The car we have the pleasure of featuring today, chassis number B42-78-14, was to be driven by the most successful motorcycle rider of all time, the 15 time World Champion Giacomo Agostini.

Agostini had claimed his first World Championship in 1966 with MV Augusta and he would take 7 consecutive 350cc World Championships while simultaneously taking 6 500cc crowns. His final World Championship came in 1975 and alongside the circuit achievements, Agostini took a remarkable 10 Isle of Man TT victories with 13 podiums.

In retirement from two wheels, Agostini looked to four wheels. He had not competed in a car before driving the B42 in 1978 and he brought the backing of Marlboro whose iconic livery adorned the car. Agostini’s B42 would be one of the very few Formula 2 cars to carry the Marlboro colours.

The B42 was sold new to the Italian Trivellato Racing team ahead of the 1978 European Formula 2 season. Trivellato were the Italian agents for Chevron, but also in effect they had been the Chevron works team in 1976 and 1977.

The 1978 European Formula 2 season would prove to be one of the most competitive and over-subscribed years ever, with entires often in the mid 40s, while only 28 or so starters would be permitted.

Chevron had been pushed to produce the new B42s in time for the first round at Thruxton over Easter weekend in late March, and this meant the new owners had little to no testing time ahead of the opening weekend.

Having been quoted by Italian media as aiming for a second row start at Thruxton for his first car race, Agostini didn’t find the pace he anticipated in changing conditions. Setting the 24th fastest time, he made the race and completed the distance in 18th place.

Agostini missed the cut at Hockenheim for round 2 of the European F2 Championship but at the fearsome Nurburgring Eifelrennen, running on the Nordschleife in front of a crowd of 100,000, Agostini lined up 30th on the grid. He would repeat his Thruxton result with an 18th place finish.

At Mugello on the 30th April, Agostini set a time good enough to make the grid with the B42. The Italian lined up 30th once more in front of his native crowd, completing the race in 17th position. The remainder of the 1978 season saw Agostini miss out on the qualifying grid positions and for the final round at Hockenheim in September, B42-78-14 was taken over by Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi. Despite the change of driver, the Trivellato run B42 still missed the qualifying grid cut-off.

Thanks to the research of historian Chris Townsend and his accompanying dossier, the subsequent history of B42-78-14 is clear and well documented. Trivellato ordered three new Chevrons for 1979, and the B42 was returned to the factory at Bolton in trade.

With B42-78-14 having remained relatively low mileage through 1978 and avoided any crashes, it was bought from Chevron by David Winstanley of Lodge Corner Agencies. By July 1979, the B42 had been bought by Ken Brill who competed with it in the Aurora AFX series.

From Brill, who advertised the B42 in Autosport as “Ex-Agostini”, it passed to Terry Fisher. Fisher completed his first race with the car at Brands Hatch on Boxing Day 1979, finishing second in the Formula Libre contest. Fisher continued to use B42-78-14 through 1980, starting with Formula Libre and progressing to the Aurora AFX series, with the car being noted by Autosport as “Ex-Agostini/Brill”.

Fisher kept the B42 until 1982 when it was bought by Ray Rowan and Rowan fitted a new chassis plate carrying the number B48-79-04. The research of Chris Townsend has confirmed that Rowan changed the chassis plate and that the car is without doubt B42-78-14 with a complete provenance.

Rowan sold the B42 to Stuart Ridge in 1984, who would keep the B42 until 1987 when it went to David Seaton. Seaton owned the B42 until 1993 and at that point it passed to John Garnett, who in turn sold it to Carl Amos in the same year. Amos sold the B42 to Paul Gardner in 1995 and in 1996 it was bought by Roger Murray. Murray sold it to Steve Fitzsimmons in 1997 and in 1999 it returned to Murray.

In 2000, B42-78-14 entered American ownership in the hands of Peter Gulick. Gulick had the B42 restored by Simon Hadfield to the Marlboro livery as used by Agostini in 1978. Gulick took the B42 out to the USA where it was run for him by Lee Chapman Racing and they proved a very fast combination.

In 2007, Gulick sold the B42 to Grant Tromans. Tromans raced the B42 in the UK and Europe during his tenure as owner, having the B42 prepared and maintained at RaceWorks Motorsport. The B42 was also driven by Martin Stretton and Richard Meadon on his behalf, being a regular in the Peter Auto run Historic F2 series, as it was then.

In 2019, B42-78-14 was acquired by the current owner. In their ownership it has benefitted from a full rebuild of the BMW M12/7 engine by Lester Owen and has only been raced once since. Accompanied by a useful spares package, the B42 has current FIA HTPs valid to December 2025.

B42-78-14 stands as one of only two racing cars campaigned by the great Giacomo Agostini, the most successful motorbike racer of all time. Further to that, it is one of very few Formula 2 cars to have worn the full Marlboro livery and one of only a few B42s to have benefitted from the fitment of the BMW M12/7.

The B42 model was the only design to be a race winner in 1978 aside from the March 782, and as such B42-78-14 should be a highly competitive contender for Historic Formula 2 racing while delivering the user-friendly characteristics of Derek Bennett’s best with the iconic Marlboro livery in the very car raced by the most successful motorcycle racer of all time.