10 replies to this topic

[bruce mansell]

Hi,
I'm trying to trace a March 832 car's history in this series running a Rotary Mazda. Believed to be a team Gunston car driven by Ian Scheckter and sold to a Mr Peters who ran it with sponsorship from KOTON in 1985. The car was fitted with the Mazda rotary from new.
Was there an entrants association or club for this series?
Car is now in Switzerland.
Ray bell suggests a member ry6 may be the man to help???

Any help appreciated.
Thanks
Bruce

[ry6]

The SA Atlantic series cars at one time used rotary Mazda engines.
I certainly remember the March of Ian Scheckter but during this 80's period I lost interest in the open wheelers.
Will try to dig up a photo or so and ask Wolf to post.
I would have thought though that the team bought the car and that in Scheckter's case his mechanic/engineer Ken Howes would have fitted the locally Mazda engine.

[zakeriath]

Ian Scheckter ran the Team Lexington March`s in the South African Championship Cars series. This series had changed from the DBA engines at the start of 79 to locally producted engines, this was to reduce costs.

Initially Ian used a locally prepared Fiat engine, which was built by Roger Taylor (exhaust manifold engine plate by me), the engine was run unsuccessfully at Goldsfield early in the season, it was changed back to the DBA for the race. The reason for the Fiat engine in the first place was Jody driving for Ferrari at the same time and therefor the basic components were free.

After this one race Ian switched to the Mazda rotory engine, which Sigma (manufacturers of Mazda in SA at the time) had sent to Racing Services in the UK to prepare for this series. The other engines used in the series included the Ford V6 and a BMW unit used by Dave Hart.

IIRC Ian won his last championship in 84, once Ian had finished open car racing, I believe Ken Howes moved to the US to run the Duxbury, Van Der Merwe Porsche in what ever series they ran there.

[bruce mansell]

Thanks Zakariath,
It sounds like the car I'm tracing history for is not the same one you remember as it is a 1983 March F2 chassis. Is it possible that Ian Scheckter had a number of cars over that period and this could have been one of them.
It certainly sounds like it was Rotary powered from new though, so no history in Europe as an F2 car. It did run in 85 with KOTON sponsorship so we should be able to work backwards from then if someone in SA remembers.
Was there a motorsport magazine in SA which reported on the local racing scene back then?
Thanks for your input.
Bruce

[zakeriath]

"CAR" magazine was about the best local motoring mag.

[zakeriath]

I have just spoken to Ken Howes, he is now one of the motor sport directors of the Hendricks NASCAR team.

The car was sold to Gavin Hards at the start of 85.

[macoran]

posting for ry6
Ian Scheckter's Lexington March (B&W)




Kingsley Wood checks tyres of March during M&H test at Kyalami. Kingsley and Robert Young initially imported M&H tyres circa 1982 to help the local drivers in Saloon and sportscar racing.

[Speedy27]

This reply is a bit late, but hopefully it will still be of interest and help to fill in some of the holes in this story!

There were a handful of March 832's - all Mazda-powered - racing in the SA Drivers Championship in 1983, 1984 and 1985. I don't know what happened to them individually when the series imploded at the end of 1985, but do remember reading that most if not all were sold to overseas buyers.

Stepping back a bit in history, Scheckter won the 1979 SA Drivers Championship in a March 792, sponsored by Lexington. This was his 4th consecutive SA title and he retired from Formula2/Atlantic at the end of '79. This was also when the United Tobacco Company withdrew it's support from the series, taking away sponsors such as Gunston, Lexington and Texan. Only Gunston was to return - for a brief period - a few years later. It was reported then that the series would likely not survive, but this was not quite the outcome!

After a rather 'low-key' championship in 1980 with all cars now Mazda Rotary-powered and which was won by Tony Martin, 1981 surprisingly saw a resurgence with the first arrivals of new ground effect cars from Europe, including the Maurer MM80, Ralt RT2 and March 802. It took a while for these cars to get sorted to local running conditions and the championship that year was won by Bernard Tilanus, who had discarded his troublesome RT2 for a March 77B.

1982 was the year of Graham Duxbury. Starting the season in his March 77B, he later acquired a March 822 and started hauling in the points lead of Trevor van Rooyen, ultimately winning the series with a 4 point margin. It was during 1982 that Ian Scheckter caused some excitement (not least for this then very young fan of his) by staging a low-key return in an older March 782, sponsored by Duxbury's backer, Hekro.

By the beginning of 1983, Scheckter was back in force with a March 822 and also bringing the iconic Team Gunston back to the sport. His car, as was the identical one of Duxbury, was engineered by Ken Howes. Scheckter again dominated, winning his his 5th South African Drivers Championship.

Either late that year or early in 1984, Ian received a new March 832 (still sponsored by Gunston) and again dominated the 1984 series, retiring from South African single seater racing by winning his 6th championship, thereby equalling the number of championship wins of both John Love and Dave Charlton.

My uncertainty as regards the history of the car which is the subject of this topic is perhaps fuelled by the fact that there were 3-or-more other March 832's racing in the series at the same time. Those I remember clearly were raced by Klaus Grogor (carrying Southern Sun sponsorship), John Moni and Ken Critchfield.

I have video footage of a Kyalami race where Michele Peters drove a March 77B, but don't recall him driving a March 832. The footage I have is of a 1984 race when Ian Scheckter was still racing, so that definitely does leave open the possibility that Peters raced the ex-Scheckter car in 1985 or in one of the last-gasp races held in 1986 before the series collapsed and cars disappeared from local race tracks. In addition, I lived in Cape Town and it was common for a fair number of competitors not to travel down to Killarney. Kyalami was very much the hub of motorsport activity at that time and the races there typically attracted more entrants.

[Hieronymus]

I can't find anything on Michele Peters amongst the results from 1986. In 1985 I have him in a March 77B in only one race that year, i.e. on 1 June at Kyalami.

[pmbboy]

I have found this picture of TVR and Ian Scheckter in the Gunston March not sure which year mind you but it might be of interest in your quest. All these three cars are fitted with Mazda rotory engines and what a noise they made.


peter

[Speedy27]

Great pic! The year was 1984. The venue is Kyalami, climbing the hill to Leeukop on what looks like a warm-up lap. The third car is the BP Maurer MM83 of Tony Martin.