AUTOSPORT HISTORICS
26 25 JULY 2019 AUTOSPORT HISTORICS
The inter-marque battles that raged
between drivers of charismatic Abarth,
Chevron and Lola chassis – plus
representatives of numerous other
manufacturers such as Alpine, Astra,
Daren, Grac, GRD, March, Martin, Nomad,
Taydec and TOJ, with Alfa Romeo and
Porsche taking bit-part roles – in the
European 2-Litre Sportscar Championships
of 1970-75 are still fondly remembered.
Especially by those who competed and
dyed-in-the-wool prototype racing fans.
From the inaugural season, from which
Swiss-domiciled Swede Jo Bonnier
(Lola-Cosworth FVC T210) emerged
with the drivers’ crown and Brian
Redman sealed the manufacturers’ title
for Chevron after the most dramaticBut for factory Renault and Honda V6
intervention, March Engineering, with
its powerful BMW engines, ruled the
European Formula 2 Championship roost
for much of its 1972-84 two-litre era, its
works drivers winning five titles. Despite
the odds being stacked against them, this
did not deter others from trying, indeed
in the case of American Fred Opert’s
works-assisted Chevron team it merely
heightened its will to succeed in 1977-78,
with Brian Hart’s 420R engines.
Logistics – including a parallel Formula
Atlantic programme in North America
that sometimes sidetracked star driver
Keke Rosberg in 1977 – and running
‘guest’ drivers may have defused an
all-out championship assault by the bluff
New Jersey motor trader’s team, managed
by Dick Bennetts. Nonetheless it chased
individual race victories with vigour
when moustachioed Finn Rosberg was
in town to head-up a three-car assault.
Rosberg’s finest hour came at Enna-
Pergusa, but for a couple of chicanes a
flat-out blast around a lake in central
Sicily in July 1977. Keke finished second
in both heats, behind Eddie Cheever
(Ralt-BMW RT1) and Rene Arnoux
(Martini-Renault MK22) to win the
Gran Premio del Mediterraneo title on
aggregate. How the pale blue Chevron
B40 survived the intense heat and
Rosberg’s flamboyant kerb-hopping
driving style remains a mystery.
The old warhorse, still fitted with
one of its period Hart 420Rs, was
subsequently hillclimbed in Franceby Yves Martin and Gerard Godeneche,
and was acquired by Simon Hadfield
and your writer Marcus Pye in 2001.
Memories of racing it, restored to
original spec by Hadfield’s team, to a
class-winning third – behind Michael
Schryver and Hadfield in F5000 Trojan
T101 and Chevron B37, and ahead of
Stuart Tilley in our FAtlantic Modus –
in a team 1-2-3-4 on Brands Hatch’s GP
circuit in 2004 are indelible. Terry Fisher
now races it in HSCC Historic F2 events.1973 LOLA T292 ‘HU55’
CURRENT OWNER GRANT REID
1977
CHEVRON
B40-77-06
CURRENT OWNER^
TERRY FISHER
finale on the fearsome long Spa road
course, high-speed rivalries continued to
promulgate incredibly tough competition
on both the car and engine fronts.
Eric Broadley’s Lola Cars landed both
championships in 1971 through top driver
Helmut Marko (the most influential
selector in Red Bull’s driver programme
nearly 50 years later), Vic Elford and
Bonnier in T212s. Arturo Merzario led
a new Abarth-Osella onslaught in 1972,
a potent combination that blunted John
Burton’s and Chevron’s challenge.
Lola’s answer was the winged T292,
which Bob Marston evolved from his
T290 of 1972 with future superstar
designers John Barnard and Patrick Head.
Accomplished saloon car racer Martin
Birrane’s Crowne Racing entered Chris
Craft in a Cosworth BDG-powered T292
and he won at Misano and Imola. Seconds
at Clermont-Ferrand and Monjuic’s finale- in the later case behind Gerard
Larrousse in one of Ecurie Archambeaud’s
BMW Schnitzer-engined T292s –
meant Craft and Lola were top dogs.
Long after Birrane bought Lola Cars,
chassis HU55, later an Abarth flat-eight-
engined muletta in Italy, is back in
Crowne’s striking livery and raced hard
in major Historic events for Scottish
owner Grant Reid by Tony Sinclair.
JEPBLOXHAM