Geoff Lees, Ralt RH6 Honda V6 during practice of the Spa European F2 Championship round on August 9, 1981. He won the race from Thierry Boutsen, March 812 BMW and Eje Elgh, Maurer MM81 BMW.
Lees won the championship with wins in three of the 12 rounds at Pau, Spa and Donington, he was second at Mugello, Misano and Mantorp Park, together with a few other points he amassed a total haul of 51 from Boutsen on 37, and Elgh 35.
The season could have been quite different had Lees teammate, Mike Thackwell, who seemed destined for the very top, not had an horrific accident at Thruxton. He had started the season with a bang, winning the opening round at Silverstone from Ricardo Paletti, and was then third at Hockenheim – on both occasions in front of Lees – before it all turned to custard at Thruxton on the April 20 weekend.
“I was so cocky I had it coming. I won the first race, then went to Thruxton, it was my home circuit, I knew it like the back of my hand. Ron Tauranac had me on hard tyres and dampers to test. I saw Geoff Lees in the distance, during practice, and thought, ‘He’s an old boy I’ll catch him, no problem’and I went over the bump and the car bottomed out and I crashed.” he told journalist James Mills in 2020.
He was badly knocked about with a broken leg, injured heel and concussion.
The show always goes on of course. Boutsen won at the Nurburgring and Elgh at Vallelunga, before Corrado Fabi won at Mugello in another works March 812 BMW on May 24. Lees was fifth – fifth – and second at Mugello with Thackwell a mighty plucky fifth on his return race. Hobbling around the paddock, he walked with the aid of supports for much of the rest of the season.
Lees won at Pau with Thackwell sixth, then the pair had a shocker of a weekend at Enna-Pergusa in late July when Mike was disqualified for passing under a yellow flag, and Geoff had problems with his Bridgestones. Lees won at Spa while Mike had an accident on lap four, Lees carried the momentum at Donington in mid-August where Thackwell was fifth.
Michele Alboreto took a popular victory for Minardi BMW at home – Misano – from Lees and Thackwell on September 6, with Stefan Johannson taking the final round at Mantorp Park in a year-old Toleman TG280 Hart from Lees with Thackwell a distant 15th.
Thackwell during the season ending J.A.F. Japanese GP on the November 1, 1981 weekend. Satoru Nakajima, soon on his way to F1 with Lotus, won aboard a March 812 Honda from Boutsen and Johannson. Geoff Lees was fourth and Mike tenth.
Thackwell badly needed a win that weekend but was still suffering the after-effects of his accident and was on-the-nose with Team Managers as a result. He would come back with a bang, with Ralt too, but ultimately walked away from racing despite stunning god-given-gifts, a story for another time.
Honda RA260E V6…
Nobuhiko Kawamoto’s 80-degree, cast iron block, aluminium otherwise, DOHC, four-valve 1993cc – 90mm x 52.3mm – V6 produced about 310bhp @ 10500rpm.
The RA260E first raced in the back of a Ralt RH6/80 driven by Nigel Mansell in the June 8, 1980 Silverstone round of the Euro F2 Championship (below). He was 11th in the race won by Derek Warwick’s Toleman TG280 Hart.
In a developmental season doing half the rounds, the car’s best result was Mansell’s second place in an RT2 Honda behind Two Fabi’s works-March 802 BMW at Hockenheim. American Formula Atlantic ace, Tom Gloy, raced an RH6 at Enna and Misano.
Over that winter development changes included adopting Bosch instead of Lucas fuel injection, and alterations to combustion chamber shape. The 1981 variant of the motor was dubbed RA261E.
Geoff Lees…
Geoff Lees blasting down Surfers Paradise main straight during the 1979 Rothmans International Series, Wolf WR3 Ford Cosworth DFV.
Geoff came out together with David Kennedy as a three F1 car Theodore Racing lineup – Wolfs WR3 and WR4 and Ensign N177 – to mix it with the F5000s, as much as the rock-hard Goodyears they were forced to run would allow anyway.
I’d followed them both since their FF days, which overlapped. Both became occasional F1 drivers too, not quite getting a foothold at the top level but vastly competent elite level professionals all the same. Kennedy won at Surfers (WR4) but the F5000s prevailed, Larry Perkins was the series victor in a works-Elfin MR8-C Chev, despite not winning a round. Alf Costanzo was second in Alan Hamilton’s Lola T430 Chev, winning two rounds.
Racing for Ralt in 1980 was a ‘step back from F1 to win in F2 and re-enter F1 manoeuvre’ but Honda spent another year developing their F1 engine so Geoff never got the good gig he wanted. With strong relationships in Japan he had a highly paid career there in F2, winning the 1983 title, and in sportscars, inclusive of annual forays at Le Mans.
Credits…
MotorSport Images, Anthony Fosh, LAT Photographic
Finito…
primotipo... 