EX-SOUTH F2 CAR IN TRACK RETURN

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Stephen South, one of Britain’s top single-seater racers of the 1970s, was reunited with his March 782 Formula 2 car at Donington Park last week.

The 1978 March has just finished a total restoration by Matthew Watts at Retro Track and Air and he invited South to Donington to see the car run for the first time in more than 30 years.

“I bought it from a collector in Belgium and I’ve had the car for seven or eight years,” said Watts, an established Historic F2 front-runner with his ex-norman Dickson March 772P. “We believe it had not seen action since hillclimbing in the early to mid-80s with Roy Lane and we don’t think it has been a complete car for over 30 years.”

The 782, used by South as he stepped up as an F3 champion, was a new car from March for the 1978 season. “I wanted to restore the car and make it look just like it did when Stephen raced it at Hockenheim 1978 in his last race in the March,” said Watts.

South did some Aurora AFX races and some European F2 races on very limited resources and then Adrian Russell raced it in Aurora in 1979 before it went to the hillclimbing scene.

“It’s been down to the last nut, bolt and rivet so we are slowly making sure that everything is in order,” said Watts of the long-term project. “It’s come out just as I wanted it to and the first on-track impressions are very nice.”