21 replies to this topic

[Doug Nye]

A friend called me today - one I hadn't heard from for donkey's years - he has two cars once raced by the late Peter Hanson, the late '60s/early '70s Formula 3 driver who - he said - succumbed to cancer last Christmas. These Chevrons are apparently B15 chassis serial DBE69-02 and B17 F3-70-01. My F3 stuff is completely buried here - could anyone help with any race history reference???

DCN

[rdrcr]

Just some tidbits from the db files....

April 4th 1969, Peter Hanson, along with Reine Wisell and Rene Ligonnet debuted the Chevron B15's at Snetterton, England. Wisell won with his B15, "straight out of the box".

At the June 29th race, LIV Grand Prix de Reims - Trophées de France at Reims. Running in the F2 class, he failed to qualify the B15 in the 2nd heat race - thereby DNQ for the final.

August 7th, I have him finishing 10th at Hockenheim (Solitude) in the Paul Watson B15 (same chassis?).

On August 17, he ran the B15 in the European Cup for Nations - XV Kanonloppet Gelleråsbanan, Karlskoga, Sweden. In the first heat he finished 5th. In the final event, he started and finished 12th. That race saw Ronnie Peterson take the win.

September 14th he was back trying his hand at the F2 class but failed to make the start of the Grand Prix d'Albi in France. - again, I don't know if the entered Paul Watson Racing B15 was the same chassis as you have noted.

In 1970:

At the August 9, 1970 Swedish Formula 3 event held at Kanonloppet, Karlskoga in Heat 1, Hanson and his B17, won and then went on to win the final with the winner of Heat 2, Gerry Birrell setting fastest lap and coming in second only 2.7 seconds behind Hanson, whose car was tuned by Nova.

August 16th at the Ring Knutstorp, Hanson DNF'd in the Chevron B17 (Nova).

Hanson competed in the 1971 South American F3 Championship with the B15:

I have him finishing last at the Interlagos event - though no record of mechanical failure or driver error.

Sorry, that's all I've got at the moment...

[charles r]

Sad to hear he had passed away.
As I recall he was a very competent driver, - didn't he race a Taydec 2 litre sportscar at some stage in his career?

[Patrick Fletcher]

Sorry no race history reference, but I met a Peter Hanson from CAMS in Australia around 2000. He was Swedish and mentioned racing in Europe. Would this be the same driver?

[john aston]

I encountered PH whilst buying a Fiat Uno Turbo in Harrogate in 87.The dealer was a friendly guy and when I remarked on the photos in the office(lot of F3 stuff etc ) he told me who he was.I saw him race frequently in Yorkshire in late 60s and latterly saw him at places like Cadwell pedalling big Opels.

[Cirrus]

Duncan Rabagliati was both a good friend of Peter Hanson, and is, of course a serial archivist. Also, a pair of videos recently posted by zoff2005 on YouTube show Peter H crashing his B15 at Monaco in 1969.

[ian senior]

Originally posted by charles r
Sad to hear he had passed away.
As I recall he was a very competent driver, - didn't he race a Taydec 2 litre sportscar at some stage in his career?

He did, in 1971. A nice looking car if not quite as good as the contemporary Lolas and Chevrons. And apparantly Taydecs are still being made and are racing - have a look at www.taydec.co.uk

I had no idea that Peter Hanson had died. He was a nice chap, a capable driver and something of a local hero to us in Yorkshire.

[phinorman]

Hi !

Are you sure that the F3 Chevron of Peter Hanson was a B15 I during temporada 1971 ? I think it was a B17, driven by Mike Beuttler during a race.

Is it possible to know the name of the company who prepard the car (entry : Paul watson Organisation) ?

Thanks in advance with my best regards.

Phinorman

[phinorman]

Hi !

Anybody can confirm me the color of Hanson's B17 : red with white stripe around the nose ?

Thanks in advance.

Phinorman

Originally posted by phinorman
Hi !

Are you sure that the F3 Chevron of Peter Hanson was a B15 I during temporada 1971 ? I think it was a B17, driven by Mike Beuttler during a race.

Is it possible to know the name of the company who prepard the car (entry : Paul watson Organisation) ?

Thanks in advance with my best regards.

Phinorman

[John Saunders]

B15 69 O2 Peter Hanson in 1969
Jurg Dubler (spare) in 1970
Bob Blake in 1973

B17 70 01 Peter Hanson in 1970
Keith St John in 1971

John Saunders.

[phinorman]

Many thanks to you John !

Phinorman

Originally posted by John Saunders
B15 69 O2 Peter Hanson in 1969
Jurg Dubler (spare) in 1970
Bob Blake in 1973

B17 70 01 Peter Hanson in 1970
Keith St John in 1971

John Saunders.

[Paul Parker]

Reading this post about Peter Hanson (sad to hear he has passed away) reminds me just how many Brits raced the 2 litre Chevrons, Lolas, GRDs, March et al in championship endurance racing during the 1970s.

I am reminded of John Lepp, John Burton (still racing, most recently at the Old Timer meeting 2 weeks ago), John Hine, Martin Raymond, Tony Birchenhough, Brian (or was it Brendan) McInerney, Trevor Twaites, Ian Grob, John Sheldon, Ian Bracey, Ian Harrower, John Bridges, Tony Goodwin (still racing of course), Peter Smith, Robin Smith, Brian Joscelyne, Guy Edwards, Richard Scott, Peter Gethin, Richard Robarts, Rupert Keegan, John Watson, the list is long and this barely touches the sides. Some of these names have long since left the limelight but hopefully have not been forgotten.

Ditto the teams. D.A.R.T. (Dennis Dobbie), Red Rose Racing, Ember Racing, Worcestershire Racing Association, Roger Heavens Racing, Forge Mill Racing, KVG Racing, Dorset Racing Associates, Roger Hire Racing, Team Fison, Barclays International Racing Team, Miles Roystone Racing and so on.

It would make a very interesting book but I fear that commercially there would be no market.

[jph]

Paul, I totally agree with both sentiments - it would make a fascinating book but I somehow suspect that the market might be a bit thin. In part, such a book already exists: Championnat d'Europe des Sports-Protos 2 Litres 1970-1975 by Christian Naviaux (published by Editions du Palmier). In French, of course, a bit dry as it is a year-by-year, race-by-race chronicle, but some excellent pictures. What I'd like to see is a bit more about the teams and drivers: a mixture of the professional, talented amateur and shoestring efforts, reminiscent of the 1960s F3 circus.

Maybe a '70s continuation of your '60s sports car racing book could be slanted this way....?

Sorry, this has gone a bit OT.

[Paul Parker]

Thank you for your reply jph.

I concur with your sentiments but there are problems. Firstly writing such books is always subject to time and budgetary considerations. Unless you are writing a magnum opus with an open ended or large budget (necessary for rarely or as yet unpublished material in private hands) and a deadline somewhere over the pale horizon some limitations intrude.

Bearing this in mind and the necessity of working within defined parameters I try to provide an informed oversight and information such that those otherwise uninformed, can discover for themselves who, what, why and where bearing in mind that not everybody comes to the subject with knowledge.

Additionally unlike Grand Prix, or more accurately from the 1960s onwards, F1 racing, that is relatively easily annotated, sports car racing is endlessly variable and convoluted and the entry lists for a season's championship endurance racing amount to tens of thousands of words (see Wimpffen). Thus I have tried to keep it straightforward and apologise if sometimes it might be superficial or insufficiently detailed.

Also trying to find and interview surviving racers from 30+ years ago is not only difficult (not everyone wants to co-operate), but it can be very costly.

I would dearly love to pen a 1000 page book stuffed to the rafters with pictures, personal insights, analysis, observations and hopefully some amusing comments, but it would probably cost £1000 and have a potential market of 1000 persons.

As you said and I mentioned in my opening post on this subject, the 2 litre cars probably would not support a dedicated book although they surely deserve one.

Anyway there is more to come in the near/medium future and I hope you enjoy the results.

[phinorman]

Hi !

I'm writing a book about mike Beuttler (french and english) and I'm finding that the subject of this type of book is very intersting despite the small market for the selling.

With my best regards !

Phinorman

Originally posted by Paul Parker
Reading this post about Peter Hanson (sad to hear he has passed away) reminds me just how many Brits raced the 2 litre Chevrons, Lolas, GRDs, March et al in championship endurance racing during the 1970s.

I am reminded of John Lepp, John Burton (still racing, most recently at the Old Timer meeting 2 weeks ago), John Hine, Martin Raymond, Tony Birchenhough, Brian (or was it Brendan) McInerney, Trevor Twaites, Ian Grob, John Sheldon, Ian Bracey, Ian Harrower, John Bridges, Tony Goodwin (still racing of course), Peter Smith, Robin Smith, Brian Joscelyne, Guy Edwards, Richard Scott, Peter Gethin, Richard Robarts, Rupert Keegan, John Watson, the list is long and this barely touches the sides. Some of these names have long since left the limelight but hopefully have not been forgotten.

Ditto the teams. D.A.R.T. (Dennis Dobbie), Red Rose Racing, Ember Racing, Worcestershire Racing Association, Roger Heavens Racing, Forge Mill Racing, KVG Racing, Dorset Racing Associates, Roger Hire Racing, Team Fison, Barclays International Racing Team, Miles Roystone Racing and so on.

It would make a very interesting book but I fear that commercially there would be no market.

[Graham Gauld]

Should have replied to this earlier.

Peter Hanson bought Chevron B15 69/02 it was painted dark blue and it had a Felday engine. He later changed it for a Novamotor before selling the car to Jurg Dubler.

[phinorman]

Hi !

Can you precise me the name of the preparator for the Chevron B 17 of Peter Hanson with the entrance of The Paul Watson Racing Organisation ?

Thanks in advance with best regards.

Phinorman

[phinorman]

Hi !

This information will be used in my book about Mike Beuttler.*

Thanks with best regards !

Phinorman

Originally posted by phinorman
Hi !

Can you precise me the name of the preparator for the Chevron B 17 of Peter Hanson with the entrance of The Paul Watson Racing Organisation ?

Thanks in advance with best regards.

Phinorman

[phinorman]

Hi !

In a french magazine, through a black and white pic, the Chevron B17 driven by Peter Hanson seems to be dark blue. Anyone can confirm it ?

Thanks with best regards. Phinorman

[Graham Gauld]

Paul Parker

Your reference to the Chevron drivers and teams note that Denys Dobbie spelled his christian name that way and not Dennis : just for the record.
As some of my friends know I planned to write a book on Chevron way back in 1981 not long after Derek Bennett died and had done considerable research both here and in America however as my marriage was breaking up I had to set the whole project aside. Then I helped David Gordon with his book on Chevron but still have piles of photographs tapes etc and I plan to put a lot of the information and stories into some future book to be called something like " Conversations " which would be a compendium of chapters using conversations with the most diverse people about their racing none of whom individually could sustain a book. Don't hold your breath as the next two years are likely to be a bit hectic but be sure there will be some additional Chevron information in such a book.

[phinorman]

Hi all readers !

To finish my book about mike Beuttler, I try to collect a pic of him driven the Hanson's Chevron B17 #9 on Interlogos track (17th january 1971 F3) and if it's possible the wheelbase, front track and rear track and weight of this Chevron.

Thanks in advance for your contributions.

Best regards and have an happy christmas before the new year !

Phinorman

[richie]

Paul Parker

Your reference to the Chevron drivers and teams note that Denys Dobbie spelled his christian name that way and not Dennis : just for the record.
As some of my friends know I planned to write a book on Chevron way back in 1981 not long after Derek Bennett died and had done considerable research both here and in America however as my marriage was breaking up I had to set the whole project aside. Then I helped David Gordon with his book on Chevron but still have piles of photographs tapes etc and I plan to put a lot of the information and stories into some future book to be called something like " Conversations " which would be a compendium of chapters using conversations with the most diverse people about their racing none of whom individually could sustain a book. Don't hold your breath as the next two years are likely to be a bit hectic but be sure there will be some additional Chevron information in such a book.

In my copy of the Academicals, Edinburgh Academy - where I was educated some of the time- there's a brief obituary for
Denys A D M Dobbie (1942-50).

" D of death 12/2/09 Majorca- He trained as an accountant in Edinburgh, worked in Vancouver and Edinburgh before moving to Nassau in the Bahamas. But his passion lay in motor racing and after moving to Perth in 1971, Denys was the prime mover in setting up a sports car racing team, DART (Dobbie Automobile Racing Team) In 1974, Denys bought Knockhill from the farmer who had originally created the circuit. He developed it but sold it on shortly after it was officially opened. He was the original secretary of the Ecurie Ecosse Association".

See also www.ecurieecosse.com/news_details.asp?newsID=19