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Danny
Sullivan at Thruxton in 1975.
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Part of
Teddy Savory's group of companies, Modus Developments was a building company,
the Modus name was adopted for the racing team that was formed in 1973 and
was yet another constructor from Norfolk to join Lotus, GRD, Argo and Van
Diemen. Initially Modus had simply been a racing team, running Tony Brise
in F Atlantic but when designer Jo Marquart joined from GRD it allowed the
team to become a constructor. The first Modus single seater (they also designed
sports cars) was the F3 M1 produced in early 1974 and cars for F2, F5000,
F Atlantic, Super Vee and Super Renault would also follow, inevitably F1
was mentioned as the ultimate goal. However Modus Developments was not prospering
financially and subsequently collapsed and consequently in November 1976
the racing team was also closed down. Manufacturing rights were sold to
Roger Andreason but no more cars were built. |
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The
Modus M1 on its announcement.
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Based on a conventional
monocoque with wishbone suspension all round the M1 was instantly
recognisable with its unusual combination of straight lines and curves.
Initially Ford twin-cam engines were used, mostly from Neil Brown,
Holbay or Nova but eventually most became Toyota Novamotor powered.
Danny Sullivan took the first Modus F3 win at Thruxton and Tony Brise
took a very good second place at Monaco. |
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Danny
Sullivan at the Monaco GP support race.
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The major change
for 1975 was the introduction of a narrow track suspension and a smoother
body work. The car soon gained a reputation for good handling on all
types of tracks and conditions except in the damp when it became very
nervous to drive. Eddie Cheever took 4 wins in his car, 2 at Silverstone
and 2 at Hockenheim and Danny Sullivan had 3 victories at Silverstone,
Cadwell and Oulton, whilst Freddy Kottulinsky won at the Nurburgring
in his BMW powered version. |
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Willi
Siller and Paulo Gomes fighting for
3rd place at Silverstone.
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Initially there
were no real changes to the M1 for 1976 but following problems in
comparison with other cars the lower rear suspension was converted
from wishbone to twin parallel links at the end of July which helped
but by then it was too late and at the end of the season Modus closed
down. The only major win came from Brett Riley at Silverstone, powered
unusually by a Neil Brown tuned Triumph engine, although only three
cars finished. |
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Drivers |
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1974 |
Bob
Arnott, Tony Brise, Julio
Caio, Reudi
Gigax, Ivor Goodwin, Peter Scharmann. |
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1975 |
Axel
Arens, Tim Brise, Eddie Cheever, Pete Clark, Hans Hargarten, Freddy
Kottulinsky, Gernot Lamby, Patrick Neve, Gunnar Nordström, Dick
Parsons, Fritz Stehlin, Danny Sullivan. |
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1976 |
Daniele
Albertin, Giovanni Albertin, Paolo Bozzetto, Paulo Gomes, John Lain,
Conny Ljungfeldt, Jac Nelleman, Massimo Perazza, Brett Riley, Rudolf
Röhnert, Jean-Louis Schlesser, Willi Siller, Robert Werl, Mike
Young, Renzo Zorzi. |
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