Manufacturers – Page 13

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TMS

Mats Karlsson and his two brothers ran a self modified March in the 1983 Swedish F3 Championship under the “Swedish Lions” banner, the car took the runner up spot amidst a host of Ralt RT3s.

1983

The TMS 833 began life as a March 803 with 813 rear suspension grafted on, the Carlsson brothers carried out some additional modifications themselves and the car proved competitive in the Swedish Championship. It would appear that the TMS only raced for the one year.

Drivers

1983 Enzo Coloni.

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Titan

Charles Lucas Engineering started life at the ex-BRP workshops at Highgate before moving to King’s Lynn and then Huntingdon as their engine preparation and engineering buusiness grew. The team were already very experienced in F3 having run the works Lotus team in 1966 and had continued into 1967 running a private Lotus and Brabham. At the end of ’67 the team announced their own car, the Titan Mk3, the Mk1 was a 2.5 Maserati engined sports-racer raced by Picko Troberg, Mk2 an F2 project that was never realised. The car was a success winning quite a few races and for 1969 an updated model, the Mk3A, was produced, surprisingly only one car was built but the car was no longer as competitive and at the end of the year Titan withdrew from F3. Titan also had success with the MKs 4, 5 and 6 which were F Ford models, over 80 Mk6s were built.

1967

The Mk3 was designed by Roy Thomas and was a conventional late sixties spaceframe based car. Suspension was outboard with double wishbones at the front, at the rear it was a top link with a reversed bottom wishbone and double radius rods. Although the Mk3 did not appear until the dying months of 1967 success was immediate with Roy Pike winning at Brands and finishing second at Oulton Park.

1968

The Mk3 continued unchanged into 1968 and with the late season sucesses of Roy Pike in the previous year several additional cars were sold. The works cars of Lucas and Pike were usually competitive and they won four races during the year with Leo Kinnunen also taking a single victory. However the privateer cars did have a reputation for not being the easiest cars to drive

1969

The Mk3A appeared in the final race of the 1968 season, there were revisions to the suspension, magnesium uprights were fitted and the chassis was stiffened with sheet metal panelling. Only the single car was built and sold to Ben Moore who entered it for Charles Lucas. The car was still competitive, Lucas won at Silverstone, but Lucas Engineering seemed more interested in developing their growing engine building business and the car fell away as the season progressed.
Wheelbase: 94.5 ins.
Track: front 53.5 ins. rear 56.75 ins.
Wheels: 13 ins.

Drivers:

1967
3
Roy Pike.

1968
3A
Roy Pike.

3
Trevor Blokdyk, Peter Gaydon, Leo Kinnunen, Charles Lucas, Roy Pike, Alan Stubbs, Tim Schenken, Ole Vejlund.

1969
3A
Charles Lucas.

3
Mike Campbell, Bill Dunne, Alan Harvey, Leo Kinnunen, Per Kjellberg, Alan Stubbs.

1970 3
Terry Chawner, Mikko Kozarowitsky.

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Modus

Part of Teddy Savory’s group of companies, Modus Developments was a building company, the Modus name was adopted for the racing team that was formed in 1973 and was yet another constructor from Norfolk to join Lotus, GRD, Argo and Van Diemen. Initially Modus had simply been a racing team, running Tony Brise in F Atlantic but when designer Jo Marquart joined from GRD it allowed the team to become a constructor. The first Modus single seater (they also designed sports cars) was the F3 M1 produced in early 1974 and cars for F2, F5000, F Atlantic, Super Vee and Super Renault would also follow, inevitably F1 was mentioned as the ultimate goal. However Modus Developments was not prospering financially and subsequently collapsed and consequently in November 1976 the racing team was also closed down. Manufacturing rights were sold to Roger Andreason but no more cars were built.

1974

Based on a conventional monocoque with wishbone suspension all round the M1 was instantly recognisable with its unusual combination of straight lines and curves. Initially Ford twin-cam engines were used, mostly from Neil Brown, Holbay or Nova but eventually most became Toyota Novamotor powered. Danny Sullivan took the first Modus F3 win at Thruxton and Tony Brise took a very good second place at Monaco.

1975

The major change for 1975 was the introduction of a narrow track suspension and a smoother body work. The car soon gained a reputation for good handling on all types of tracks and conditions except in the damp when it became very nervous to drive. Eddie Cheever took 4 wins in his car, 2 at Silverstone and 2 at Hockenheim and Danny Sullivan had 3 victories at Silverstone, Cadwell and Oulton, whilst Freddy Kottulinsky won at the Nurburgring in his BMW powered version.

1976

Initially there were no real changes to the M1 for 1976 but following problems in comparison with other cars the lower rear suspension was converted from wishbone to twin parallel links at the end of July which helped but by then it was too late and at the end of the season Modus closed down. The only major win came from Brett Riley at Silverstone, powered unusually by a Neil Brown tuned Triumph engine, although only three cars finished.

Drivers

1974 Bob Arnott, Tony Brise, Julio Caio, Reudi Gigax, Ivor Goodwin, Peter Scharmann.

1975 Axel Arens, Tim Brise, Eddie Cheever, Pete Clark, Hans Hargarten, Freddy Kottulinsky, Gernot Lamby, Patrick Neve, Gunnar Nordström, Dick Parsons, Fritz Stehlin, Danny Sullivan.

1976 Daniele Albertin, Giovanni Albertin, Paolo Bozzetto, Paulo Gomes, John Lain, Conny Ljungfeldt, Jac Nelleman, Massimo Perazza, Brett Riley, Rudolf Röhnert, Jean-Louis Schlesser, Willi Siller, Robert Werl, Mike Young, Renzo Zorzi.

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Merzario

Arturo (Art) Merzario was a popular competitor in F1 and sports cars for many years, his most notable successes being at the wheel of various Ferraris, the sight of Art peering over the cockpit became a familiar sight during the 1970s. As he came towards the twilight of his career he began to build his own F1 cars, sadly these efforts were underfunded and usually as big as their driver was small and frequently failed to qualify. Into 1980 he also produced a number of F2 cars that were similarly uncompetitive and in 1982 the trend continued with his Merzario 283 (there seems to have been two), no other details are available and it achieved little. In 1984 Merzario ceased his career as a constructor.

Drivers

1982
Roberto Campominosi, Marzio Romano

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Merlyn

Colchester Racing Developments were the company behind Merlyn cars and their first design was the Mk1, a front-engined Formula Junior car designed by Selwyn Hayward in 1960 that was never actually raced. More Formula Junior cars followed, switching to rear-engined designs with the 1961 Mk3. The first F3 design was the Mk7 of 1964 which was also suitable for F2 (depending on the engine fitted), Chris Irwin showed it was a potential front runner in F3 whilst David Hobbs also had some good runs in the F2 version. Several F2 and F3 designs followed and although occasional successful Merlyn never achieved that final surge that would have moved them up with the big boys. Ultimately it was in Formula Ford that they made their biggest mark with a succession of highly competitive cars during the late 60’s/early 70s, models such as the 11, 11A, 17 etc. would bring numerous race wins and championships to Merlyn. Financial problems and a switch to precision engineering meant that Merlyn stopped producing racing cars in 1979.

1964

Merlyn’s first F3 car the Mk 7 was a dual purpose design also intended for F2, it consisted of a spaceframe chassis that extended behind the rear driveshafts had some aluminium sheet stiffening around the cockpit to increase the torsional rigidity but limited the fuel capacity. Suspension was conventional with the front inboard and the brakes outboard. It showed some promise with Chris Irwin running well in several races with his Holbay engined car taking a win at Aintree and challenging Jackie Stewart on several occasions. Eleven Mk7s were built in both F2 and F3 guise.

1965

1965’s offering, the Mk9, was a rework of the Mk7, the sheet stiffening was removed to help with the fuel capacity and general accessability. The rear opf the chassis now finished in front of the driveshafts whilst the front suspension remained inboard. Results were mixed with Chris Irwin taking very good seconds at Monaco and Clermont Ferrand and John Fenning winning at Montlhéry, but there were few good finishes in the UK. Several cars appeared in Germany and several top six places were taken

1966

Another rework for 1966 with the Mk9A, the most obvious change being a switch to outboard front suspension, several MK9s were converted to 9A spec. Merlyn priced their cars at a lower cost than most of their competitors so they sold several, unfortunately not to anyone especially quick. Almost no decent results were recorded with no finishes in the top four at any of the more important races. In total 14 Mk 9 and Mk 9As were constructed in both F2 and F3 versions.

1967

Basically a productionised Mk9A, the low price of £950 (£500 cheaper than a Brabham, a lot of money in 1967) still attracting several customers who all felt the car was an improvement. Merlyn’s proudest moment must have been in June when they finished 1-2-3-4 at Opatija in Yugoslavia against, it must be admitted, not very strong opposition. Nevertheless there were several top six finishes from Dave Walker and Tony Lanfranchi took a win at Brands Hatch as well as seconds at Brands Hatch and Silverstone, a third at Enna, all of which indicates there wasn’t a great deal wrong with the Mk10.

1968

The Mk14 was based on the 1968 F2 model the Mk12 which in turn came from the Mk10. Only one Mk14 was built and it was raced from the Monaco GP support on by Tony Lanfranchi, later in the year the production version, the MK14A, was introduced. There weren’t many takers and results were disappointing although Lanfranchi took an early season second at Oulton Park and sixth at the Monaco GP support race. Towards the end of the year Lanfranchi had some promising runs that weren’t reflected in the results.

1969

Merlyn continued with the Mk14A for 1969 but their season was largely ruined by a road accident to Lanfranchi that kept him out of racing. Later in the season Harry Stiller appeared in the Mk14AX, it had a new body and had some features that were being “tested” for the Mk18 a rumoured monocoque design with a tubular engine frame that never appeared. There were no top six results in any important races.

1971

Jody Scheckter began the 1971 season driving the EMC but then switched to the works Merlyn Mk21, he soon had it running at the front with his somewhat hairy but quick style. He won at Oulton Park, Thruxton and Mallory Park showing that this was a very promising design, if only he had driven it all season he might have been able to challenge Dave Walker in the Lotus 69. The Mk 21 was a space frame design with a conventional double wishbone suspension and inboard rear brakes. Most obvious feature were the prominent bulges on the flanks housing the fuel tanks. A Holbay engine was the chosen power plant.

1972

There seems to be some argument about the 1972 car, some sources call it the Mk22 but it usually appears in the results as a Mk21 and according to the Merlyn Cars official web site the Mk22 was a “midget” car built for oval racing in the USA. It would seem that the MK21 was tidied up with slight bodywork changes for 1972 but whatever the chassis designation surprisingly it was no longer competitive, the best result being a 6th place for driver Hakan Dahlqvist (also spelt as Dalquist) at Magny Cours.

1973

Dahlqvist continued to race his chassis in 1973, it was now nearly always listed as an Mk22, (but see the 1972 entry above), it was occasionally still competitive. Part way through the season ex-works Lotus F3 driver Bernard Vermilio appeared with a newly built Mk21 which again throws doubt on whether the Mk22 was ever a correct designation although on occasions Vermilio’s car was also listed as a 21B and a 22.

1975

The Mk27 was announced as the new Merlyn F3 challenger for 1975, but it would seem it was never actually constructed. One or more chassis with the Mk23 designation appeared in German F3, one again driven by Hakan Dahlqvist of Mk22 fame, according to the Merlyn web site this chassis number was not used.

Drivers

1964
Mk7
Roger Brash, Chris Irwin, Alain Leguellec, Tico Martini, Vincent Palmaro, Johnny Rives, Claude Robert.

Mk5
David Baker, Bill Bradley, Howard Bennett.

Mk3
Max Harrieder.

1965
Mk9
Ken Bass, Roger Brash, Tim Cash, John Fenning, Jean-Marie Guyot, Chris Irwin, Vincent Palmaro, Richard Peel, Leslie Roberts.

Mk3
Lionel Charlwood.

?
Jean Chicard, Georges Crenier, Dupin, Hughes de Fierlandt, “Fred”, Moisset, Gilbert Salles, Börje Sköld, Daniel Vanderborght

1966
Mk9
John Andrews, Tim Cash, Chris Craft, Georges Crenier, Dieter Frentzen, Mike Knight, Jeff Roberts.

?
Jean-Marie Guyot, Sten-Olof Pettersson, Börje Sköld, Jürgen Wolz.

1967
Mk10
Ian Ashley, Michael Bartle, Ken Bass, Tim Cash, Barry Collerson, Georges Crenier, John Fenning, Roger Keele, Kurt Keller, Tony Lanfranchi, Per-Jonas Qvarnstrom, Martin Stephani, David Walker.

Mk9
Paddy Allfrey, John Andrews, Tim Cash, Gunnar Elmgren, Alan Stubbs.

Mk7
Edward Jacobsson, Roy Johnson.

?
Björn Engström, Börje Sköld, Andre Willem.

1968
Mk14A
Tony Lanfranchi.

Mk14
Tony Lanfranchi.

Mk10
Mats Byström, Georges Crenier, Leif Hallgren, Tony Lanfranchi, Lars Lindberg, André Willem.

Mk7
Franz Graf.

?
Andre Willem.

1969
Mk14AX
Harry Stiller.

Mk14A
Patrick Champin, Tony Lanfranchi.

Mk14
Quentin Fraser, Eduard Wahl.

Mk10
Leif Hallgren.

1970 ?
Peter Korda.

1971
Mk10
Günter Kölmel.

Mk21
Jean Pierre Casegrain, Jody Scheckter.

1972 Mk21
Hakan Dahlqvist, Peter Lamplough.

1973
Mk21
Conny Ljungfeldt, Bernard Vermilio.

Mk22(?)
Hakan Dahlqvist..

1974 Mk23(?)
Hakan Dahlqvist.

1975 Mk23(?)
Hakan Dahlqvist, Lars Olsson.

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Technic

1977

A lightly revised version of the 1976 Viking (see entry) built by CTG and designed by Len Terry. It only appeared once for qualifying at the Monaco GP F3 support, it didn’t start the race.
It would become the basis for the stillborn CTG F3 project.

Drivers
1977 Rad Dougall.

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Tiga

Tiga emerged from the ashes of MRE after the company was taken over by former Antipodean F1 drivers Tim Schenken and Howden Ganley, initially they concentrated on F Ford and 2-litre sports cars. In 1978 Team Tiga was set up to run a team of customer cars in F3 and from this the F3 Tiga was born in 1981. Tiga also built an F2 car in 1980 buy lack of money saw them return to sports cars and lesser single seater categories such as F Atlantic.

1981

The F381 was a conventional Toyota powered car, it ran at the end of the season in weaver’s hands but clearly lacked development despite a 4th place finish at Snetterton. At the end of the year Tiga decided to drop the project.

Drivers
1981 James Weaver.

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Tecno

The driving force behind Tecno were the Pederzani brothers, Luciano and Gianfranco, famous for their karts which they first produced in 1961, they were soon winning including taking the World Championship four times in succession between 1963 and 1966. In 1964 they produced their first single seater, a Formula 4 powered by a Ducati 250cc engine and in 1966 they produced their first F3 car. Over the next few years Tecno sold a lot of cars especially in Italy and France and in 1968 won almost half of all International races, success continued in 1969 in both F3 and F2 but began to tail off in 1970. By 1971 there were only a couple of victories and most F3 cars were raced in the Italian domestic series as F1 took all of Tecno’s time, their efforts in Grand Prix racing in 1972/73 proving a total disaster that led to the company withdrawing from single seater racing.

1966

The first F3 car was based on Tecno’s karting experience, it was a spaceframe design with the driver sitting far forward between the front wheels. Front and rear suspension was double wishbones and outboard springs/dampers, in addition there were twin radius rods at the rear. Unusually the fuel sat in a tank in the centre of the car, a Cosworth engine was fitted. The car first appeared at Mugello and finished fourth despite braking and damper problems. However the car never handled properly possibly as a result of the fuel tank/driver positioning.

1967

Initially Tecno persevered with a modified version of their central fuel tank car and a couple of experimental tubs were built early on in the year. In March they soon produced a much more normal car that used the same suspension as the previous years car but used a conventional tub design. The wheelbase was very short and the whole package was neat and small, the car was quick in a straight line and now went round the corners properly. At the end of the year Clay Regazzoni scored Tecno’s first international win in Spain.

1968

The 1968 car was almost identical to the 1967 car and with nearly a season’s development behind it this was the car to have in Europe. By the end of the season Tecno had won no less than 32 of the season’s 65 major F3 races. So popular was the car that Tecno built over 50 during the year.

1969

Once again the 1969 car was virtually identical to the previous year’s car, the major change was to make the steering lighter to use, otherwise it was just a case of improving minor details. Although the design was beginning to show its age its virtues of aerodynamic efficiency and controllability (once the driver had got the hang of it) meant it retained its popularity. Once again the car took 30 major wins with Ronnie Peterson taking no less than 15 himself.

1970

Yet again changes were minimal for 1970, smaller brake calipers were fitted to reduce brake disc distortion and there was the option of a strengthened rollover hoop which apparently made engine changing a bit of a chore. The bag tanks were mounted in special flared side pontoons and on occasions a full-width nose cone, based on the F2 design, was fitted There were still plenty of wins but Lotus, Brabham and Chevron were fighting back and results were more equally spread around.

1971

The works model, the TF71/3, was driven by Christian Ethuin but the wins dried up, the team were concentrating on F2 and more importantly F1. There were still plenty of privateers but they found it harder and harder to compete with the latest cars from the other manufacturers. This was the last year that Tecno produced any F3 cars.

Drivers

1966 TF/66
Pino Babbini, Giancarlo Baghetti, Carlo Facetti.

1967
TF/67
Ernesto Brambilla, Silvio Moser, Boley Pittard, Clay Regazzoni.

TF/66
Carlo Facetti, Rosadele Facetti.

?
Mauro Nesti.

1968
68
Pino Babbini, Mike Beckwith, Dieter Bentz, Franco Bernabei, Giuseppe Bianchi, François Cévert, François Chevalier, Chris Craft, “Droopy”, “Dubis”, Franco Galli, Cliff Haworth, Jean -Pierre Jaussaud, Gijs van Lennep, Demetrio Martino, François Mazet, Peter de Meritt, Manfred Möhr, Maurizio Montagnani, Mauro Nesti, Brian Newton, Luciano Nocca, Ronnie Peterson, Pino Pica, Clay Regazzoni, Rolf Scheel, Jean-Claude Véron, Reine Wisell.

1969
69
Bernhard Baur, Jean Blanc, M. Campanini, George Crenier, Jürg Dubler, Alain Franceschi, Giancarlo Gagliardi, Peter Gaydon, Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, Mike Keens, Lars Lindburg, Freddy Link, François Mazet, Mauro Montagnani, Ronnie Peterson, Gianluigi Picchi, Bernard Plaisance, Jonas Qvarnstrom, Giuseppi Salvati, Renfold Unold.

68
Pino Babbini, L. Battisatello, Bernhard Baur, Giuseppi Bianchi, Patrick Champin, Giancarlo Gagliardi, “Gero”, Egert Haglund, Cliff Haworth, Jean-Pierre Jarier, G. Tommasi, Vitturio Venturi, Ole Vejlund Philippe Vidal.

67
Graham Goodman, Peter de Merritt.

?
Pablo Brea.

1970
70
Pino Babbini, “Gero”, Jean-Pierre Jarier, Jean Max, Peter de Merritt, François Migault, Giovanni Salvati.

69
Jean-Pierre Cassegrain, George Crenier, Wilhelm Geiss, Mike Keens, Freddy Link, Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, Jean Johansson, Lionel Noghes, Rolf Skohag.

68
Giuseppi Bianchi, Max Bonnin, Alain Franceschi, Jean-Claude Guenard, Freddy Link, Fabrizio Noe, Hermann Unold.

1971
70/2
Claudio Francisci.

70
François Migault, Giovanni Salvati.

69
Mike Keens.

?
Pino Babbini, Jean Blanc, “Canale”, Christian Ethuin, Luigi Fontanesi, Wilhelm Geiss, Carlo Giorgio, Gérard Gourdon, Roberto Marazzi, Marcel Morel, Giancarlo Naddeo, René Scalais, Utz Schad, Armand Truffo, Vittorio Venturi.

1972 ?
Georges Ansermoz, Alceste Bodini, Georges Crenier, Falmini, Luigi Fontanesi, Carlo Giorgio, Roberto Manzoni, Dominique Martin, Libero Pesce, “Pibo”, Wilfried Schmitz.

1973 ?
Georges Ansermoz, Alceste Bodini, Walter Neubauer.

1974 ?
Alceste Bodini, Walter Neubauer.

1975 ?
Alceste Bodini, Walter Neubauer.

1976 ?
Alceste Bodini.

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Tark

There haven’t been many production manufacturers that have produced more than 1000 cars and where you might think of March, Brabham, Lola, Ralt or Van Diemen you probably wouldn’t think of Estonia’s racing car manufacturer TARK. TARK stands for Tallina Autode Remondi Katsetehas and the completed cars were either called TARKs or more frequently Estonias. The first car was a F3 car built by a small group of enthusiasts in 1958 and in 1960 the Soviet Central Auto Club ordered replicas and production started. Most cars that were built were designed for local formulae such as Formula Vostock but the occasional car that complied with mainline European racing was constructed. TARK were eventually privatised following financial problems and is now known as Kavor Motorsport and now produces custom parts and engines for competition cars.

1971

In 1971 the Mk16 was built to the East European F2 regulations, consisting of a spaceframe chassis clothed in attractive if dated bodywork. It was fitted with disc brakes all round (a rarity in Eastern Europe at that time) and was the first car of its type to have magnesium wheels, it was powered by a 1.5-litre Moskvich engine and it seems there might have been a plan to fit a 1600cc F3 motor. However the Socialist Bloc policy of only racing in formula that would show up national products meant development was switched to the local F3 utilising the 1.2-litre Zhiguli (Lada) engine. Later the Mk16 was modified with side radiators and wings. A new TARK model the Mk18 was introduced and there was no more thought of joining in with the rest of Europe.

1989

Suddenly in 1989 the name TARK returned to the world of F3 when two cars appeared in the German F3 Championship. In fact the connection with TARK was minimal, the project seems to have been part of an unsuccessful plan to use the TARK facilities to produce a formula car to be sold in Eastern Europe. The project ended badly with no cars having been produced.
The TARK Aleko JK173 was a conventional late eighties machine, designed by former Zakspeed employee Johannes Knapp, it was built by the German Eufra team. It had a carbon fibre chassis with inboard suspension and was powered by a VW engine. It was off to a good start in its first race, a non-championship event, when Rosso took second behind one Michael Schumacher and ahead of Karl Wendlinger. Another second in a Championship round at the Nürburgring followed but from then on results fell away and the cars struggled to finish in the top ten. That was the end of the TARK return to championship racing.

Drivers
1966 Ants Seiler (as Estonia Mk9).

1967 Yuri Andreev (as Estonia Mk9).

1989 Ralf Kelleners, Victor Rosso, Meik Wagner.

1992 Tomas Karhanek.

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Taraschi

Bernado Taraschi switched from building small sports cars such as the Urania and the Giaur to F Junior in 1958. the Taraschi used a Fiat engine, mounted in front of the driver, wishbones with coil springs/dampers and, unusually, a De Dion type rear axle. The car proved successful in 1959 and 1960 winning a number of races at venues such as Pau, Albi and Vallelunga. However by the end of 1960 Cooper and Lotus began to make their mark and Taraschi went back to tuning Fiat road cars.
A single Taraschi finished 11th, three laps behind the winner, at Caserta in June 1964.

Drivers

1964 Raffaele Fiordelesi.

TMS

1983

Titan

1967

1968

1969

Modus

1974

1975

1976

Drivers

Merzario

Drivers

Merlyn

1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

1969

1971

1972

1973

1975

Drivers

Technic

Tiga

1981

Tecno

1966

1967

1968

1969

1970

1971

Tark

1971

1989

Taraschi

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