Description
1983 SPARTON SE420 FORMULA 3
Chassis Number: SE420/ 04C
- The only Sparton F3 chassis built
- Test driven by Ayrton Senna at Silverstone in 1983
- Unique Formula 3 entrant for the 1983 season
- Restored in current ownership
- Eligible for the Classic Formula 3 series
Sparton was founded by Norman Pierce and Paul Jackson in 1977 in Lingfield, Surrey, producing Formula Ford 1600 and 2000 monoposto racecars. The cars were well made and competitive, raced by known drivers such as Johnny Herbert, and won the short-lived Formula Talbot series of 1980 and ‘81. For 1983, Sparton has ambitions to move up to Formula 3. The new car was to be designed with Geoff Rumble (of Dastle), and two chassis were built.
The new SE420, based on the previous FF2000 design, was completed in time to enter five races in the second half of the ’83 season. Ayrton Senna was in the midst of his season-long battle with Martin Brundle to win the British Formula 3 title, having already been wooed by various teams to move to F1 for 1984. At Silverstone in October the SE420 was going pretty well, but Jackson needed a benchmark to test its true performance. Standing in the paddock, Jackson asked Ayrton Senna as a favour if he wouldn’t mind testing the new car.
According to Jackson in a June 2002 article in Motorsport Magazine, “We needed a reference point. The ideal way to do that was to get a front-runner in the car to see where we were at. If Ayrton had blown me away by two seconds, fine, I’d hang my helmet up; but if he did not, hopefully he could tell us what our problem was. That’s when we approached him.
“He was a bit reluctant to begin with: he was busy and wasn’t sure whether his contract would allow it. We said, ‘Okay, let’s talk to Dickie [Senna’s team boss, Dick Bennetts]. He had a similar opinion. Senna was under a little pressure, it was late in the season and he was being chased by Brundle for the championship, so he didn’t need another distraction. Yet Bennetts gave the nod, and Senna generously jumped in for a decently long test run. He was a little quicker than Jackson, but not significantly, and was enthusiastic about the car’s performance and handling.”
Unfortunately Sparton didn’t have the budget to develop the car further, and so the car’s best result was Mario Hytten’s fourth place in the final round of the championship. Sparton lightly modified the SE420 for 1984, building a new car with revised bodywork. Entered by Valour Racing, Jackson raced in the first five rounds without success, later switching to a Ralt for the remainder of the season, and that’s more or less where the story ends for the Sparton F3 team.
The only Sparton F3 chassis built, this unique SE420 was entered into club racing in the 1990s, before resting at a go-kart track in South West England where our vendor, a go-kart racer and motorsport enthusiast, discovered it in 2011, and more importantly its significance. Our vendor then decided quite rightly to embark on an extensive restoration of the Sparton. The chassis was stripped and power coated, and the bodywork prepared and then repainted as original. A 2-litre Volkswagen Bradham Judd full race engine was acquired, which was rebuilt and fed with the correct Lucas mechanical injection system. Breathing is taken care of by a ceramic-coated 4 into 1 exhaust system, and a custom fuel cell built by specialists ATL. Mated to the engine is a Hewland Mk9 5-speed gearbox (rebuilt by JP Race Shop of Silverstone). Braking is taken care of by AP racing calipers with 8mm discs, and the car sits on 13” Revolution 8 and 10J race wheels.
Offered with a file of its restoration, this unique Formula 3 veteran is ready to return to the track in anger once more.
This classic vehicle will be coming to auction with Dore & Rees Auctions on Saturday 21st September at the Castle Combe Autumn Classic. For further information please contact the Motoring department.
