Manufacturers – Page 10

16 May, 202110 July, 2021

Vlasta

No details at all for this car Czechoslovakian car other than it seems to have been built by its driver Karel Babolka who, romantically, named it after his wife! At least one race was undertaken in 1967 at Brno where, fitted with a Wartburg engine, the Vlasta finished tenth in a field of both East and West European cars. It raced twice in 1968 where it was both entered and driven by Babolka, no engine was listed and no results were obtained.

Thanks to Standa Cozik for additional information.

Drivers:

1967 Karel Babolka.

1968 Karel Babolka.

16 May, 202120 May, 2022

Reynard

Adrian Reynard’s first tentative steps in motor sport began at the age of 12 when he bought a kart from the proceeds of mowing his neighbours’ lawns thus showing an early entrepreneurial flair. Reynard wasn’t only interested in becoming a racing driver, as a teenager he worked at the weekends for former bike racer George Brown who, after badly injuring himself in competition, had became very well known for constructing bikes that set numerous speed records. Reynard learnt a lot of basic engineering skills including welding whilst helping Brown and at school he showed a flair for the subjects that pointed towards engineering as a career. When he didn’t get the hoped for exam results to go to University Reynard attended Oxford Polytechnic on day-release from British Leyland. For his final exam he was required to build a lateral strain-gauge accelerometer, he actually built the first F Ford Reynard, the RF 73, needless to say he failed! During his student days Reynard built a sprint motorcycle and set a number of International speed records, an achievement Reynard would remain very proud of, the bike would go on display at the Reynard factory. Reynard decided to set up a business manufacturing production racing cars and with former March-man Bill Stone he formed Sabre Automotive, Reynard came up with the designs and Stone built them. Initially Reynard still raced his own cars and the RF 73 won its first race, a minor club event at Silverstone, the start of an amazing run of “first time wins”. Reynard continued to build F Fords and then F Ford 2000s, the man himself winning the European 2000 Championship in 1979 whereupon he decided to hang up his helmet. The Reynard cars soon gained a reputation for being both very competitive as well as using all the latest technical innovations and numerous wins and championships fell to the attractive cars. Following the arrival in 1982 of co-director Rick Gorne Reynard began to move up the motor racing ladder, F3 in 1985, F3000 in 1988 and CART in 1995. In each category amazingly Reynard won first time out and success followed success. It all began to go wrong when Reynard turned to F1, there had been flirtations in the past, in 1989 a F1 test hack had been built and designs had been used by other teams but Adrian Reynard wanted to do F1 properly. In 1999 Reynard became involved in the newly formed BAR team designing the new car for Jacques Villeneuve, there were problems almost immediately, Adrian Reynard and Craig Pollock did not agree on how the team should be run and behind-the-scene politics were rearing their ugly head. The whole Reynard company was now in trouble, they had withdrawn from F3 in 1993 following the success of Dallara, F3000 had become a one-make class and Lola won the contract to build the cars after Reynard priced their cars and spares too highly. The regulations had been changed for CART and new cars each season were no longer necessary and there had been a resurgence in the fortunes of Lola. A mistaken flirtation with sports cars and the acquisition of Riley & Scott together with a failed public floatation and sadly meant that in 2002 Reynard called in the receivers and one of the great names in motor sport was seemingly no more.

1985

The concept of the 853 began in the summer of 1983 with the arrival of Rick Gorne and the construction started in early 1984. Initially there was no intention to make it a customer car but the arrival of co-designer (with Adrian Reynard) Paul Owens, the former Chevron/Maurer/ATS engineer gave the necessary impetus to productionise the car from the outset. Unlike the Ralt which still featured the traditional aluminium monocoque the 853 adopted a three-quarter length carbon-fibre/kevlar tub. Unusually at that period the tub was one-piece rather than being built in two sections and then bonded together. Aluminium honeycomb was added at various places to increase rigidity and bobbins were set in the tub to take the loads from the suspension, engine frames, rollhoop etc. At the rear legs projected from the tub to triangulate the engine bay, the legs picking up on an upper crossbeam. The top of the tub formed the cockpit surround saving the need for a separate body piece whilst the sidepods were quite short, running in tightly against the gearbox and forming the roof of the rear venturi. Pushrod suspension was fitted all round with the rear suspension shallow-based to leave the venturis clear. The required flat floor was made from a sheet of aluminium. The suspension was designed to shear away from the tub in the event of an accident making repairs easier. A universal upright was used that was interchangeable front/rear and left/right. Bilstein dampers were fitted as were AP calipers, Reynard used their own discs. The car wasn’t cheap, costing some £2000 more than a Ralt but Reynard claimed that running costs over a season would be less. It couldn’t have been a better start for the 853 with Andy Wallace winning on its debut at Silverstone and for the rest of the season the Reynard was always a force to be reckoned with. By the end of the year the 853 had taken 5 wins in the British Championship shared between Andy Wallace and Russell Spence with these two taking second and third in the Championship. Ultimately the Ralt RT30 had the edge especially after a front suspension change early in the season made it easier to set up and drive but Reynard could be very pleased with their first season in F3. A number of Reynards appeared in other championships but mostly later in the season following on from the UK success, however Thomas Danielsson did take the Swedish crown with his Saab-powered 853.

1986

The 863 was an evolution of the 853 utilising many of the lessons learnt from the previous season. Changes were made to the tub both to improve the aerodynamics and also to make it easier to work on and repair in the event of an accident. Additionally changes were made to make the car simpler to construct. The most obvious visual change was the narrow nose which allowed the fitment of wider front wings. Some changes were also made to the suspension that made the car more driver-friendly and easier to set up for different circuits. Compared with its main UK rival, the Ralt RT30/86, the 863 required a much less precise driving style and most drivers were delighted with it. The 863 was certainly successful with Andy Wallace taking eight wins on his way to the British Championship. Surprisingly perhaps in view of the promise shown by the 853 not many cars were sold in the UK so Wallace was easily the most successful Reynard driver. Results were good elsewhere with Bernd Schneider finishing third in the German Championship and Stefano Modena taking fourth in Italy

1987

Working on the “why change a winning design” principle the 873 was a further evolution of the 863. The biggest change was at the rear where a new modular gearbox/oil tank casing that carried the suspension links and the anti-roll bar was utilised. This allowed for a narrower engine bay and smaller engine cover with the resultant aerodynamic gains. In addition the track was narrowed whilst the wheel base was lengthened. Evolution proved the way to go and results were excellent, the British Championship fell to Johnny Herbert with Martin Donnelly and Thomas Danielsson finishing third and fourth. In Japan Ross Cheever headed the standings, he used a Ralt RT30/86 in the opening rounds but then switched to a Reynard. Jo Winkelhock was runner-up in Germany as was Rickard Rydell in Sweden. Finally the EFDA F3 Cup went the way of Dave Coyne’s 873

1988

There were a number of changes introduced on the 883, most importantly a new narrow tub was used, reminiscent of that used on the Dallara. The front suspension was mounted onto a neat magnesium casting whilst the new wide based wishbones, top and bottom, attached to the 1″ thick honeycomb dash bulkhead. Koni spring and damper units were used front and rear. The front track was narrowed but the wheelbase stayed as on the 873. The 883 had an even more successful season than the 873, although in the British Championship it was Reynard 9 – Ralt 9, JJ Lehto took 8 of the Reynard wins and secured the Championship. The B Class Championship saw a 1-2 for the 873s of Alastair Lyall and Rowan Dewhurst. Jo Winkelhock and Otto Rensing finished 1-2 in German series. Rickard Rydell was runner-up in Sweden, and Fabrizio Giovanardi was third in Italy.

1989

For the 1989 model, the 893, Reynard continued with its unitary carbon fibre/Kevlar/aluminium honeycomb construction. The bulkheads were made from carbon fibre and honeycomb, and for this year the replaceable aluminium floor had an additional bonded aluminium honeycomb inner floor for extra strength in an accident. The tub was narrowed even more and the sidepods were reprofiled. Pushrod suspension was retained but the wishbones were less equilateral and more isoscelean, whilst a change was made to Bilstein spring and dampers. A suspension rethink was at least partially caused by a switch to Avon radial tyres in the UK. The front uprights were cast magnesium, the rears were fabricated steel. The braking system comprised cast iron discs with AP four-piston calipers at the front and with a two-piston type at the rear. Finally a single water radiator was mounted in the left-hand sidepod and the car was mounted on stylish Reynard designed wheels. It was a mixed year as far as results were concerned for the 893, in the British Championship 14 out of 16 races fell to the Ralt RT33 and Rickard Rydell’s fourth in the standings was all Reynard could manage. It would seem as if the Ralt adapted to the new radial specification tyres better than the Reynard. The French Championship was a relatively easy triumph for Jean-Marc Gounon’s 893. In Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen switched from a Dallara to a 893 and only lost the Championship by one point to the Ralt of Karl Wendlinger. It was the runner-up spot again in Italy for the 893 of Antonio Tamburini while older 883 of Jan Nilsson took the minor championship in Sweden and the similar car of Leonel Friedrich was second in the Sudam Temporada

1990

The 903 was the result of some six months work with the Southampton University wind tunnel the purpose of which was to optimise the aerodynamics of the new design. The tub, which was based on that of the 1989 European Championship winning F3000 car, continued to employ the carbon fibre/Kevlar/aluminium honeycomb construction from previous years. The aerodynamic package had a major overhaul most noticeably in the adoption of a stepped underside on the bottom of the tub as on the F3000 car. Other aerodynamic changes included a new floor, diffuser and rear wing assembly. The front suspension was now mounted on a cast magnesium bulkhead using double sheer alloy plates in order to stiffen the whole ensemble. Similarly the rear suspension attached to a much stiffer gearbox/rear suspension module, pushrods continued to be used at both the front and rear. The 903 was to have a very mixed season, in the UK the Ralt RT34 completely outpaced it. Drivers reported the 903 to be nervous in comparison to the Ralt and within three or four races nearly everyone who had begun the season in the 903 had switched to the Ralt, the 903 could manage no better than fifth all year. It was a similar story in France, although eventual champion Eric Helary took four of the first six races in his 903 he soon found himself outpaced by the RT34s and he was forced to switch to the Ralt. However in Italy Roberto Colciago took the crown in his 903 but this was probably due to the fact that nobody of any consequence entered an RT34 in Italy. Michael Schumacher won in Germany beating the RT34 of Otto Rensing, arguably a triumph of driver over chassis and Niclas Jonsson was the victor in Sweden where all the top runners chose Reynard.

1991

Whilst the 913 was very similar to the 903 in concept a whole raft of changes were introduced in an effort to regain the ground lost to Ralt during the previous year. The tub of the 913 was now wholly composite with the aluminium floor no longer part of the package. Aerodynamically the single chord front wing was reprofiled with a new design short chord wing at the rear. The sidepods were redesigned with the water radiator in the left-hand pod whilst the right-hand pod contained all the electrical systems. The engine bay now featured stressed panels either side of and underneath the engine, the panels were used to feed the torsional and bending loads from the gearbox and suspension unit into the side and lower skins of the tub. The front springs and dampers were moved to the top of the chassis to make adjustment easier while the anti-roll bar mounts were attached directly to the tub with improved support bearings. There were revisions to the suspension geometry raising the roll centre above ground level in an effort to cure the high speed cornering nervousness that had been the downfall of the 903. The camber was adjustable by shims without changing toe-in and all suspension components were generally strengthened. Not surprisingly, in view of the previous year’s results, nobody was interested in the 913 in Britain forcing Reynard to use Edenbridge Racing to run a works development car for Gil de Ferran. This tactic paid off with de Ferran taking three wins during the year and finishing third in the British Championship. A similar championship position fell to Eric Cheli in France, whilst Jorg Muller finished fourth in Germany. In view of the disappointment of 1990 and the subsequent lack of support for the make the 913 did much to regain Reynard’s slightly battered reputation.

1992

The 923 was designed by David Brown and it was intended to be an improved version if the 913 with several important changes being introduced. The most noticeable alteration was to the sidepods which were now much taller than before. The changes to the pods were to improve the downforce levels whilst reducing the drag and at the same time, as per the then current F1 thinking, allow the rear of the car to be enclosed. The increased depth of the pods allowed the radiator (sited in the left pod as before) to be mounted vertically reducing its angle to the airstream. The front suspension geometry was altered to give more camber change in order to reduce mid-corner understeer. The increased track developed during 1991 was retained as it gave improved turn-in and the anti-roll bar now had a greater range of adjustment. The new 3D end plates on the front wing were designed to negate any attendant drag penalty. The rear suspension was new, it kept the geometry of the 913 but the gearbox pick-ups were shifted further inboard away from the airstream. This gave greater stiffness while a change to pullrod damper operation improved the access for adjustment. All the suspension pickups were removed from the gearbox sideplate making it easier to get at the diff. In the British Championship the 923 proved to be a popular choice with many teams following on from the improved form of the 913 and some suspicion about Ralt’s new carbon fibre RT36. Initially the 923 was a little behind the RT36 and lost out but following some careful development it soon had the edge and won 11 out of the 16 races with Gil de Ferran taking the Championship glory. The 923 was not a popular choice in most of the other championships and did not feature, the notable exception was in Germany where Pedro Lamy emerged on top at the end of the year.

1993

The 933 was a development of the 923, the cockpit dimensions were increased as taller drivers found the 923 restricted for space. The 933 seatback bulkhead was reshaped and the height of the chassis sides was increased allowing for alternate steering wheel positions. The front suspension was revised and a self-contained clutch system was fitted together with a new fuel cell. More work was done in the wind tunnel to improve the level of downforce. The 933 got off to an excellent start in Britain winning the first five races but suddenly the Dallara F393 arrived and that was it for Reynard. There were no more race wins and suddenly everyone was abandoning the Reynard and switching to the Dallara. Compared to the F393 the Reynard was better under braking as it had more downforce but it was nervous mid-corner, absorbed power, was slower out of the corners and aerodynamically it was inferior in all respects. It was a similar story everywhere, the few who ran the 933 were uncompetitive against the Dallara. At the end of the year Reynard decided to concentrate on other Formulae and left F3 for good.

Drivers

1985
853
Marco Apicella, Paul Belmondo, Dave Coyne, Thomas Danielsson, Tim Davies, Fabien Giroix, Hanspeter Kaufmann, Akio Morimoto, Cathy Muller, Anthony Reid, Maurizio Sandro Sala, Uwe Schäfer, Pietro Spazolla, Russell Spence, Alfonso Toledano, Andy Wallace.

1986
863
Paul Belmondo, Andy Bovensiepen, Dave Coyne, Thomas Danielsson, Tim Davies, Franz Dufter, Fabien Giroix, Masakazu Hamana, Richard Hamann, “Neto” Jochamowitz, Henrik Larsen, Tomi Luhtanen, Perry McCarthy, Stefano Modena, Stefan Neuberger, Hideki Okada, Andrew Ridgeley, Dag Rosthe, Maurizio Sandro Sala, Bernd Schneider, Dieter Strietzel, Kyouji Suzuki, Sadao Tanaki, Alfonso Toledano, Alfonso de Vinuesa, Christian Vogler, Andy Wallace, Wilhelm F.Weber.

853
Peter Bourque, Werner Braun, Helmut Bross, Mark Goddard, Don Hardman, Kristyan Ingram, Hanspeter Kaufmann, Andy King, Shigeki Matsui, Stefan Neuberger, John Robinson, Ruedi Schurter, Chris Vogler.

?
Fritz Augsburger.

1987
873
Phil Andrews, Frank Biela, Mark Blundell, Giovanni Bonanno, Ross Cheever, David Coyne, Thomas Danielsson, Martin Donnelly, Philippe Favre, Philippe Gache, Mark Galvin, Andrew Gilbert-Scott, Masakazu Hamana, Richard Hamann, Johnny Herbert, Ross Hockenhull, Gilberto Jiminez, Wolfgang Kaufmann, Steve Kempton, Peter Kox, Rolf Kuhn, Tomi Luhtanen, Shigeki Matsui, Perry McCarthy, Sadafumi Nakajima, Akihiko Nakaya, Oswaldo Negri, Mikael “Micko” Nordlander, Akinori Okada, Hakan Olausson, Rosario Parasiliti, Pedro Passadore, Johan Rajamaki, Rickard Rydell, Frank Schmickler, Niclas Schonstrom, Felice Tedeschi, Hasse Thaung, Eugenio Visco, Andy Wallace, Joachim Winkelhock, Peter Wisskirchen.

863
Sigi Betz, Franz Binder, Steve Bottoms, Gary Dunn, Masakazu Hamana, Don Hardman, Gavin Jones, Yasuhiro Okuno, José de Melo Pimenta, Shin Saitou, Tatsuhiko Seki, Scott Stringfellow, Kyouji Suzuki.

853
Richard Hamann, Tomoyuki Hosono, Katsunori Iketani.

?
Ruedi Schurter.

1988
883
John Alcorn, Jonathan Bancroft, Michael Bartels, Josef Bertzen, Kenny Brack, Andreas Buhk, Jocke Burgersson, Daniel Cingolani, Jason Elliott, Philippe Favre, Frank Freon, Andrew Gilbert-Scott, Fabrizio Giovanardi, Yukihiro Hane, Christophe Hurni, Jun’ichi Ikura, Rolf Kuhn, JJ Lehto, Pedro Muffato, Stefan Neuberger, Jean Luc Palis, Pedro Passadore, Roland Ratzenberger, Otto Rensing, Michael Roppes, Rickard Rydell, Dave Scott, Gianfranco Tacchino, Meik Wagner, Thorsten Walz, Paul Warwick, Joachim Winkelhock.

873
Peter Albertsson, Robert Amren, Kalman Bodis, Pete Bohlin, Andreas Buhk, Daniel Cingolani, Rowan Dewhurst, Franz Engstler, Otmar Fassold, Gil de Ferran, Leonel Friedrich, David Germain, Duncan Gray, Richard Hamann, Svend Hansen, Don Hardman, Hans Hillebrink, Katsutomo Kaneishi, Eddie Kimbell, Alistair Lyall, Shigeki Matsui, Tomas Mazera, Jorge Muraglia, Morio Nitta, Hideki Noda, Tadashi Okunuki, Hakan Olausson, José Luis Di Palma, Pedro Passadore, Steve Pettit, Richard Reynolds, Ruedi Schurter, Dave Scott, Craig Simmiss, Gernot Sirrenburg, Paul Smith, Scott Stringfellow, Gary Thomas, Hisashi Wada, Sean Walker, Rene Wartmann, Akira Watanabe, Shinji Yoshikawa.

863
Sigi Betz, Steve Bottoms, Ringo Hine, Geoff Janes, Rob Murphy, Kiyoshi Nakazawa, Johan Rajamaki, Johann Stelzer, Gary Ward.

853
Hajime Kajiwara.

?
Karl-Heinz Maurer.

1989
893
John Alcorn, Georg Arbinger, Michael Bartels, Frank Biela, Christophe Bouchet, Kenny Brack, Thierry Delubac, Jason Eliott, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Jean-Marc Gounon, Mika Hakkinen, Yukihiro Hane, Takahiko Hara, Eric Helary, Marc Hessel, Christophe Hurni, Ralf Kelleners, Gerrit van Kouwen, Frank Krämer, Rolf Kuhn, Takuya Kurosawa, Andrea Montermini, Akio Morimoto, Daniel Müller, Klaus Panchyrz, Otto Rensing, Rickard Rydell, Mika Salo, Syuuroku Sasaki, Frank Schmickler, Niclas Schonstrom, Michael Schumacher, Paul Stewart, Eiichi Tajima, Antonio Tamburini, Keiichi Tsuchiya, Gary Ward, Paul Warwick, Meik Wagner, Peter Zakowski, Flurin Zegg.

883
Robert Armen, Frank Beyerlein, Franz Binder, Fredrik Ekblom, Franz Engstler, Christian Fittipaldi, Djalma Fogaça, Leonel Friedrich, Néstor Gurini, Svend Hansen, Stephen Hepworth, Christophe Hurni, Ernesto Jochamowitz, Niclas Jonsson, Tom Kristensen, Vital Machado, Pedro Muffato, Jorge Muraglia, Jan Nilsson, Hakan Olausson, José Luis Di Palma, Klaus Panchyrz, Cezar Pegoraro, Renato Russo, Elio Seikel, Peter Schär, Ruedi Schurter, Johann Stelzer, Scott Stringfellow, Thorsten Walz.

873
Richard Hamann, Eddie Kimbell, Josef Neuhauser, Affonso Rangel, Charles Rickett, Ricardo Risatti, Renato Russo, Ruedi Schurter, Craig Simmiss, Keiichi Tsuchiya.

863
Günter Aberer, Sigi Betz, Thomas Gellermann, Yasuhiro Okuno, Shin Saitou, Tatsuhiko Seki, Kyouji Suzuki.

853
Tomoyuki Hosono, Katsunori Iketani.

?
Thomas Kugler.

1990
903
Laurent Aiello, Michael Bartels, Fabio Babbini, Fabrizio Bettini, Christophe Bouchut, Giuseppi Bugatti, Eric Cheli, Roberto Colciago, Fredrik Ekblom, Jason Elliott, Jordi Gene, Andrea Gilardi, Carlos Guerrero, Micke Gustavsson, Takahiko Hara, Eric Helary, Marc Hessel, Derek Higgins, Yasutaka Hinoi, Michel van Hool, Takachiho Inoue, Niclas Jonsson, Wolfgang Kaufmann, Tony Leivo, Markus Liesner, Linus Lundberg, Jonathan McGall, Akio Morimoto, Jörg Müller, Günter Muskovits, Sadafumi Nakajima, Eduar Neto, Klaus Panchyrz, Max Papis, Alex Prioglio, Thomas Rabe, Oliver Schmitt, Michael Schumacher, Kenta Shimamura, Paul Stewart, Felice Tedeschi, Jacques Villeneuve, Mario Andrea Vismara, Paul Warwick, Julian Westwood, Peter Zakowski.

893
Robert Amren, Fritz Augsburger, Franz Binder, Roland Bossy, Philippe Brennenstuhl, David Coyne, Markus Grossmann, Christophe Hurni, Syun’ichi Inoue, Michael Kaulmann, Satoshi Kikuchi, Günther Köbele, Joachim Koscielniak, Kenji Moriya, Sadafumi Nakajima, Josef Neuhauser, Masayoshi Nishigaito, Yukio Okamoto, Dario Rosso, Oliver Schäffer, Peter Schär, Oliver Schmitt, Justin Sünkel, Jan Thoelke, Uwe Wolpert.

883
Fernando Croceri, Steve Deeks, Pedro Diniz, Franz Engstler, Christian Fittipaldi, Djalma Fogaça, Affonso Giaffone, Svend Hansen, Sonny Johansson, Tooru Katou, Guillermo Kissling, Vital Machado, Cezar Pegoraro, Edgar Pereira, Ruedi Schurter, Elio Seikel, Gernot Sirrenburg, Peter Sneller, Tom Stefani, Johann Stelzer, Monica Strath, Lazlo Szasz, Alan Tulloch, Karl-Heinz Voss.

873
Sandie Brodie, Gerhard Claus, Ralf Dekarski, Leonel Friedrich, Eddie Kimbell, Ricardo Risatti.

?
Rainer Fischer, Thomas Kugler.

1991
913
Eric Anglevy, Olivier Beretta, Franz Binder, Eric Cheli, Gil de Ferran, Markus Grossmann, Carlos Guerrero, Micke Gustavsson, Takahiko Hara, Johnny Hauser, Derek Higgins, Mikke van Hool, Thomas Johansson, Niclas Jonsson, Joachim Koscielniak, Frank Krämer, Pedro Lamy, Markus Liesner, Sascha Maaßen, Jörg Müller, Yvan Muller, Masyoshi Nishigaito, Jacques Villeneuve, Alex Zampedri.

903
Giovanni Aloi, Steve Arnold, Joachim Beule, Peter Carlsson, Ralf Eisenreich, Horst Farnbacher, Adrian Fernandez, Carlos Guerrero, Takahiko Hara, Cesar Jiminez, Josef Neuhauser, Tadashi Okunuki, Joachim Ryschka, Philip Steinauer, Laszlo Szasz, Rene Wartmann.

893
Rainer Fischer, Pekka Herva, Peter Katsarski, Danny Pfeil, Justin Sünkel, John Wilcock, Logan Wilms.

883
Guillermo Kissling, Fernando Macedo, Pedro Muffato, Darcio Dos Santos, Gernot Sirrenburg, Alan Tulloch, Andrea Vianini.

873
Peter Bachofen, Ricardo Risatti, Thomas Wagner.

863
Albrecht Trautzburg.

?
Philippe Brennenstuhl.

1992
923
Philippe Adams, Eric Anglevy, Heather Baillie, Franz Binder, Kelvin Burt, Eric Cheli, Pedro Diniz, Gil de Ferran, Marc Goossens, Marc Hessel, Derek Higgins, Mikke van Hool, Warren Hughes, Claudia Hürtgen, Elton Julian, Pedro Lamy, Markus Liesner, Jörg Müller, Osvaldo Negri, Morio Nitta, Stéphane Ortelli, Anthony Reid, Andre Ribeiro, Eiji Sengoku, Tetsufumi Toda, Peter Wieser, Patrick Vallant.

913
Franz Binder, Peter Carlsson, Hilton Cowie, Micke Gustavsson, William Hewland, Sonny Johansson, Tomas Karhanek.

903
Giovanni Aloi, Alois Bichler, Javier Collado, Adrian Fernandez, Rene Ferrat, Eduardo Galicia, Carlos Guerrero, Cesar Jiminez, Rod Macleod, Josef Neuhauser, Rogelio Rodriguez, Joachim Ryschka, Andreas Schüssler, Alejandro Villasana.

893
Ulf Jonansson, Bernd Mayländer, Peter Rief, John Wilcock.

883
Suzane Carvalho, Richard Neurauter, Gernot Sirrenburg.

873
Peter Bachofen, Thomas Wagner.

863
Albrecht Trautzburg.

?
Yvan Berset, Juan C. Giacchino, Ananías Justino, Laercio Justino, Mario Olivelli.

1993
933
Kelvin Burt, Miguel de Castro, Richard Dean, Jérémie Dufour, Dario Franchitti, Marc Goossens, Marcos Gueiros, Mikke van Hool, Masami Kageyama, Scott Lakin, Taichirou Oonishi, Danny Pfeil, Andre Ribeiro, Pedro de la Rosa, Eiichi Tajima, Kazuaki Takamura, Thomas Wöhrle.

923
Günter Aberer, Franz Binder, Michael Brain, Hans Egger-Richter, Yukihiro Hane, Gray Hedley, William Hewland, Christian Horner, Piers Hunnisett, Tomas Karhanek, Atsushi Kawamoto, Kazuhiro Koizumi, Claudia Kreuzsaler, Taichirou Oonishi, Osamo Oono, Wolfgang Petutschnig, Andreas Reiter, Eiji Sengoku, Fumio Takanishi, Masayuki Yamamoto.

913
Hennie Groenwald, Erich Knauseder, Josef Neuhauser, Arnold Wagner, Magnus Wallinder.

903
Richard Neurauter, Andreas Schüssler, Werner Taxacher, Thomas Wagner.

893
Peter Rief.

883
Roberto Galafassi, Walter Proebst, Gernot Sirrenburg, Milton Sperafico.

873
Néstor Flaumer.

1994
933
Masayoshi Hasimoto, Dirantha Maragamuwa, Hiroshi Urayoshi, Kazuteru Wakida.

913
Martin Albrecht, Peter Rief.

903
Josef Renauer, Christian Scheiring.

893
Alfred Ehgartner.

1995
923
Wolfgang Petutschnig, Josef Renauer, Eugen Swoboda.

903
“Eddy”, Dietmar Frischmann.

893
Peter Rössler.

1996
923
Bernhard Schreiner, Eugen Swoboda.

903
Josef Renauer.

893
Peter Rössler.

883
Werner Frenz.

1997 893
Peter Rössler.

2001
923
Peter Rees.

913
Graeme Holmes.

903
Craig Smith.

893
Rod Anderson.

2003 923
Ari “Jokke” Kalliola.

16 May, 202110 July, 2021

Rheinland

A German F3 car, the 374 was usually raced by Harald Ertl in the 1974 German Championship, it was a renamed Eifelland (q.v.), it was Toyota powered and results were nothing too special with a best of a fourth at the Nurburgring.

Drivers

1974 374
Harald Ertl, Henning Schmidt.

1975 374
Jürgen Schlitz, Henning Schmidt.

16 May, 202125 May, 2022

Vixen

Vixen Cars were based in Cheshunt in Hertfordshire and built cars for the F4 series in the late 1960s. Their 1968 Hillman Imp powered car dominated the BP F4 Championship taking the first 6 places and for 1969 they announced their new F4 car would also be raced in F3. It was to be a spaceframe design with conventional suspension and a wedge shaped body. Vixen stated that they were looking for a top-line team to run it, apparently there were no takers and by July they said the car was nearly ready to race and would be pedalled by a well known F3 driver. There was no indication who the driver was and no record of the car actually taking to the track.

16 May, 202110 July, 2021

Vista

The Vista was announced in March 1966, it was designed by ex-Ford prototype engineer Michael Fox and seemingly built by Asquith Bros, Ltd in Dewsbury, Yorkshire. The power-plant was given as a Cosworth-Ford and it was tested by Fox at Croft at the end of May but there is no indication that it ever raced.

16 May, 202125 May, 2022

Vision

Vision was started in 1983 by Paul Gibson in Middlesborough to build Clubman cars, almost immediately Vision started winning and they won the Clubman’s championship in both 1985 and 1986. At the end of 1986 Gibson decided to go F3 racing but it was 1988 before the car was actually built. The very disappointing results achieved meant that in July 1989 Vision went into Receivership and the whole project was sold off and Vision left the world of F3.

1988

The work of Dave Amey who had worked at the Arrows and Spirit F1 teams the VF3-T88A was designed around a carbonfibre/aluminium honeycomb tub. Suspension was pushrod all round and a TOM’s Toyota engine was fitted. The car was never competitive and many felt it had been over engineered for F3 as it was also designed with F3000 in mind. During the year both Tommy “Slim” Borgudd and Roland Ratzenburger tested the car but it seems they could make it go no better than regular pilot Bob Berridge.
A modified VF3-T89A was built and tested the following year but never raced and the whole project was sold off to be used by someone in Sprinting.

Drivers:
1988 Bob Berridge, Paul Gibson.

16 May, 202125 May, 2022

Viking

A very interesting entry into the world of F3 racing was the Viking, the car design principals were laid out by team owner Tore John Helle, drawn up by Len Terry and initially built by CTG in Devon whilst the sponsors were Swedish. The, for the time, very advanced aerodynamic design, came from Tore John Helle, working with SAAB Aerodynamicists in Sweden and resulted in a very distinctive and dramatic looking car. Following on from some quality issues in the early builds the entire programme was moved from CTG to Sweden. The Viking used several advanced technologies such as radio live transmitted, dynamic measurements and was one of the first F3 designs to use appreciate the importance of aerodynamic development. Unfortunately just as the cars were showing promise team owner Tore John Helle ran into financial problems and the team were disbanded although Tore John Helle allowed Ljungfeldt to keep racing his car and he managed to keep it going for the remainder of the season by picking up sponsorship here and there. Len Terry rechristened one CTG-built car as a Technic and in 1977 it appeared just once and it was later tested as a CTG (see entries for these manufacturers).

1976

Three TH1As were built for the 1976 season, they had a sheet aluminium monocoque, conventional suspension and were Toyota Novamotor powered. The nose design was unusual with a full width aerofoil and separate deflectors in front of the wheels. a large engine cover was used that swept sharply down to the rear where swept back endplate supports were used to attach the rear wing. Best results were wins for Ljungfeldt at Knutsdorp, Falkenberg and Kinnekulle and a heat win at Monaco. Ljungfeldt won the Swedish Championship.

Drivers
1976 Tommy “Slim” Borgudd, Eje Elgh, Conny Ljungfeldt, Anders Olofsson.

16 May, 202125 May, 2022

Van Diemen

Having been such a dominant force in the junior formulae for so many years, it is perhaps surprising that Van Diemen have never had a serious crack at F3. Boss of Van Diemen, Ralph Firman has been involved in racing since the mid 1960s firstly working on brother-in-law Jim Russell’s racing school cars and then preparing other cars including in 1971, Carlos Pace’s F3 car. The first Van Diemen was built in 1973 for Tasmanian driver Ross Ambrose (Van Diemen’s Land being the old name for Tasmania), this Formula Ford chassis was very successful and soon other orders followed. Since then, despite the attention of numerous other manufacturers, Firman’s company have produced a succession of highly competitive machinery (with only the occasional lapse). Van Diemen seem more than happy to remain in their specialised market place.

1976

When Van Diemen took over the ailing GRD F3 concern at the end of 1975 they produced the VG376 which was basically the GRD 375 with improved aerodynamic bodywork. The design however was well past its sell by date and almost no results were achieved except the odd top ten finish by Jac Nelleman, with a best of 4th at Zolder.

1992

Van Diemen returned to F3 in 1992 with their first composite chassis which was designed by Dave Baldwin and built by Precision Composites, the same company that built the F1 Jordan. The front suspension was unusual in that it utilised a monoshock design to reduce the size of the monocoque. The rear of the car featured a tubular steel engine bay. The RF92 ran reasonably well when Andrew Thorby joined from Ralt to help develop it. Additionally Julian Westwood was bought back from Japan to race it and took a couple of thirds at the end of season races but it obviously wasn’t what Van Diemen wanted and the project was dropped.
The car also raced in Germany and France, driven by Franc ten Wolde in Germany it sat on the front row of the third round of the German Championship but retired early in the race. Results were indifferent after this with mid-grid qualifying at best and the only significant result a 7th at the Avusrennen. At the end of June the car stopped racing, it appeared again in some non-championships a few years later where it sat on the back of the grid. Japanese results were similarly disappointing with a best finish of nineteenth.
There were reports in early 1993 of an Andrew Thorby designed RF93, it was due to have a full length composite tub with a cast oil tank/gearbox module. It never seems to have seen the light of day if it was ever built at all.

Drivers
1976 376
Tommy “Slim” Borgudd, Claude Crespin, Werner Fischer, Günter Hölker, Wolfgang Locher, Jac Nelleman, Gunnar Nordström, Jean-Louis Schlesser, Henrik Spellerberg.

1977 376
Michael Bender.

1992 RF92
“Jules” Boullion, Yukihiro Hane, Russell Ingall, Jason Plato, Tsutomu Shibuya, Julian Westwood, Franc ten Wolde, Hiroharu Yamauchi.

1995 RF92
Kristofer Wozniak.

1996 RF92
Alfred Ehgartner.

1997 RF92
Alfred Ehgartner, Guido Geisler.

16 May, 202110 July, 2021

Ring

Sadly no details at all about this car, the PB3, other than it appeared in at least one round of the 1983 European Championship

Drivers

1983
Thierry Heirmann.

16 May, 202110 July, 2021

Rispal

Raymond Rispal was a Renault distributor in Bordeaux and his first car was an early F Junior, it had a tubular frame, wishbones and coil springs/dampers based on the Renault Dauphine at the front and the rear suspension used a swing-axle. Not surprisingly, in view of Rispal’s Renault connections, it used a Renault Dauphine engine and transmission which were ideal for a rear-engined design. In 1964 a Rispal, still using a Renault engine and driven by Raymond Rispal appeared irregularly in the French Championship claiming a few top ten finishes although usually several laps adrift in generally not very strong fields. For 1965 the Rispal was only seen three times and results were poor as the fields became stronger. Whether the car that was seen in ’64 and ’65 was an updated version of the F Junior car or a new model isn’t known.

Drivers

1964 Raymond Rispal.

1965 Raymond Rispal.

Vlasta

Reynard

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

Drivers

Rheinland

Drivers

Vixen

Vista

Vision

1988

Viking

1976

Van Diemen

1976

1992

Ring

Drivers

Rispal

Drivers

We are always looking for photos, stories and memoribilia etc. to share on this website. Can you help?

Feel free to Contact us.