British Sprint Championship Round

Curborough, 12 Jun 1977

Notes on the cars:

1. McRae GM1 [012] (Dave Harris): See full history: McRae GM1/012.
2. March 772 [762-5?] (Allan Humphries): Allan Humphries (Bath, Somerset) raced a March 762 in sprints and hillclimbs in 1977, starting at Curborough in June. The 762 replaced a March 702 he had used earlier in the season, and at first it used the same 1600cc Ford engine. In 1978, he upgraded the 762 to a 2.1-litre Hart engine, and was highly competitive over the next two seasons. In a sprint at Lydden Hill in August 1979 he crashed heavily and the March was reported to have been "written off". Humphries bought an ex-F1 March 761 which he converted to Cosworth GAA power and ran in 1980. At the Blackpool sprint in August, Humphries recorded second best time behind Mark Williams' F1 Hesketh 308E, but the throttle stuck open as he crossed the line and the 761 was badly damaged. He rebuilt the car on a 762 tub, almost certainly the one he had damaged at Lydden, and he continued to race the 761/762 until the end of 1981. What happened next is too ugly to relate, and does not speak highly of the motor racing trade. The complete car went in one direction and the old 761 tub in another, and before long both were claimed to be the actual 761. Then one was rebuilt on a new monocoque, and both it and the replaced tub (a 762 tub remember) were claimed to be "the" 761. Then the rebuilt one spawned a complete clone, which was also claimed to be the "real" 761. One of these four went to Germany where, within a very short time, the owner claimed it had been in a museum for 20 years. If you ever decide to buy a 761, ask plenty of questions.
3. March 702 [6] (Peter Fisk): Although given the number 702/6 by March, this was the development F2 car built using the very first Arch Motors frame. It raced just once in 1970 when Howden Ganley appeared in it at Mantorp Park in August. At the start of 1971, it was fitted with a Vegantune twin cam for Formula Atlantic, and was driven by David Morgan at the Mallory Park round in March, taking pole position and winning. He was second in the next race at Castle Combe, but then the car was advertised by March, and bought by John Nicholson, who used it for the rest of that season. Advertised by Nicholson (Ashford, Middlesex) in August 1972. Bought from Nicholson in October 1972 by Martin Steele (Faringdon, Oxfordshire) and used in sprints in 1973 and the first half of 1974. Sold in July 1974 to Peter Fisk (Cambridge) who raced it in speed events from 1974 to 1979. The car was fitted with a BDA engine, and Fisk sometimes shared with Robert Glass, also of Cambridge. Fisk advertised the car in October 1980 and sold it back to Steele in March 1981. Steele restored it and used it in UK historic racing in 1985 and 1986. Retained until sold in November 1998 to Mike Scott (Exeter, Devon) who drove it in FORCE events in 2003, and later appeared with it in Masters events in 2006. Sold in 2009 to Satoshi Onishi (Miharuno, Japan) and used by him in Japanese historic events.

Sources

The identification of individual cars in these results is based on the material presented elsewhere in this site and may in some cases contradict the organisers' original results.

The British Sprint Championship results were originally provided by Paul Parker and Steve Wilkinson and are based on material drawn from Motoring News, Autosport and Speedscene magazines plus results sheets and programmes provided by former competitors and by the organising clubs.

The identification of individual cars is based on the Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 5000 and Formula Atlantic research work presented elsewhere on the site.

All comments, clarifications, corrections and additions are most welcome. Please email Allen (allen@oldracingcars.com) if you can help in any way with our research.