and like the All State Special, the front wheels were covered when it first appeared!
Martin was told it was illegal, so the tops of the body work around the front wheels were cut off. Familiar story….
The first few test laps according to Tony Martin were the scariest drive he had ever had in his life. While fast down the long Kyalami straight, it had no grip whatsoever. They later put on a back wing and ran the rest of the day. It never raced.
Tony Martin was an accomplished driver however and won the 1980 South African Formula Atlantic series with a Chevron B39. He went onto win the 1984 Daytona 24-Hours, driving a March 83G-Porsche alongside Sarel Van Der Merwe and Graham Duxbury.
On the subject of South African Formula Atlantic, a contestant in the 1977 series was non other than Gilles Villeneuve. Villeneuve entered four races with his Chevron B39, his best finish being 3rd position.
Another successful South African Formula Atlantic driver was Wayne Taylor, who won the series in 1986. He moved to the USA in 1989, where he raced in the IMSA GT Camel series. He competed in IMSA's Camel Lights series in 1992 and the Camel GTP series in 1993. Taylor won the IMSA WSC championship in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998. In 1998 he also won the Petit Le Mans and the prototype class in the 24 Hours of Daytona. With Max Angelelli, he was co-champion in the Daytona Prototype category of the 2005 Grand American Road Racing Association Rolex Sports Car Series, winning in the 24 Hours of Daytona.
