Founded in Surrey in 1977, Sparton made its name in Formula Ford and won two Formula Talbot titles before stepping up to Formula 3 with the SE420 in 1983. Underfunded but quick, it scored two fourth-place finishes that year, and none other than Ayrton Senna famously tested it at Silverstone.

The SE420 has been comprehensively restored, with thorough documentation charting the work undertaken. The vendor describes it as a lovely example with a great backstory, and reports that it has been well cared for throughout its current ownership. With its history well documented, this Sparton SE420 represents an appealing opportunity for those looking to enter historic Formula 3 racing or simply add a very famous single-seater to their collection.

The vendor provides the following:

Sparton was founded by Norman Pierce and Paul Jackson in 1977 in Lingfield, Surrey, producing Formula Ford 1600 and 2000 monoposto racecars. The cars were well made and competitive, raced by known drivers such as Johnny Herbert, and won the short-lived Formula Talbot series of 1980 and ’81. For 1983, Sparton has ambitions to move up to Formula 3. The new car was to be designed with Geoff Rumble (of Dastle). The new SE420, based on the previous FF2000 design, was completed in time to enter five races in the second half of the ’83 season. Ayrton Senna was in the midst of his season-long battle with Martin Brundle to win the British Formula 3 title, having already been wooed by various teams to move to F1 for 1984. At Silverstone in October the SE420 was going pretty well, but Jackson needed a benchmark to test its true performance. Standing in the paddock, Jackson asked Ayrton Senna as a favour if he wouldn’t mind testing the new car.

According to Jackson in a June 2002 article in Motorsport Magazine, “We needed a reference point. The ideal way to do that was to get a front-runner in the car to see where we were at. If Ayrton had blown me away by two seconds, fine, I’d hang my helmet up; but if he did not, hopefully he could tell us what our problem was. That’s when we approached him.

“He was a bit reluctant to begin with: he was busy and wasn’t sure whether his contract would allow it. We said, ’Okay, let’s talk to Dickie [Senna’s team boss, Dick Bennetts]. He had a similar opinion. Senna was under a little pressure, it was late in the season and he was being chased by Brundle for the championship, so he didn’t need another distraction. Yet Bennetts gave the nod, and Senna generously jumped in for a decently long test run. He was a little quicker than Jackson, but not significantly, and was enthusiastic about the car’s performance and handling.”

Unfortunately, Sparton didn’t have the budget to develop the car further, and so the car’s best result was Mario Hytten’s fourth place in the final round of the championship. Sparton lightly modified the SE420 for 1984, Entered by Valour Racing, Jackson raced in the first five rounds without success, later switching to a Ralt for the remainder of the season, and that’s more or less where the story ends for the Sparton F3 team.

The car was entered into club racing in the 1990s, before resting at a go-kart track in the South West where it was discovered it in 2011 by a keen go-Kart racer and Motorsport enthusiast. He decided to rescue it and give it an extensive restoration to bring it back to tip top condition.

The chassis was stripped and power-coated, and the bodywork was prepared and then repainted to its original condition. A 2-litre Volkswagen Bradham Judd full race engine was acquired, which was rebuilt and fed with the correct Lucas mechanical injection system. Breathing is taken care of by a ceramic-coated 4-into-1 exhaust system and a custom fuel cell built by specialists at ATL. Mated to the engine is a Hewland Mk9 5-speed gearbox (rebuilt by JP Race Shop of Silverstone). Braking is taken care of by AP Racing callipers with 8mm discs, and the car sits on 13" Revolution 8 and 10J race wheels and comes with an extra set of wheels with wet-weather tyres.

It comes with a complete file detailing all the work that has been done.

This is a unique Formula 3 veteran which is on the button and ready to return to the track in anger once more or keep in a collection with its lovely history and backstory.

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