need to check Autosport re Snappy Toms cars.,will advise.

Bryan Miller · 4 May 2003, 14:51 (Ref:1556404)

Should add the F.T.200 in my car is 959 , so the date is about correct for the car given the numbers on the other Atlantic cars.

Bryan Miller · 6 May 2003, 00:47 (Ref:1556418)

Chris , one thing on Modus is very clear that is , whilst M1 and M3 were supposed to mean different models all the race reports I am revisiting re. 022 change from 1 meeting to the next but it is still the same car.
Modus are just as big a mess as all other Marques , as we seem to have more Atlantic entities out and about than the ch. lists suggest.
E.G , as I believe I am correct in my 022 , see A/S july 24 p.44/45 , Nick Jordan had built up a new M1 round a new tub following Brands . See also where G ygax is reported in ex. Brise hired ex. Monaco F.3 chassis, see report A/S may 15 p26 , Tony Brise in his converted Atlantic Modus ,
to my mind this leaves us with no no. to allocate to the car built up for the British G.P. and after.???????

Bryan Miller · 6 May 2003, 23:15 (Ref:1556429)

Re. Modus 034 ,untill about 6/8 weeks ago www.carclassic .com had it for sale,perhaps you can enquire of them they are based in Geneva .

Richard Young · 7 May 2003, 22:49 (Ref:1556186)

Ha...
I'm a new boy here, but I noticed the question about Moduses (Modi ?). One of the Irish ones - don't know if it was the Donnelly or McGarrity car - was last seen in the hands of Pat Plunkett in Dublin. He had a couple of chunky accidents in it, the last when he tangled with a real, live mountain in a Galway hill climb. The mountain won.
I'm sure Pat is about somewhere, and may even read this.....

Chris Townsend · 7 May 2003, 23:17 (Ref:1556187)

Richard

Hi and welcome to the madness of the histories of cars in the "lesser" formulae.

According to what Bryan Miller has sent me about Modus the Plunkett car was M3-027 and went from Dickson to Tyrrell Arnold for hillclimbs and then to Pat. It seems as though there was a spare Dickson tub at least M3-048 which was also raced by Ian Grob for the works, and this was the car that went to Kinnane for Donnelly. On this basis M3-025 should be the Nugent and McGarrity car. It would be good to hear from ex Atlantic racers in Ireland. I just discovered the other day that Patsy McGarrity also raced in the TT [the bike one] in the 1960s - must have been quite a boy.

Armco Bender · 8 May 2003, 11:41 (Ref:1556191)

A poor picture I know,but I just spotted it when I was surfing along,Robbie Francevic in the Typhoon sponsored Modus,prior to its rebuilding as the "Typhoon".It was pale yellow in colour.