In brief, November 2009
Former Le Mans racer John Sheldon clinched the Classic Endurance Racing title in the Silverstone final after a perfect season in his Chevron B16. The scoring system favoured the overall winning cars, but Sheldon bagged the crown when Jean-Marc Luco’s Porsche 936 was penalised for flag infringements.
Richard Tuthill became the first man to rally a Porsche 928 in a round of the British historic championship when he drove Geoff Crabtree’s car on the Tour of Flanders. Tuthill used the rally to shake down the front-engined 5-litre 1979 model, which Crabtree hopes to run in a range of events.
The March 743 in which Tom Pryce won the 1974 Formula 3 race at Monaco has returned to racing with Chris Drake, who hopes to take it back to Monte Carlo next year. Having bought the car from Switzerland, Drake is running it in original Ippokampos Racing livery.
The ex-Bertil Roos Formula B March 75B has returned to Britain after spending 34 years in North America and is now being raced by Rod Stead in Derek Bell Trophy events. After Roos raced it, the car was used in a racing school but had been stored since the early 1980s when David Gathercole bought it in Oklahoma.
A reincarnation of the unique 1954 Kieft Desoto sport-racing car competed for the first time during the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park. The late Bill Morris commissioned the recreation by Greg Snape in Australia when he discovered that the original had been destroyed in a warehouse fire in the US in the 1980s.
The unique Trimax 500cc F3 car ran at the Oulton Park Gold Cup, more than 50 years after its last race. Formula Junior guru Duncan Rabagliati gave Spike Rhiando’s advanced monocoque design its long-awaited return, but engine problems limited the car to a single racing lap.
West Surrey Racing has restored the Ralt RT3 that twice won the British F3 Championship. Stefan Johansson raced it to the title in 1980 with Ron Dennis’ Project Four Racing, as did Jonathan Palmer in ’81 with West Surrey Engineering (soon to become WSR). Palmer now owns the car (see page 98).