F3 History

The Elise 390 first appeared at the French F3 Championship round at Charade in June 1990, it was designed by Robert Cherbourg and used a Spiess VW engine. It qualified 22nd and finished 15th, a brave attempt to take on Ralt, Reynard and Dallara that did not reap any great reward. A new car appeared in 1992, the 92, still VW powered it finished tenth in the French Championship amongst a host of Dallaras and a couple of Bowmans. By 1994 the Elise was Fiat powered and Claude Dégremont had just one fifth place finish. The 396 appeared in 1996, it was Opel powered, its only result was a seventh at Val de Vienne. For 1997 it was back to Fiat engines with even less results, this time a tenth at Val de Vienne was it for the year. The 1998 car was variously reported as either a 395 or a 396 and was Renault powered, there was no improvement in results.