Church Farm Racing
Church Farm Racing was a British racing team that was active in Formula 3 and Formula 2 in the late 1960s .
The racing team was founded by Bernard Hender, stepfather of British racing driver Derek Bell . Church Farm Racing's primary purpose was to promote Derek Bell's motorsport career. Accordingly, the team accompanied the young racing driver in the mid-1960s through a series of Formula 3 races. In the 1968 season, however, the team also competed in the Formula 2 European Championship ; In 1969 and 1970 it was active in the European Formula 5000 championship .
The day-to-day organization of racing at Church Farm Racing was increasingly carried out by Mike Earle in the late 1960s . Mike Earle was later to run the LEC (Motorsport) racing team with David Purley and, from 1978, he owned his own team, Onyx Grand Prix , with which he was present in Formula 2, Formula 3000 and Formula 1 .
Formula 2
1968
Church Farm Racing started racing in Formula 2 at the beginning of 1968. The team used a Brabham BT23C with a Cosworth FVA engine. Initially, Derek Bell was the intended driver; later he was replaced by Brian Hart .
The team first registered for the Gran Premio Barcelona in March 1968, but has not yet started there. It was first used at the International ADAC Eifel Race on the Südschleife of the Nürburgring on April 21, 1968. Derek Bell was able to finish the race in third place, leaving competitors from the works teams of Scuderia Ferrari and Lotus behind. Bell competed continuously in the following championship races, but with one exception (Rhein-Pokal race at the Hockenheimring in June 1968, finish as 11th) was regularly out of the races .
After this race, Derek Bell moved to the Ferrari factory team. Church Farm Racing then reported the British racing driver Brian Hart from the Tulln-Langenlebarn airfield race near Vienna , who was able to reach significantly more finish lines than his predecessor. Hart crossed the finish line on his first outing, but covered just a little more than half of the maximum distance with 46 laps and was not counted. In Enna , Hart finished seventh, and in the following championship run in Reims , he finished fifth. At the ADAC Prize of Baden-Württemberg at the Hockenheimring, Hart reached the finish line in sixth place. Derek Bell was registered again for the Gran Prix d'Albi in France; However, he did not start, so that Brian Hart was again in the cockpit.
1969
For the first two rounds of the Formula 2 European Championship in Thruxton and at the Hockenheimring, Church Farm Racing registered a Brabham BT30 for the American Roy Pike , and the car was registered for Peter Gethin for the two following events in Pau and on the Nürburgring . In fact, the team did not participate in any of these races; the official lists have the entry “DNA” (did not arrive). There are no more entries for the following Formula 2 events.
Formula 5000
From 1969 the team concentrated on the European Formula 5000 Championship.
1969
In the first season of the European Formula 5000 Championship , Church Farm Racing reported a McLaren M10A with a 5-liter Chevrolet engine for Peter Gethin. The team was well managed, solidly equipped and overall very successful with the combination of car and driver. Gethin was able to win the first four races of the championship (at Oulton Park , twice at Brands Hatch and in Mallory Park ); at the fifth run Gethin retired after a clutch defect. After that, the team did not take part in some races. It was present again in the last three races of the season; Gethin did not dominate here as much as he did at the start of the season. Regardless, he won the championship title of the 1969 season.
1970
In the 1970 season, Church Farm Racing entered again with Peter Gethin as a pilot. Gethin again dominated the series and won the championship title for the second time. Peter Gethin already contested several races in Formula 2 and Formula 1 parallel to his assignments in Formula 5000; for the 1971 season he should get a permanent place in the Formula 1 team of McLaren . Church Farm Racing then stopped racing.