Band of Brothers: Toleman's dominant F2 campaign

July 1979, the first corner at Enna, Sicily: my life as a freelance reporter covering the European Formula 2 Championship was about to take a different turn – much like title contender Brian Henton’s Ralt RT2.

Anticipating the chaos that normally ensued at the Vivalo corner at the start of a race, we’d made our way there to witness the inevitable fun and games. Beforehand, Henton had voiced concerns about those around him crashing into each other and, with a victory putting him into a strong position to win the European title, he had one eye on the escape road in an effort to steer clear of the melée.

Henton’s fears proved to be right. He got pole position but was allowed to choose the opposite side of the track to start, thereby giving Beppe Gabbiani in one of the works March 792s the better track position for the first corner, which was a tight left then right combination. Brian was convinced that by having Beppe on the dirty inside line he’d lock up on the dust and grit and “have an accident”. But it didn’t work out like that. Brian made a good start and moved over to the racing line, and yet Beppe still came barrelling up on the inside, locked up and slewed sideways across Henton’s path. Brian had little option but to take the escape road as the customary Enna first-corner chaos ensued.

The track re-entry was quite some way up the road and it was where Brian rejoined, allegedly ignoring a startled Sicilian marshal who was wildly waving a flag, that was to cause the controversy. Henton moved behind Eje Elgh and then proceeded to go on and win quite comfortably. Thereafter, there was a protest and Henton was disqualified for his actions, one accusation being that he had premeditated his actions at the start to gain an advantage, disobeying a marshal in the process.

After the post-race decision, Henton’s Toleman Group Motorsport team boss, Alex Hawkridge, approached a number of us who’d been watching at the first corner. What had we seen? Would anyone be prepared to be a witness? They were going to appeal the stewards’ decision. I agreed to give an account of what I saw. Months later, after Marc Surer, March and BMW had ‘won’ the European F2 title at Donington due to Brian’s Enna disqualification, I found myself at an Italian CSAI court hearing giving my account – which differed from the version of FIA observer and BARC chief executive Sid Offord. Thereafter, a further appeal to the FIA was thrown out and Surer was officially confirmed as champion. Alex thanked me for my time and asked if I planned to carry on writing about F2 for the following season and beyond. He explained that, undeterred by the court ruling, he was determined to push ahead not only to win the Euro F2 Championship with a car bearing the company’s name, but also had plans to go into Formula 1. Would I like to go and work for them? I took it on board, gave it a quick assessment, and took up my position handling the team’s public and press affairs from the start of 1980.

Brentwood-based Toleman, whose mainstream business was providing nationwide car delivery straight from the factory to dealerships and on to customers, had a long history of competing in British club racing. However, after South African Rad Dougall won both the British Formula Ford 2000 championships in 1977 driving one of two Royale RP25s (one car for each series no less), the company’s managing director, Hawkridge, decided they would forego the usual path of moving into Formula 3 for 1978; instead he bought two brand-new customer F2 March 782s with BMW power prepared by Swiss engine guru Heini Mader.

What’s more, Hawkridge, who had raced a Formula Ford Royale RP21 in the 1976 Dunlop Star of Tomorrow series with some success, was able to persuade Royale’s young South African designer Rory Byrne to amicably leave the highly successful company that Alan Cornock had just taken over from Bob King, to engineer the Toleman race programme.

For 1979 Toleman switched tack, Rory and Alex deciding to align themselves to Ron Tauranac and his Ralt RT2 design as the best way of beating March. Following Enna and Henton’s subsequent championship near-miss, Hawkridge and Byrne took the ambitious decision to press the green light on their own Toleman chassis for 1980, thus triggering the birth of what was to become the greatest, most successful underdog team to rattle the establishment in F1.

The Toleman TG280 F2 cars were built by BS Fabrications in Luton, which had been formed in 1972 by ex-race mechanics Bob Sparshott and John Woodington. Their attention to detail was superb. Every TG280 chassis was built at BS Fabs, which turned out to be the four works cars together with six more for customers, plus a test bed for the Hart F1 engine. They were 20 per cent more expensive than a March, but Toleman wasn’t after a customer market. It wanted a title and a team that would eventually lead to F1.

The first chassis was finished in time for a press launch at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in Soho in January 1980. We shoehorned a TG280 into the foyer of the small, smoky venue, chosen by Pirelli’s UK PR manager Tom Northey through his friendship with manager of the club Peter King, a decent club racer himself. BP, through the efforts of its UK motor sport manager Les Thacker, had now become the team’s main sponsor. This was a break in tradition from the previous five years where Les had initially backed the British Formula 3 Championship and supported a number of drivers in that category, mainly emerging British talent. He’d helped Derek Warwick and continued to do so, despite a disastrous F2 season in 1979 when the Warwick family ran their own March 792. Les had also helped Stephen South, who had struggled to fund his racing, and had now emerged as a proven front runner in F2 driving for Ron Dennis’ ICI March-BMW outfit.

With BP launching its new VF7 multigrade oil, a higher profile of sponsorship and an increase in expenditure and technical support was required. Taking South on as team leader was a given, but Hawkridge had concerns over Warwick, who’d had his fair share of incidents the previous year. Nevertheless, this all-British line-up was approved.

The first wheel turned in anger came at a chilly Goodwood soon after the official launch. What was planned was an extensive tyre test programme with Pirelli in Italy using Vallelunga and Mugello to try out dozens of different constructions and compounds to decide which would be best suited to the TG280. Vallelunga, just north of Rome, has a very pleasant climate at that time of year and there was no restriction on testing. If you could afford it, you just went out and did it.