23 replies to this topic

[Simon Hadfield]

Does anyone here have any photos of Mr Walkinshaws Modus Formula 5000s? Does anybody have any ideas as to what happened to the cars after their respective accidents, speaking to Nick Jordan he has no recollection of either car.

[Twin Window]

Didn't one of the shunts take place at Clearways (at Brands) after the steering wheel came off in his hands?

I seem to remember a photo of TW recounting the accident in Autosport at the time.

[Alan Cox]

This is the only time that I saw it - at the Racing Car Show in 1975

[Vicuna]

Chev or Capri engine?

[Andrew Kitson]

Was it the first F5000 car we saw with the 3400cc Ford V6, also used by Purley in his B30?
Walkinshaw's Modus M5 was entered under the 'Shellsport Team Modus' banner IIRC with race no.39?

[MCS]

Interesting. To my knowledge there was only one car, based (I believe) on Walkinshaw's Atlantic tub - or should I say built from the wreckage of that chassis. This was the car that crashed at Brands, Twinny - although I thought the accident was at Westfield.

I don't remember the car being destroyed, but Walkinshaw suddenly appeared in the ex-Kuwashima F2 March 752 - Roy Kennedy ran the car. Again, the 3.4 Ford GA was the power unit - presumably the engine from the Modus (designated M5, unless I'm mistaken - the M4 was a hillclimb car I seem to recall).

[RTH]

Originally posted by Alan Cox


This is the only time that I saw it - at the Racing Car Show in 1975

Blimey Alan ...you have got a photo of everything !!

[Allen Brown]

There were two F5000 Moduses, the first wrecked at Brands at the end of 1974, the second at Zolder in April 1975. After the second bit the dust, Tom bought the F2 March.

Rumour has it the first was built from Tom's Atlantic but I don't know that for sure. MCS - how confident are you on that The second had a proper chassis number so was presumably built new.

Allen

[MCS]

According to oldracingcars.com Walkinshaw crashed his Atlantic Modus M3 [FA-003] at Brands on 20th July 1974 and didn't appear in Formula Atlantic again that year.

So the obvious question is: was this Atlantic chassis the basis for the M5?

Interestingly, Walkinshaw entered the last four F5000 races in 1974 - Oulton (where he failed to show), Snetterton (managed just 2 laps), Mallory (DNS - accident) and Brands (where he had an accident on the first lap). I had forgotten about these brief appearances, but they prove Andrew's point that this was indeed the first F5000 car we saw with the 3.4 Ford V6.

The F5000 car is listed as chassis number 003 for those four races (the same as the Atlantic chassis), but then appears in 1975 as M5-021-F5...so maybe there really were two cars...

[MCS]

Ha ha ha..apologies Allen - just seen your post.

My recollection from the time was that they built the car from the Atlantic chassis - I'm sure I read it somewhere. Motoring News ?

In which case, there were certainly two - but both completely destroyed ?

[Andrew Kitson]

It was Snetterton where I first saw it, like Alan's photo the car was painted white. It didn't seem like a proper F5000 to us at the time, not sounding a bit Chevy like!
I was at this meeting with Wattiez and his T330 although we broke in practice and did not start ( Can't remember why). I think this was the meeting where the new tarmac kept breaking up during practice at the new Esses on the shortened Snetterton. A temporary tyre chicane was put in for the race, many of the F5000 drivers helped to build it with the marshals in the lunch break after a long debate about where it should go. This is not the Esses we know today, it was a fast left/right sweep at the end of the new straight with the right part apex just before the old bridge support. After a fatality at a later meeting the Esses was tightened up exactly as it is today.

[MCS]

Originally posted by Allen Brown
There were two F5000 Moduses, the first wrecked at Brands at the end of 1974, the second at Zolder in April 1975. After the second bit the dust, Tom bought the F2 March.

I'm pretty sure he did a rental deal with Roy Kennedy and I suspect - given his connections with Ford at the time - that the engines were provided at least at a special rate.

The 752 was discernibly different to the "pukka" F5000 75A that Alan Jones raced for RAM - much smaller and the engine note was also unusual for some reason. I remember at the time a few of us compared the noise of the three V6s and, whilst the Jones March and David Purley's Chevron sounded ostensibly the same, the 752 Ford was definitely more raucous!

I'm sure Roy Kennedy offered the car for sale as a rolling chassis at the end of the season.

[Andrew Kitson]

The 1974 F5000 review in Autosport ( 23rd Jan '75) says the car was an uprated F2/Atlantic chassis.
The 3.4 Ford V6 was late entering the series as the 3-day week slowed its development. No further details on the Modus.

[simonlewisbooks]

On a related matter - ie F5000....

On eBay right now and ending in under 4 hours...

The two Sheldon/Rabagliatti FORMULA ONE REGISTER books on F5000 and Tasman .

1964-71 is # 180086642707 and covers Tasman 64-71 and F5000 1968-71

1972-81 is # 180086642695 covers F5000 1972-81

These are running at £36.00 each which is too cheap to ignore if you are into either formula....
Packed with information on the European, US and 'down under' series and rare as hen's treeth!

[Mallory Dan]

Originally posted by MCS


I'm pretty sure he did a rental deal with Roy Kennedy and I suspect - given his connections with Ford at the time - that the engines were provided at least at a special rate.

The 752 was discernibly different to the "pukka" F5000 75A that Alan Jones raced for RAM - much smaller and the engine note was also unusual for some reason. I remember at the time a few of us compared the noise of the three V6s and, whilst the Jones March and David Purley's Chevron sounded ostensibly the same, the 752 Ford was definitely more raucous!

I'm sure Roy Kennedy offered the car for sale as a rolling chassis at the end of the season.

Mark, the car was bought, presumably from Kennedy, by Val Musetti in mid-76. Val raced it as a '752' initially, then gradually modded/updated it into what he called a '761' for the 78 Aurora series. IIRC it went climbing/sprinting from 1979 onwards. Steve W ???

[MCS]

Okay, Dan. But what happened to the 73B/742/B chassis he ran in Atlantic...?

Do you know what the saddest thing is?

I have a book where I used to write down all of the chassis numbers I could find (from the early seventies). There were loads of lists - but I can't find it. I've been looking for it for years!

I used to write to certain manufacturers and get them to list their chassis numbers - those letters were in the book as well. Oh, well, maybe it will turn up one day.

[simonlewisbooks]

Here's a rather faded picture of the March at Mallory in 1975

[Mallory Dan]

Originally posted by MCS
Okay, Dan. But what happened to the 73B/742/B chassis he ran in Atlantic...?

Do you know what the saddest thing is?

I have a book where I used to write down all of the chassis numbers I could find (from the early seventies). There were loads of lists - but I can't find it. I've been looking for it for years!

I used to write to certain manufacturers and get them to list their chassis numbers - those letters were in the book as well. Oh, well, maybe it will turn up one day.

The F2/FAt March, was it Bill Wood Scottish/Northern Libre, its been much discussed in the 'other place' !! That book would be like gold-dust now for certain of us...

Getting a bit fluffy on here ain't it, no doubt there'll be comments.

[ian senior]

Originally posted by MCS
I have a book where I used to write down all of the chassis numbers I could find (from the early seventies). There were loads of lists - but I can't find it. I've been looking for it for years!

Oh God...... I had one of those too. I finally gave up with it when I realised I was becoming more akin to a train spotter. Wish I still had it, though.

[Stephen W]

Originally posted by Mallory Dan


Mark, the car was bought, presumably from Kennedy, by Val Musetti in mid-76. Val raced it as a '752' initially, then gradually modded/updated it into what he called a '761' for the 78 Aurora series. IIRC it went climbing/sprinting from 1979 onwards. Steve W ???

Guess it was the Terry Smith run 5.0 March-Repco 740 75A-1/761.

[Allen Brown]

No, that was a different car. The GA was a coincidence.

Bill Wood's car was Val's F2 March 742ish - again a different car.

Val kept modifying the 752 until it was a '771' and then modified it once too many times against a bank. It is no more.

Allen

[Cirrus]

I have a book where I used to write down all of the chassis numbers I could find

I travelled down to Angouleme last year with Duncan Rabagliati. In conversation I said that I used to have a BT21. "Do you remember the chassis number?"- "Yes - BT21-2". Out came the little book, and notes were taken. The same thing happened talking about my old Chevron. We stopped at a motorway services in France, near Le Mans, and there was a Lotus 11 in the foyer. Out came the book.....

Apparently that book was volume 17......

[David M. Kane]

I've raced against the Jones twice, once at Mid-Ohio and the other time at Road America. Last time I checked it was still own by Randy Johnson of Dallas, Texas.

[Patrick Sumner]

Re Walkinshaw's Modus at Brands on the 20th October '74, I made up some places at the start in my Trojan T101 and was midfield on the first lap when I lost the plot at South Bank and spun over the crest and ended up in the centre of the track facing the oncoming traffic. I almost got away with it but Brian Robinson in his Mclaren M19C hit me, doing both our cars no good and Walkinshaw ran into him losing his nosecone. According to MN, Walkinshaw returned to the pits and retired. The same report says that the Modus had only just been rebuilt from a big shunt at Mallory the week before.