Wood in ex-jarier F2 March

Multiple Clubmans champion Clive Wood enjoyed his first test run in his newly acquired Formula 2 March-bmw 782 on Silverstone’s Grand Prix circuit last week ahead of debuting it there this weekend.

French F1 stars Jean-pierre Jarier and Jacques Laffite raced chassis 16 for compatriot Pierre Maublanc’s Sperry Univac-backed MRS equipe in the 1978 European championship. Jarier also drove it for Jean-louis Lafosse’s spin-off in the end-of-season South American Temporada series, finishing fourth in Buenos Aires.

Le Mans driver Michel Pignard subsequently hillclimbed the car, also previously raced in Historic F2 by Sean Walker, Frank Sytner and Martin Stretton.

“A 782 has always been my dream car and did not disappoint,” said Wood. “It’s very different to the Chevron B34 and B29 I’ve driven. The B34 feels planted, but the March’s handling is even more solid, and more physical. I really noticed the aero.

“The BMW M12 engine feels very powerful after BDGS, but has a narrower power band. You have to keep it singing from 7000 to 9000rpm.”

Wood, who ran the championshipwinning Pine City Racing Formula Ford 1600 team in the 1980s, has competed in Classic FF2000 for many years. Having enjoyed a Classic F3 sampler at the end of 2019, he will continue to compete in the category, hopefully alongside daughter Pippa Tanner-wood, who continues to race a Mallock.

Wood’s single-seaters are run by Lifetime Racing, which pools the vast experience of Dan Eagling and his father Glenn, who raced FF1600 and F3 in the early 1970s and still pedals Ffords and an F2 GRD rapidly. One of historic racing’s quickest and most versatile racers, Eagling Jr is another Clubmans champ who progressed to GTS internationally, having been a technician on David Sears’s Super Nova F3000 team.