Ralt RT 1

[cirrus]

Richard - I had a look at your car in the assembly area before the race. To me it looks like a 1977 car. I've looked at a few contemporary pictures, and it would appear that the different rear end may have been introduced for the 1978 season. I've got a picture of Piquet in August 1977 (before he was based at the factory) with "your" rear end setup. I've emailed Ron Tauranac, to see if he can shed any light on it (he probably can't!). I used to work at "The Rat Factory" in the late seventies and remember James Ogier in charge of the stores. I had no idea he worked for Silverstone.

The later rear end with the inboard pickups for the radius rods meant that the whole rear suspension worked more like a twin wishbone arrangement with the pickups parallel to he centreline of the car. The result was greatly improved traction, and the need to run a much softer rear ARB (although yours appears to be set pretty soft anyway).

During 1978, a new front suspension arrangement with a short top wishbone brought further inprovements, working the tyres better, and keeping them up to temperature. It's alvays surprised me that the RT1 was dropped like a stone in 1979, having dominated the season in 1978. I've often thought that a driver who was prepared to commit to an RT1 for '79 would have got a great deal of help from Ron, and would probably have got first shout for an RT3, which, although it needed some development, looked like a winner as soon as I saw it on the drawing board.

[RICHARD.T]

Hi cirrus
Thank you for the information. It is very helpfull.If you are at a race sometime come over and have a chat!
Regards
Richard Trott

[Richard Young]

Bill Gowd - now half the Radical agency for Ireland ! - had one of the first FAt Ralt RT1 chassis which, if memory serves was well smacked on its first Kirkistown outing, which must have been in '75.

[Dan Rear]

Richard, I think Gowdy's RT1 was a little later than 75, perhaps 1977 or even 78.

[Chris Townsend]

Bill Gowdy's RT1 is shown in the Ralt build records as chassis 120, delivered April 1978.

Chris

[Dan Rear]

Picking up on an item earlier on here, the Alo RT1 F2 car anyone ? I mean the ex-Cheever 76 car, NOT the ex-Mallock FAt car. Seems to have disappeared after Alo's 2 AFX outings in mid-78.

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by RICHARD.T

Hi
I ran Gary Gibson at Macow and he impressed me. He listened rather then thinking he knew everything.

Richard, if you're still on this thread, do you know what happened to Gary ? I used to know one of his Formula Atlantic mechanics, Terry Wilkinson, in the early 1980s when I began kart racing. I have very vague recollections of Gary being killed in a road car accident in Dublin in the mid-1980s, but could be totally wrong. Obviously if I am, I hope I've not caused anyone offence.

[Terry Scannell]

Anyone remember the Equipo Nacional Espanol F3 Ralts during the 79/80 seasons? I believe they were based at Roger Heavens base but run by their own guys.

The reason for the question is that I used to help Colin Thorpe run the Phil Silverstone Ralt RT1 (and later the Argo JM6 together with Gerry Amato in the ex Stephen South March 773) and we used to work very closely with the Spanish Team especially their Spanish mechanic Abby and team manager Lois, I believe. Jorge Caton was one driver who was quite quick most of the time but my memory fails me with the second driver may have been Pedro Nogues?

Abby was brilliant, couldn't hardly speak a word of English initially, I couldn't speak a word of Spanish but we got on famously. The Spanish added sidepods to their cars with sliding skirts which were constantly being improved throughout the season with Colin claiming the discarded ones for Phils RT1!

We had a great couple of seasons with them over here - anyone know what happen to the cars or indeed the Spanish Dodge transporter and with Jorge or Abby?

I am sure Richard T will remember them?

Is Gerry Amato still around? I believe he was based in Chistlehurst when we used to run him?

Terry

[Terry Scannell]

Originally Posted by Terry Scannell

Jorge Caton was one driver who was quite quick most of the time but my memory fails me with the second driver may have been Pedro Nogues?

It's finally come back to me - the second Equipo Nacional Espanol team driver was Fermin Velez, while Pere Nogues drove another independent Ralt RT1 during 79 then moved on to an Argo for 1980 (certainly drove one at Monaco in 80).

Terry

[Dan Rear]

Terry, I think the Equipo Nacional... RT1s were out from late 77 thru' 78. I saw them at Donington in Oct 77, with Luis Canomauel, and Juan Villacieros. I don't think they raced those cars after that.

[Terry Scannell]

Dan,

I'm not 100% sure but I believe Luis became Team Manager in 78 when Jorge Caton and Fermin Velez took over driving duties, (I incorrectly spelled it as Lois in my earlier post) together with Abby as their chief engineer and some part-time help to assist at weekends. The extract below was taken from the 1979 Silverstone International Trophy entry list.


Formula 3
Vandervell British Formula 3 Championship March 25th 1979
20 laps - 94.36 kms

18 33 Phil Silverstone, GB Welwyn Discount Tyres and Exhaust Centres Ralt RT1 - To
19 34 Pere Nogues, E Pere Nogues Ralt RT1 - Toyota
20 36 Jorge Caton, E Equipo Nacional Español Ralt RT1 - Toyota/Novamotor
21 37 Fermin Velez, E Equipo Nacional Español Ralt RT1 - Toyota/Novamotor


In addition the following link provides a full Ralt history including a breakdown of drivers by year and model; http://www.f3history.co.uk/Manufacturers/Ralt/ralt.htm which may be of interest.

Terry

[alain prat]

my name is alain prat and i have RT1 # 21 i race with in french formula 3 classic
i search all information and photos on first owner : walter schock he race in deutchland
and osterreich his team was: racing for vienna and jim russel racing school and also?
fruit of the loom !

[driftwood]

just spoken to colin thorpe
he said he worked for spanish team for 2 years
he ran phil silverstone in 1980 in JM6
phil was running rt1 with alan howell

he recalls the spanish team drivers being called for national service
he thinks rt1 `s to south america and 1 car in bits and all parts went to spain via de villota?
He recalls Abby went to spanner Prost at Mclaren then went to Benneton F1 he thinks high up

[Terry Scannell]

Driftwood,

Thanks for the update, yes I certainly remember us helping with the Spanish guys for two seasons, which must have been 78-79 as well as running Phil's Ralt during the same period and then in 80 with the Argo. Phil ran with Alan Howell prior to this period in 77 I believe.

Colin's correct about the National Service - I seem to remember for part of one season the drivers were flown in on the Thursday/Friday so they could race then flown back on the Monday to do their bit of National Service.

I had a feeling that Abby did progress to F1, with one of the top teams but couldn't recall where.

Terry

[Chris Townsend]

Just a thought about Smellybeard's RT1.
Did we at some point discuss that this car appeared to have had a
central wing mounting, rather than the cross-beam wing support
that RT1s conventionally had?
It's just that the Klomfass car was built with this arrangement, unique
amongst early RT1s, and was, on further research, sold to someone in
LA in late 1976.
Kevin Cogan was based in LA, and in early 77 SCCA races, before Ralt
can have delivered his new car for that season, is using a red RT1 with
a central wing mounting - which in photos looks exactly like that on
Klomfass' car.
And it carried the number 33 [like the Freeberg car.... though this may be
pure coincidence]

Chris

[Richard Young]

Does Tony Skinner still have the ex-Kennedy Macao RT1 - he certainly did have.

[Dan Rear]

I presume the ex-Kennedy RT1 you mention is the one Richard Hawkins used over here in 1981, we think chassis no. 9.

[davyboy]

I spotted these guys in the US who seem to be running two RT1 Atlantics there at the moment. It'd be interesting to see whether either of these is part of the provinence above. And, if you feel you'd like to get back and drive one, they're renting the 1975 RT1 Atlantic for USD4,500 a race.

http://www.powerslidemotorsports.com...ntage_team.htm

[driftwood]

2 88 cars in Oz brennan has 1 cant recall the other car owner both came in from the usa

the rt1 car that is mentioned above at powerslide racing was owned by the ozzie but he sold it to the team before he went back to Oz i cant recall if he took the car from oz to usa

[Bryan Miller]

The RT1 you are discussing came from Australia in the hands of Peter Mohr , it is from memory chassis 5, I assisted Peter with the rebuild and the car was back in period Cathay Pacific livery .

Bryan.

[driftwood]

Can't understand why Peter didn't take the car back to Oz, it would be a rare car there now! RT4's are as common as muck.

I would like to know if the RT1 F2 cars are basically Atlantic cars, as the F3 suspension is same shape but narrower different uprights with slimmer bodywork.

[Steve Wilkinson]

On my never-ending quest to reslove the missing history of the British Sprint Championship I am once again trawling through old Autosport magazines. I spotted an ad in the 10th Novemeber 1977 issue for the following:

Ralt RT1-72 (May 1977) FGA 277 Gearbox; 2.0 Cosworth BDG

It was being sold by Graham Eden Racing. I think this may have been the car that ended up with Jackie Harris in the 80s.

[Dan Rear]

Steve, that car was in fact not sold by Eden over the 77-78 winter. They retained it for Mike Wilds in the F2 Aurora division for 78. It then went to Ian Briggs for UK Atlantic in late79 and 1980. May well be the one Jackie Harris had later on, or that could have been the Catlow car, which we think was the ex-Turnbull hillclimber.

[David McKinney]

My notes say RT1-72 was indeed raced by Mike Wilds and then Ian Briggs, then Jackie Harris from c1986 to c1991. The same notes suggest (repeat, suggest) thatTony Rougg might have been this car's first driver.
To confuse the issue, Jackie Harris also had a second RT1, number unknown, which I believe was an ex-CanAm car with Chevrolet V6 engine

[Dan Rear]

David, the notes are spot-on. The car was first run by Graham Eden for Tony Rouff (was he related to Tony Rougg!!) after their Sana burnt out in early 77. Rouff won at Thruxton in G8 that year, beating sundry F1/F5000s, and generally had a good year in it. Re the Sana, does anyone know what happened to the other chassis, the one Andy Barton had and converted to the Barton JTB3 ? I can't recall seeing it after about 1980.