Reynard SF87 history.

[maarslet]

Hi.

Two years ago i bought a Reynard SF87.
It was not exactly perfect when i bought it.
So i have spend a lot of money, bringing it back to life, and now i really love it!

Recently i have become very interested in the cars history.
It has been for sale a couple of times in Canada.
And in 2007 it was sold to a guy called Per in Denmark.
And now i an the current owner, living in Denmark too.
The ads and the former owner in Denmark claims that the car was used in the Canadian Formula 2000 championship.
I guess it must have been in the years 1987-1991, since the F2000 series stopped in 1991.
The cars VIN is: 87F-019

This is links to the ads, when the car was for sale in Canada.
http://www.race-cars.com/carsold/rey...59232681ss.htm
http://www.race-cars.com/carsold/rey...83002880ss.htm

The picture attached is the car in its current state.

If anyone have any information regarding this cars history, i would be very thankful.
I am especially interested in who the driver was during Canadian Formula 2000 championship.

Best regards
Nikolaj Madsen, Denmark.

[racerdad2]

Can't help with history. I just have to compliment you on a great looking car !

[Gary_T]

Here are results for Canadian F2000 - http://www.autocourse.ca/index.php?file=results.html

If it was really Export A series, that was started in '89 as far as I can tell.

Not sure how to figure out which car is yours though, any log books?

[kea]

The Export A series started before 1989.
Maybe under a different name, but there was some serious F2000 racing series in Quebec and Ontario as early as 1984.

[Gary_T]

Agreed, but I don't believe it was called the Export A series until '89 (although I'll defer to anyone who was racing in Ont/Que at the time), and in the previous ads, it is specifically called out as an 'Export A car'.

[R. Pare]

From the current F2000 series History page:

"In the mid-eighties a Canadian Pro F2000 series, known as the Canadian Tire/Motomaster Championship"

[old 59]

In the 'History' it states Ex-MacDonald car.

It could be Randy MacDonald's old car. He made a name for himself in stock cars in Canada and then set up shop in Charlotte, N.C., I believe.

[problemchild]

Sam Ryan had a rental driver who owned a Macdonalds and his had MacDonalds graphics on it after the Export A series ended and it was run in the Northeast USA. Maybe ....

[Jonathan Hirst]

The car as pictured in the for sale ad is Jeff Bateman I believe, or his brother Jeff. I can pass along their contact information if you do not already have it with the records of the car.

Possibly they have more history or at least the previous owners info.

Jonathan

[Revs2-12k]

Nice Reynard, I enjoyed my SF87 as well..

Link to the online Reynard Registry -> http://www.reynardowners.com/listings.html

Dated but somewhat complete. Could be a typo, since it shows the chassis as a FF.

[kdl]

The Macdonald referenced in the original ad's would be "RJR-Macdonald" which was the parent company of "Export A" cigarettes. As to the origin of the car was there a CASC metal logbook tag with the car? that might help.

Keith

[Brian Graham]

Sam Ryan's car was converted to a FF and ended up a National Solo Championship car. I did some work on your car in our shop for the Batemans. They are the best bet to find out the history.
Brian.

[maarslet]

Thanks for all the replies so far!

I have some additional info.
The last owner in Canada was Gary Ramey.

Last winter i had the car resprayed. When i sanded it down, it revealed a lot of different colors.
Most of the fiberglass parts seemed to have received the same layers of paint.
I believe the first color was blue, and then it was painted red.
But i am not 100% sure. It might be red first, and then blue.

I am a bit confused about the VIN.
I thought it should be either 87SF-019 or 87FF-019.
But this is just 87F-019.
I was told that this type of VIN was used on frames that was shipped from UK to North America.
And it was not yet decided if they were to be used as 2000 or 1600.
I don't know if this is true?

Jonathan, I don't have the Batemans contact info.
So i would be very happy if you send it to me!

Thanks
Nikolaj

[exTRD]

Thanks for all the replies so far!

I have some additional info.
The last owner in Canada was Gary Ramey.

Last winter i had the car resprayed. When i sanded it down, it revealed a lot of different colors.
Most of the fiberglass parts seemed to have received the same layers of paint.
I believe the first color was blue, and then it was painted red.
But i am not 100% sure. It might be red first, and then blue.

I am a bit confused about the VIN.
I thought it should be either 87SF-019 or 87FF-019.
But this is just 87F-019.
I was told that this type of VIN was used on frames that was shipped from UK to North America.
And it was not yet decided if they were to be used as 2000 or 1600.
I don't know if this is true?

Jonathan, I don't have the Batemans contact info.
So i would be very happy if you send it to me!

Thanks
Nikolaj

OId topic but I will share my experience. Back in the Summer of 1987 I worked for Spenard-David FF2000 racing team, which was campaigning two (2) Reynard 87SF's and one 85SF for three drivers in the 1987 Motomaster Canadian FF2000 championship. It was the top team in that series, well funded and had own track to do testing if necessary. A couple of other entrants were also running the 87SF. If I remember correctly it was a car driven by Claude Bourbonnais with some watch branding Cardinal I think. The other 87SF was driven by Paul Tracy, his team was run by his father. Remember sponsor was Trabour Painting.

Our main driver was mega talented and fast Stephane Proulx (#65) who had the seat paid by the team for winning the 1986 school championship within the Spenard David racing driving school. The team was based in Shannonville Ontario at the race track of same name. The 2nd 87SF was driven by a Danny Compeou (#29) a paying driver. Third car was driven by David Berkey (#44) a paying driver from New York, who drove the 85SF. At the time, the 86SF was deemed a "dog" and even though the team had those chassis from 1986 season or racing, it was deemed as uncompetitive and 2 year old 85SF was used for Berkey.

Incidentally during my stay there, Jacques Villenueve was just a young 16 year old kid who worked as a mechanic in that racing school. Along with several others they were preparing open wheel FF1600 and FF2000 school cars for driving students.

Stephane Proulx never put a scratch on the #65 and dominated the 1987 nine race season winning the Canadian FF2000 championship. Paul Tracy had a season filled with crashes and few podiums. The most formidable competition came from Richard Laporte, who was a restaurant owner from Montreal and carried own sponsorship by Rottiserie Laurier. Surprisingly, he was running a Swift DB-3 chassis with some factory support instead of 87SF. He made podium, finished races and was very consistent.

I don't think that Spedard-David raced in 1988 FF2000 season, so those two cars were probably sold off. Campeau won one race at Shannonville (picture) and had a crash along the way at Sanair, Quebec oval and we needed to replace right front corner wishbone pickups in the #29. Berkey did an average job and never hurt the car.
If you or anyone else had any questions related to my story, feel free to ask.
Thanks.