18 replies to this topic

[f1steveuk]

Just been sent a picture




Huron F2, 1972 Brands Hatch, then I am stumped, anyone?

[RTH]

Jack Smith ?

[philippe7]

Wasn't Huron a racecar manufacturer from Switzerland , in the 70's ? I remember a neat 2-litre sportscar , but not a Formula 2.....

[David McKinney]

An F2 Huron has escaped by notice (or my memory)
There was however a 1971 Atlantic car, raced by Del Bennett that year and the next

[alansart]

Originally posted by philippe7
Wasn't Huron a racecar manufacturer from Switzerland , in the 70's ? I remember a neat 2-litre sportscar , but not a Formula 2.....

Huron I think was English but lasted only a few years in the early 70's. Jo Marquart (of GRD & Modus fame) was the designer. The 2 litre Sports Car is well known but there was an F2/Atlantic car produced.

http://www.gafferspo.../autos/2433.php

[fausto]

Originally posted by alansart


Huron I think was English but lasted only a few years in the early 70's. Jo Marquart (of GRD & Modus fame) was the designer. The 2 litre Sports Car is well known but there was an F2/Atlantic car produced.

http://www.gafferspo.../autos/2433.php

Jo Marquart himself was of Swiss origin

[Allen Brown]

Was there a F2 race at Brands in 1972? Isn't this more likely to be a F/Atlantic race?

Del Bennett drove the Huron Mk1 or Mk1A or 1F on and off during 1971 and 1972 British Formula Atlantic. I think this car then went to Colin Selvage for 1973 and 1974.

At the end of the 1972 season, Syd Fox appeared in a Huron SS02A-BDA and he drove this through the 1973 season before Jonny Dimsdale takes over the entry. I think this is the car Alan Newton later used in sprints.

I have never got my head around Huron's numbering system. The sports car, which predates the SS02A, was called the 4A.

Allen

[Chris Townsend]

Given that it's on wets or intermediates on a nearly dry track and there appears to be snow in the grass behind [Bottom Bend - now Graham Hill Bend I believe] I'd say it was either a mid winter libre race or testing. Probably early 1973 as the 1972 SS02 was at least meant to look very different to this. In the drawings I've seen it's got a chisel nose and side radiators. There were two Hurons in 1973 run by Fox and Colin Selvage. I wonder if this is the older one, or if the McKinistry team got thoroughly fed up with car in 1972 and tried something new. I think Jonny Dimsdale also had a go in the SS02 later in 73.

Also, can't find a Huron carrying this number in any Atlantic programme and there aren't many gaps. That suggests either it's in a libre race or just did one.

Chris

[Stephen W]

In 1978 Alan Newton drove a Huron in the British Sprint Championship. I have the details as follows:

1.6 Huron-Ford/Cosworth FVA SS02A

Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the car from that period.

[James Murray]

Looks very similar to the Formula Ford FP1 which was a 70/71.
Certainly looks more like an Atlantic than F2. F2 would heve fuel injection.

Very nice looking car!

[f1steveuk]

Well it's not Del Bennett, and the guy who sent the picture took it, and says it's '72, I should know more after the weekend, but I KNOW I have seen that helmet before!!

[f1steveuk]

Does the name Michael Feltham mean anything in conjunction with this?

[f1steveuk]

Yep Michael C Feltham in an F2 Huron (in Atlantic spec) he one time of Felspeed who ran cars in the 60s/70s. All from the horses mouth!!

[Allen Brown]

But where? And when?

[f1steveuk]

As per the 1st post Allen, "Bottom Bend in 1972" was in the e mail. Although I don't recall railway sleepers as part of the bank, but that means nothing!

Is it just mean or is the grass in the background either frosty or light snow covered? Would explain the tyres, but don't know yet if it was a test, or a race. More to follow..............

[Michael Oliver]

Originally posted by Chris Townsend
Given that it's on wets or intermediates on a nearly dry track and there appears to be snow in the grass behind [Bottom Bend - now Graham Hill Bend I believe] I'd say it was either a mid winter libre race or testing. Probably early 1973 as the 1972 SS02 was at least meant to look very different to this. In the drawings I've seen it's got a chisel nose and side radiators. There were two Hurons in 1973 run by Fox and Colin Selvage. I wonder if this is the older one, or if the McKinistry team got thoroughly fed up with car in 1972 and tried something new. I think Jonny Dimsdale also had a go in the SS02 later in 73.

Also, can't find a Huron carrying this number in any Atlantic programme and there aren't many gaps. That suggests either it's in a libre race or just did one.

Chris

Chris

I really don't know if this is any help at all, but I am looking at a photo in the programme for the Brands Hatch Rothmans 5000 European Championship meeting on Monday April 23rd 1973 and it contains a photo of Syd Fox in a Huron #26, and the words 'McKinstry Racing' are clearly visible on the side, so presumably the SS02? No sign of side rads, though they could be concealed in the photo, looks like a front rad design, with air outlets on the top of the nose.

In the entry list itself, car #26 is entered by Felspeed Racing (driver Colin Selvage) and is described as a Huron Ford Felspeed. Car #22 is entered by R.A. McKinstry (driver Syd Fox) and is described as a Huron Ford Rowland SSA02 (presumably the car in the programme photo). Neither car appears to have started the race, although in my hand-written grid it shows #22 as having qualified 17th on the 9th row but the number is crossed out, suggesting a withdrawal following a problem in or after practice.

Michael

[lu33]

Just been sent a picture




Huron F2, 1972 Brands Hatch, then I am stumped, anyone?

This picture is possibly Colin Selvage or Mike Felton they were both sharing the same helmet that day. I do have one more additional photo of Colin entering paddock hill bend in 1973 Race of Champions? He is getting too old to remember now. He had a lot of sucess in race cars and karts. (this is the formula Atlantic car fitted with a ford twin cam giving approx 185bhp)

Edited by lu33, 22 August 2010 - 08:31.

[MIchaelFeltham]

For historians, to put the matter right!

 

From the archives; however useful for facts collectors! Perhaps the Mods could add this to the archive, since it is hardly current.

 

http://forums.autosp...-huron-f2-1972/

 

Huron Cars: Huron Auto Racing Development.

 

When this small manufacturer commenced, there were three partners: Jo Marquart, a brilliant Swiss engineer, then Mclaren's Chief Designer; Jack Smith, a Canadian (Hence the name from Lake Huron); and Roy Ireland, a British racing enthusiast.

 

The first car, really, was a 2 Litre Sports Racing class.

 

Jo, however, had a vision for a universal FF/F3/F2 platform, which could easily be configured for the selected formula.

 

http://www.f3history...Huron/huron.htm

 

Sadly, the company quickly broke up with disputes between the founders. The few stock cars were disposed of by the company’s liquidators.

 

In the late 1960s, as an adjunct to my garage business, based in Essex, focused on high performance cars, racing preparation and my own motor sports involvement, I founded Felspeed racing, which boasted an FIA International Entrant's License.

 

A contact, Bruno Drury, an extremely wealthy plant hire contractor (Pinch Plant), who was an aficionado asked me to go and see him, after I "sorted" his then new Lambo Espada. (The concessionaires at the time were pretty hopeless).

 

Bruno had been persuaded by Del Bennett to sponsor him in Atlantic and buy one of the new cars. Unfortunately, Del had not been at all successful in sorting the Huron (It had never actually even finished one race). I was asked by Bruno to arrange to test the car at Silverstone and I took Colin along to test it. Exciting when the Graviner system blew for no reason!

 

Firstly, Bruno wanted the car sorted in order John Nicholson could test it at Brands as a potential replacement for his Atlantic Lyncar. I therefore ensured it would actually drive safely and manage an extended test. John opted to stay with the Lyncar. Bruno eventually sponsored John Nicholson - Nicholson Engine Services - who fettled Mclaren's DFV F1 engines and was competing in the Yellow Pages Atlantic series in a Lyncar, which he won. Bruno then purchased Lyncar from Martin Slater and funded Martin to build an F1 Lyncar for John to drive. It was never successful.

 

(n.b. I never really grasped Bruno and John’s approach; instead of plunging straight into GP racing, I believed they would have better served to emulate such as Brian Hart and try a whole season’s F2 with additional main sponsorship and perhaps then, with success, look at the feasibility of F1. Ron Dennis, for example, ran Rondel Racing and enjoyed success in F2. Good learning curve.

 

Bruno presented me the almost new Huron, offered to pay the major bills and told me to get on with it! Naturally, I said no!

 

The car was an unfinished kit, really and I effectively took it apart and built it properly.

 

The first main step was a decent engine: my good friend Bruce Rennie, ace FVA and FVC whiz, agreed to sort the tired Twin Cam. All steel in the end. Bruce and I ran it up to Titan one day, where Tom allowed use of a dyno. After running in and final set-up it was pulling circa 180 BHP. Which amazed Tom! IT was not despite a number of contrary records a BDA: it was a simple Ford Lotus Twin Cam. Obviously, I wanted a BDA, however at this time, Bruno wouldn’t spring for it!

 

It was far from an easy project, since limited parts were only available from a small outfit at Byfleet in Surrey, who had purchased all the surplus bits, tooling, patterns and jigs from the liquidators.

 

Interestingly, when I was shakedown testing at Snetterton, prior to the British GP meeting, I met Jo Marquart, who had come along with a GRD director and a car to test. He was delighted to see the Huron and asked if I could remove the body in order he could show his GRD colleague his design philosophy. Jo kindly explained his design philosophy and how he had aimed at creating a multi-formula platform for FF, FA and F2.

 

Which he had followed at GRD. The unusual bit was the front top wishbone: it was a fabricated mild steel rocker, pivoted in the tub with the shocker and coil spring inside.

 

Otherwise the Huron was pretty conventional for its day: a Dural NS4 tub, with a vestigial space frame hung at the front, engine and Hewland FT200 semi-stressed.

 

What the Huron needed was, in truth, substantial development, for which I had insufficient time and capital.

 

Still, to plagiarise Tony Rudd, “It was fun!”

Edited by MIchaelFeltham, 13 March 2016 - 20:32.

[f1steveuk]

Thank you Michael, nice to see you here!!