F3 History

Jim Yardley raced in UK club racing throughout the 1960s and 70s producing his own car, the Beagle Mk1 in 1966. In July of that year he raced at a wet Oulton Park but failed to finish and he tried again in September at Castle Combe but the result was the same. By the end of the 1960s Yardley was racing in the Monoposto Championship in his 1.5 litre semi-monocoque Beagle and in 1969 he took the title. In 1970 Yardley dropped down to the 1-litre Monoposto class using a F3 engine that used a head of his own design fitted to an MAE block with a view to doing some F3 racing. It must have been a good engine as Yardley beat 1.5 litre cars with it but it seems that no F3 races were undertaken. Shortly after this Yardley had switched to the Clubmans class and in 1973 he took a leaf out of the Mallock book and converted his front engined Mk3 chassis with its beam front axle to F3 spec and entered a late season race at Thruxton where he retired with oil pressure problems. This seemed to be the temporary end of his ambitions and he returned to National racing where he had done so well. In 1985 Yardley suddenly reappeared at Silverstone with a Toyota powered Mk5, it qualified 33rd out of 35 (some 10 seconds off the pace) and retired after 7 laps with fuel pressure problems. Seemingly front and rear suspension was by beam axles, a very brave move! A non-qualification at the British GP followed in July and there were no further outings that year. The following year a Mk5B appeared at Silverstone, it qualified and finished second to last.