45 replies to this topic

[Gerard Gamand]

who was Brian Lewis ?
he enter March F2 in 74

[petefenelon]

Originally posted by Gerard Gamand
who was Brian Lewis ?
he enter March F2 in 74

He was also involved in '76 with the Boxer-Hart F2 which appeared in '76-77 - I've seen pics of it with "BRIAN LEWIS RACING" on the cockpit cowling. Mike Pilbeam later did some development work on it, as it's project MP34 in his list of designations.

Hodges says Lewis was looking to back a Boxer F1 for the Aurora series in '78 but those plans were abandoned.

This is from a Ford press release:

BRIAN LEWIS
“My best memory is seeing our Alan Mann Racing car – with Graham Hill at the wheel – first away when the flag dropped in 1966.”
When the doors opened at the new Ford Advanced Vehicles operation in Slough, England, in 1964, young mechanic Brian Lewis was there, earning £22 a week in wages but a lifetime of memories.
Having working in motorsport since 1962 on Aston Martins and Jaguars, Lewis answered and advertisement for the new Ford operation which would create the Ford GT40. He stayed at FAV through the intensive initial development period, getting the new GT40 ready for its first Le Mans testing.
Lewis then left FAV to join Alan Mann Racing, the British Ford factory team that would later compete as a Le Mans entrant. At Alan Mann Racing, Lewis was involved in the gamut of the team’s activities, from rallying Falcons to road racing Mustangs, Cobras and, ultimately, GT40s.

Lewis remained with Alan Mann until the operation was disbanded in 1969.

He went on to distinguish himself in other forms of motorsport, including extensive work in Formula 2 with Brabham, March Engineering and other teams. By 1974, he was entering his own car in Formula 2 and in 1975 he established his own firm, Boxer Cars. He continued in motorsport until 1979, when sponsorship money dried up and he turned his back on motorsport, transforming Boxer Cars into a commercial fleet management concern which still operates today. It is based on the Fairoaks Airport site of his old mentor, Alan Mann.

[petefenelon]

Boxer Cars
01276 857698
Unit 3, Threshold Way, Fairoaks Airport, Chobham, Woking, GU24 8HU

;)

[Cirrus]

The last I heard, there ws still a Boxer F2 hanging on the wall at the Brian Lewis unit at Fairoaks.

[Gerard Gamand]

The two cars entered by Brian Lewis at Nogaro in France 74 :

[Mallory Dan]

Brian L gets a bit of a slating in the Lost Generation book. Apparently he was less than helpful to Roger W at a 73 F2 race at Rouen (??).

I recall the Boxers in 1976-78, lovely lookers, and quite quick too. Lewis later ran Val Musetti in Aurora I think.

[Chris Townsend]

Brian Lewis was already entering cars in F2 in 1973.
He was responsible for running Colin Vandervell's Triplex backed March, and Mike Beuttler's stockbroker car.
Later in the season, after the Filipinetti equipe folded he took on the running of Jacques Coulon.

Gerard, do you have any more pictures from Nogaro 1974? This was a not so well covered non championship race

Chris

[Gerard Gamand]

Yes Chris I have some more, I have to search it !

[Gerard Gamand]

[Gerard Gamand]

one more of Nogaro 74

[Gerard Gamand]

and after

[img]http://img455.images...90ab7.jpg(/img]

[Gerard Gamand]

and after

[Gerard Gamand]

David purley before the race !

[rdmotorsport]

I cannot remember Val Musetti in a Boxer but feel sure Mike Wilds peddled one at some stage, oh to have a memory that worked!

Rodney Dodson.

[Gerard Gamand]

The start

[Gerard Gamand]

a better view of Maxim Bochet March 742 of Brian Lewis Racing

[Gerard Gamand]

and the podium

[Chris Townsend]

Gerard, many thanks. The picture of the start is most interesting. The number 9 car on row 2 is that of Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, who according to British magazine sources was entered in a March 742 belonging to Jo Vonlanthen. Unless someone has taken the unusual step of back-dating the bodywork, what we see there is a March 732.

Does anyone have a report by a European magazine that might be more illuminating?
Gerard, do you have a specific photo anywhere of Jaussaud's car at that race

Chris

[Simon Hadfield]

Chris, I thougt the customer 742s were substantialy the same as the 732s and thus lead to Harper/March/Chevron shmozzle? Would all the customer teams have bought the updates by then?

[BT 35-8]

Chris,

I go along with Simon , 742/74B are virtually the same as 1973 models unless you get up very close , the cockpit bodywork was two piece on 73 cars and one piece on 74 , some cars seemed to have a different dry sump tank , i.e. the 1974 tank was a tapered affair and mounted to the r.h.s. of the gearbox , the 1973 mounted centrally .
Not all cars were updated , Ted Wenz's 74B stayed as a std. 74B , can't comment on 742's have not seen enough photos.

Bryan.

[Alan Cox]

Trés belles photos, Gerard. Merçi beaucoup. Encore?

[Chris Townsend]

I may be wrong about this but I thought the fundamental difference between 742 and 732 was that the latter had a front radiator and the newer car, for F2, had the shovel nose with side radiators. The 74B for Atlantic started out as front radiator and was then kitted by March from May onwards to match F2 spec, but I thought that all 742s at least looked the same as the works cars from the start. Simon, are you saying that privateers started the season in front radiator spec?

Chris

[Gerard Gamand]

more

[Gerard Gamand]

that's all

[Gerard Gamand]

[Simon Hadfield]

Chris, yes thats as I understood it and that Bob (?) Harpers anger on finding that his newly purchased March F2s were very different to the works cars lead to him defecting to Chevron virtually overnight.

[Cirrus]

That's how I remember it as well. There was widespread (and understandable) discontent at the fact that the works March team turned up at the first race with cars that looked nothing like the customer cars.

The magnanimous gesture of allowing customers to purchase expensive update kits for their brand new cars just rubbed salt into the wound, and Bob Harper decided to put his money into new Chevrons....

[BT 35-8]

Chris,

I agree with both above posts, check pages 90 and 91 of the March book , page 90 Depailler has a works long nose /side rad. car and p.91 Gabriel Serblin with a standard 742 .

Bryan.

[antony duprat]

http://images.google...ttp...l=fr&sa=G
Henton with the Boxer.

[Chris Townsend]

Anthony

That's Henton with the Wheatcroft-Pilbeam R26 with Abarth engine at Thruxton, 19 April 76.

The first Boxer [PR276-1] to appear was for Tony Rouff in the ShellSport race at Snetterton 28 Mar 76, with a BDX engine, running in F2 class and 2nd o/a. Then used at the Atlantic race at Brands Hatch 4 April 76 - though it was intended as the F2 car and fitted with a BDA as a stop gap. Rouff drove this in the F2 race at Thruxton two weeks later, finishing 8th and at the Nurburgring on May 2, finishing 2nd, probably with the Swindon BDX rather than BDA engine. Then it was back to Atlantic 9 May with the same car, at Brands, finishing 3rd behind Wentz and Trimmer's Lola's. 23 May Rouff appears at Salzburgring, and doesn't make the race - not all that surprising with a BDX on a pure power circuit. Also fails to qualify at Hockenheim 20 June. Taken to the Shellsport race at Mallory 27 June [5th] Patrick Neve makes a one-off Atlantic appearance with the car at Knockhill, Aug 1, retiring from the final with electrical maladies. It's this car that is then turned over to the F2 class of the ShellSport series, with Rouff 11th at Brands 30 Aug, then used by Henton at Thruxton 12 Sept [18th, running as Atlantic with 1.6 BDA after losing the BDX in practice, having qualified 3rd]; Oulton Park 18 Sept for Henton with a repaired BDX [2nd]; Brands 24 Oct for Henton [3rd] and finally Brands 7 Nov for Rouff [9th]

Henton takes the car to Silverstone F2 6 Mar 77 qualifies 9th but blows the team's only engine. At Thruxton 11 April they've finally got their hands on a Hart 420R and Henton duly puts the car in the middle of the front row and recovered from a bad start [7th lap 1 ] to win and set fastest lap. The team then builds a new car for the rest of the F2 season, and this chassis in not seen again until Thruxton 27 Mar 78 when it's rented to Hans Meier, who crashes it, then Snetterton 16 Apr 78, when Norman Dickson crashes it in practice for the Aurora AFX race. Maybe the car used by Meier in a minor F2 race at Salzburg 23 April. Dickson also runs it at the Eifelrennen F2 30 April [16th]. Taken to Zandvoort 15 May 78 and retires with gearbox failure. Then used by Geoff Brabham to win the F2 class in the Aurora race at Donington 21 May [6th o/a] and Emilio de Villota at Thruxton 29 May [7th o/a won F2]. Entered for Tony Trimmer at Donington F2 25 June 78 but DNQ


The second Boxer appears at Croft! 31 May. Driven by Rouff, finishing second in the Atlantic race, Autosport 3 June 76, p. 21 notes it as 'the arrival of the lighter Atlantic chassis and designates it a PRA76. This appears to have been chassis number 2. This becomes Rouff's car for the rest of the Indyatlantic series, finishing 2nd at Brands June 6; 2nd Mallory Park July 11; 3rd Knockhill August 1; retiring at Thruxon Aug 8; 2nd Silverstone Sept 5; 1st Brands Sept 26; 5th Brands Oct 3 after a collision with Wentz; 1st Oulton Park 16 Oct. Rouff placed second in the Atlantic championship after a protest against Wentz over the Oct 3 incident was turned down by RAC Tribunal after the season end. Also used by Rouff at Brands 24 Oct Shellsport [11th and won Atlantic class]

The third Boxer is a new car for Henton used by him and then Danny Sullivan through the 1977 F2 series after Thruxton.

[Mallory Dan]

Originally posted by rdmotorsport
I cannot remember Val Musetti in a Boxer but feel sure Mike Wilds peddled one at some stage, oh to have a memory that worked!

Rodney Dodson.

Rodney, I don't think Wilds ever raced a Boxer. The car Val M had, which Lewis ran, was I think the ex-RAM 781 in the early 1979 Aurora races. Val wrote it off soon after though. From dim and distant weren't there rumours of an F1 Boxer around this time, probably for Aurora only rather than GPs ?

Very comprehensive history of the cars there Chris !

[Chris Townsend]

From the list of drivers I've given above, it looks as though Mike Wilds was almost the only person not to race a Boxer...

More seriously, I have to say that I was at Thruxton the day that Henton won and his performance, and that of this rather ugly boxy car, was staggering. You have to remember that this was a one car, one engine team against the works Marches, works Renault-Martinis, and some very well funded Europeans, and say what you like about it a Hart 420R in 1977 was not as quick as either a BMW M12 or a Renault V6. Henton certainly had something to prove, but I still remember that drive [apart from the bog up of the start...] as one of the best I've ever seen. I think the results show that Lewis built a very good car with the Boxer and it was a real shame the money wasn't there to sustain the effort.

Chris

[antony duprat]

Originally posted by Chris Townsend
Anthony

That's Henton with the Wheatcroft-Pilbeam R26 with Abarth engine at Thruxton, 19 April 76.

The first Boxer [PR276-1] to appear was for Tony Rouff in the ShellSport race at Snetterton 28 Mar 76, with a BDX engine, running in F2 class and 2nd o/a. Then used at the Atlantic race at Brands Hatch 4 April 76 - though it was intended as the F2 car and fitted with a BDA as a stop gap. Rouff drove this in the F2 race at Thruxton two weeks later, finishing 8th and at the Nurburgring on May 2, finishing 2nd, probably with the Swindon BDX rather than BDA engine. Then it was back to Atlantic 9 May with the same car, at Brands, finishing 3rd behind Wentz and Trimmer's Lola's. 23 May Rouff appears at Salzburgring, and doesn't make the race - not all that surprising with a BDX on a pure power circuit. Also fails to qualify at Hockenheim 20 June. Taken to the Shellsport race at Mallory 27 June [5th] Patrick Neve makes a one-off Atlantic appearance with the car at Knockhill, Aug 1, retiring from the final with electrical maladies. It's this car that is then turned over to the F2 class of the ShellSport series, with Rouff 11th at Brands 30 Aug, then used by Henton at Thruxton 12 Sept [18th, running as Atlantic with 1.6 BDA after losing the BDX in practice, having qualified 3rd]; Oulton Park 18 Sept for Henton with a repaired BDX [2nd]; Brands 24 Oct for Henton [3rd] and finally Brands 7 Nov for Rouff [9th]

Henton takes the car to Silverstone F2 6 Mar 77 qualifies 9th but blows the team's only engine. At Thruxton 11 April they've finally got their hands on a Hart 420R and Henton duly puts the car in the middle of the front row and recovered from a bad start [7th lap 1 ] to win and set fastest lap. The team then builds a new car for the rest of the F2 season, and this chassis in not seen again until Thruxton 27 Mar 78 when it's rented to Hans Meier, who crashes it, then Snetterton 16 Apr 78, when Norman Dickson crashes it in practice for the Aurora AFX race. Maybe the car used by Meier in a minor F2 race at Salzburg 23 April. Dickson also runs it at the Eifelrennen F2 30 April [16th]. Taken to Zandvoort 15 May 78 and retires with gearbox failure. Then used by Geoff Brabham to win the F2 class in the Aurora race at Donington 21 May [6th o/a] and Emilio de Villota at Thruxton 29 May [7th o/a won F2]. Entered for Tony Trimmer at Donington F2 25 June 78 but DNQ


The second Boxer appears at Croft! 31 May. Driven by Rouff, finishing second in the Atlantic race, Autosport 3 June 76, p. 21 notes it as 'the arrival of the lighter Atlantic chassis and designates it a PRA76. This appears to have been chassis number 2. This becomes Rouff's car for the rest of the Indyatlantic series, finishing 2nd at Brands June 6; 2nd Mallory Park July 11; 3rd Knockhill August 1; retiring at Thruxon Aug 8; 2nd Silverstone Sept 5; 1st Brands Sept 26; 5th Brands Oct 3 after a collision with Wentz; 1st Oulton Park 16 Oct. Rouff placed second in the Atlantic championship after a protest against Wentz over the Oct 3 incident was turned down by RAC Tribunal after the season end. Also used by Rouff at Brands 24 Oct Shellsport [11th and won Atlantic class]

The third Boxer is a new car for Henton used by him and then Danny Sullivan through the 1977 F2 series after Thruxton.

Sorry it is an error : The good pic is this one
http://fotos.iher.ne...Boxer PR276.jpg

[Mallory Dan]

Quite agree re the Henton/Boxer Thruxton drive Chris. I really rated him after that, also how well he went in a 'shoestring' 782 the year after, without mentioning his 79 and 80 Toleman exploits.

He may have been a bit awkward, perhaps arrogant, and rough maybe. Bt unlike many other highly touted Brits of that era, he actually got off his a--e and went out and beat the Frogs/Wops/Krauts etc in Europe.

[Andrew Kitson]

Originally posted by Mallory Dan
Quite agree re the Henton/Boxer Thruxton drive Chris. I really rated him after that

I have this number in my mind - didn't he do a 1min 10 something in that car to set the new Thruxton lap record? I recall we were all staggered at the time, not so much now when one-make Formula Renault's do low 10s there now, same circuit despite the flattened out 'church' bump, they just do not seem so fast!

[Chris Townsend]

Andrew, it was 1.10.67 [just looked it up in the black book] and must have been the first 120 mph lap round Thruxton

I couldn't believe how quick the Boxer was into the complex. It was, perhaps, one of those days when a driver just got so into a zone that he was unbeatable or else the car had unbelievable brakes... Still almost as magical to me as seeing Senna for the first time, going round Paddock in a Van Diemen, like it was bone dry when in fact the circuit was nearly underwater [March 81]

[Stephen W]

Originally posted by Chris Townsend
Andrew, it was 1.10.67 [just looked it up in the black book] and must have been the first 120 mph lap round Thruxton

I couldn't believe how quick the Boxer was into the complex. It was, perhaps, one of those days when a driver just got so into a zone that he was unbeatable or else the car had unbelievable brakes... Still almost as magical to me as seeing Senna for the first time, going round Paddock in a Van Diemen, like it was bone dry when in fact the circuit was nearly underwater [March 81]

Henton on his day was the equal of any of the F2 drivers that he ever came up against. He was also very experienced at Thruxton and when you couple this to his inate ability plus a neat well-mannered car then Superhen was always in with a chance. The thing that shocked everyone was that he walloped all the "works" entries!

The only blot on Henton's F2 record was when he spun the Ralt out at Donington a couple of years later and allowed Marc Surer to slip through to take the title.

[Mallory Dan]

I was there too that day Steve, down at the Old Hairpin. When Superhen went off, there was an audible sigh from the crowds. Though Daly won the race, and he was a bit of a local hero, it didn't make up for 'Our Brian' losing the series on his home turf.

[Stephen W]

Originally posted by Mallory Dan
I was there too that day Steve, down at the Old Hairpin. When Superhen went off, there was an audible sigh from the crowds. Though Daly won the race, and he was a bit of a local hero, it didn't make up for 'Our Brian' losing the series on his home turf.

Rather than a sigh it was more of a GROAN! Surer must have been laughing all the way to the Chequered Flag!

[Phil Rainford]

Oulton Park Paddock (Gold Cup 1976)

[IMG]http://img457.images...mg055nv9.th.jpg[/IMG]

[Gerard Gamand]

an other good one of Brian Henton in 1977

[Paul Taylor]

So what happened to the Boxers then?

[Red Socks]

So what happened to the Boxers then?

Still with Brian Lewis last time I saw one.

[Cirrus]

So what happened to the Boxers then?

... see post 4

[Loscar]

Hello

 

Sorry for digging out this old post but i was wondering if Mr Brian Lewis is still active and his shop at the fairoaks airfield still operating ?

 

Thanks a lot

[MCS]

Hello

 

Sorry for digging out this old post but i was wondering if Mr Brian Lewis is still active and his shop at the fairoaks airfield still operating ?

 

Thanks a lot

I don't know the answer, but if you haven't done so already, maybe give Fairoaks a call? 

 

It always seems pretty busy - or it is at least when I pass by three or four times a year - and now known as Fairoaks Airport.

 

https://fairoaksairport.uk/