The Cars

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Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Combe Libre Home

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Tony Trimmer.

Ex Grand Prix driver and twice British F1 champion  was the main man in Libre racing for most of the 1980s, aboard John Jordan's  Lola T330 F5000 with it's thundering Chevrolet 302 V8.

It may have been a car from the early 70s but the T330 was the great F5000 car, still winning titles, disguised under Can Am bodywork in 1982 and it's supple, outboard suspension was perfectly suited to the notoriously bumpy Combe tarmac.

In July 1984 Trimmer broke the outright lap record which had stood since the European F5000 series had made a race appearance at the track in 1970!                       More Photos           

Alo Lawler

The St Helens-based Irish Formula Atlantic stalwart swapped his Ralt RT4 (see below) in late 1984 for the unique McLaren M30 chassis. Built in 1980 for Alain Prost, the McLaren was a full ground effect car with huge sidepods and the driver sitting a long way forward of where you'd see him in a modern F1 car.

While the car was hardly a great success in Grands Prix, and only appeared three times in 1980, it did help to establish future multiple world champion Prost as a serious young driver to watch and led to him signing for Renault the following year.

Lawler arrived at Combe with the car still in full Marlboro livery, in October 1984, it's melodic sportscar spec DFV engine howling across the old airfield was a joy to hear. It was soon THE car but disaster was around the corner (Old Paddock corner to be exact)..

More Photos

Alo Lawler

Combining a Formula Atlantic chassis with an M12 BMW F2 engine produced a potent race car and Lawler often did a giant-killing act, humbling larger F1 and F5000 cars in the same race.  He ran the car at Combe until replacing it with the McLaren in late 1984.

He won the Libre race at Combe on July 7th 1984, the day Tony Trimmer's F5000 Lola broke the long standing circuit lap record

Duncan Bain

Lawer's Ralt was driven by his erstwhile Formula Atlantic rival Duncan Bain in October 1984. By the look of the numbering, the Ralt was 4T and the McLaren 1T it looks as if Lawler had entered both in case the new McLaren proved unsuitable or unreliable.

Duncan Bain

Bain's own Ralt was also in attendance at the October 1984 event (I think it was a BDX-powered version with a rather less potent 1600cc engine than Lawler's BMW powered car?) As Lawler raced the Mclaren, Bain's own car relegated to the role of spare for this meeting.

(photo:  Peter Howarth)