Race Report: Hockenheim, 22 July 1973

hockenheim_22_7_73

Race Report: Hockenheim, 22 July 1973

hockenheim_22_7_73

The “Preis Der Stadt Karlsruhe” was held over 20 laps of the 2.63 Km circuit, the runners were German national teams.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Hockenheim, 22 July 1973

Race Heat 1

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 20:09.40

2 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 20:09.50

3 Luigi Fontanesi

Tecno-Ford 20:13.10

4 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 20:23.40

Race Heat 2

1 Giovanni Lo Voi

Brabham-Ford BT28 15:05.00

2 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 15:05.00

3 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 15:21.00

4 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 15:34.10

5 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28

Race Final

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 30:44.30 144.318

2 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28 30:44.34

3 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 30:45.10

4 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 30:55.40

5 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

6 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 31:11.50

7 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 31:59.60

8 Giovanni Lo Voi

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

Race Report: Arras, 22 July 1973

arras_22_7_73

Race Report: Arras, 22 July 1973

arras_22_7_73

A round of the French Formula 3 Championship the race was decided on the aggregate times over two heats. Victory went to the Martini of Christian Ethuin who finished second in Heat 1 0.6 seconds behind the similar car of Bernard Beguin. The positions were reversed in Heat two, Ethuin winning by 10 seconds after Beguin spun four laps from the finish. The Alpine of Alain Serpaggi took third overall after finishing fourth and third respectively in the heats. Jean-Pierre Paoli was unlucky, he took third in Heat 1 and was leading Heat 2 when the gearbox on his Martini played up causing him to fall away.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Arras, 22 July 1973

Race Heat 1

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 20:09.40

2 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 20:09.50

3 Luigi Fontanesi

Tecno-Ford 20:13.10

4 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 20:23.40

Race Heat 2

1 Giovanni Lo Voi

Brabham-Ford BT28 15:05.00

2 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 15:05.00

3 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 15:21.00

4 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 15:34.10

5 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28

Race Final

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 30:44.30 144.318

2 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28 30:44.34

3 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 30:45.10

4 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 30:55.40

5 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

6 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 31:11.50

7 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 31:59.60

8 Giovanni Lo Voi

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

Race Report: Mallory Park, 22 July 1973

mallory-park_22_7_73

Race Report: Mallory Park, 22 July 1973

mallory-park_22_7_73

Mike Wilds took pole position for the latest round of the Lombank North Central Championship despite practice having to be stopped and then resumed later as a result of an accident between the March of Brazilian “Teleco” and the Royale of John Sheldon. Ian Taylor took the second quickest time in his March from the GRD of Brian Henton. Those in difficulties included Leonel Friedrich who developed a serious engine problem and Alan Jones who found himself on row six when his GRD refused to handle properly.

Everyone got away from the grid without incident but entering Gerards there were too many cars in too little space and Richard Robarts spun collecting the DART GRDs of both Alan Jones and Pedro Passadore as well as Nick Crossley’s March, both Robarts and Crossley were out on the spot but the DART cars continued albeit well down the field. Back at the front it was Wilds from Henton, Taylor, Wood, Harness, Gerber, Brise, Kuwashima and a fading Santo. Henton made several tries to take the lead from Wilds and on lap 5 at Gerards he found a way past and immediately began to edge away. Taylor now moved onto Wilds tail but despite a number of attempts he was unable to gain second and Henton was able to take advantage of their squabbling to ease out to a three second victory.
Wilds managed to keep Taylor at bay to take the runner-up spot by 0.2 seconds with Brise in fourth. Brise had lost his clutch at the start but it gradually came back again and he made up several places despite a coming together with Gerber’s Brabham at the hairpin. Harness and Wood took fifth and sixth with Kuwashima retiring from seventh in the closing laps when his March lost fifth gear.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Mallory Park, 22 July 1973

Race Heat 1

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 20:09.40

2 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 20:09.50

3 Luigi Fontanesi

Tecno-Ford 20:13.10

4 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 20:23.40

Race Heat 2

1 Giovanni Lo Voi

Brabham-Ford BT28 15:05.00

2 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 15:05.00

3 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 15:21.00

4 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 15:34.10

5 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28

Race Final

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 30:44.30 144.318

2 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28 30:44.34

3 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 30:45.10

4 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 30:55.40

5 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

6 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 31:11.50

7 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 31:59.60

8 Giovanni Lo Voi

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

Race Report: Hockenheim, 15 July 1973

hockenheim_15_7_73

Race Report: Hockenheim, 15 July 1973

hockenheim_15_7_73

The “Südwestpokal Rennen” was held over 12 laps of the 6.788 Km circuit. The runners were, for the most part, German national teams.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Hockenheim, 15 July 1973

Race Heat 1

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 20:09.40

2 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 20:09.50

3 Luigi Fontanesi

Tecno-Ford 20:13.10

4 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 20:23.40

Race Heat 2

1 Giovanni Lo Voi

Brabham-Ford BT28 15:05.00

2 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 15:05.00

3 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 15:21.00

4 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 15:34.10

5 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28

Race Final

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 30:44.30 144.318

2 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28 30:44.34

3 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 30:45.10

4 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 30:55.40

5 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

6 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 31:11.50

7 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 31:59.60

8 Giovanni Lo Voi

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

Race Report: Silverstone, 14 July 1973

silverstone_14_7_73

Race Report: Silverstone, 14 July 1973

silverstone_14_7_73

Sadly the clashing round of the French F3 Championship at Magny Cours on the same day meant that the entry for this John Player Championship, a supporting event to the British GP, was largely home grown. Practice, one hour for each heat, was held on the Thursday with the heats taking place on the Friday.

Heat One saw Mike Wilds taking pole position in his brand new March-Holbay 733, so new was the car that it hadn’t run before the Thursday practice but Wilds took to it immediately, setting a sub-lap record on his way to pole. Also under the lap record was Alan Jones, his GRD featuring the two extra bracing tubes between the engine and the chassis that had been introduced at Snetterton the week before. This new tweak certainly seemed to put the GRD back on the same level as the March and was being copied by several other GRD users. Jones was looking very quick in his DART entered chassis despite his practice being curtailed by a siezed gearbox.

Third fastest was former Ehrlich driver Danny Sullivan having his first outing in the ex-Bob Evans March 723 that had been updated to ’73 specification. Fourth fastest was Masami Kuwashima who wasn’t happy with his Holbay and fifth was Andy Sutcliffe who was showing that the Elden was a very competitive proposition despite loosing the last 15 minutes of practice when he ran out of petrol and was stranded on the circuit. Of the rest of the runners Tony Brise found himself right at the back when his Holbay failed after just three laps of practice, the car was immediately taken to Holbay where the engine was repaired with the car arriving back at the track only 30 minutes before the start of the heat.

Brian Henton’s GRD was also sporting the works bracing struts and Superhen used it to great effect to take pole for Heat Two as well as setting the fastest overall time on Thursday. Second quickest was lap record holder Ian Taylor from Tony Rouff, another modified GRD runner. Mo Harness took the fourth spot in his brand new March-Brown 733 sponsored by Modus, sharing the same time as Harness was the second DART GRD of Pedro Passadore another to find the modifications to his GRD beneficial. Further back Larry Perkins was getting the hang of the works Ensign after his first outing on Tuesday was curtailed by a small accident whilst Barrie Maskell was having a run in the ex-Tony Brise GRD. Right at the back Mike Catlow was not given a time due to RAC entry cock-up, his Elden had been setting some quick laps and otherwise would have started well up the grid.

Danny Sullivan was in trouble before the flag dropped for Heat 1 when his engine would not fire up and he had to sit and wait for a push start as the rest of the grid departed. It was Wilds who got away the best from pole hotly pursued by Jones, Kuwashima, “Teleco” (penalised for a jump start), Vermilio and Sutcliffe. Wilds still led at the end of the first lap with Jones sitting right on his gearbox, “Teleco” was next but falling away, then came Kuwashima, Sutcliffe, Vermilio, Gambs, Sheldon Buzaglo, Lewis, Fuller, Tyrrell, MacDonald, Santo, Sherman, Brise and Sullivan (recovering from his push start). Brise called into the pits on the next lap with his engine refusing to rev, after one more lap with no improvement he retired the March.
Jones pushed his GRD into the lead on lap 2 at Stowe and although he led all the remaining laps Wilds chased him very hard and took the lead back on a number of occasions around the back of the circuit but Jones always had the edge and took the win by 0.3 seconds. Sutcliffe took third after passing “Teleco” on lap 6, he started to close on Jones and Wilds but then dropped away to finish 5 seconds down. Unfortunately it all went wrong at the post race scrutineering when Wilds was disqualified for having a 30 thou oversized airbox aperture and Sutcliffe was also out when a loose pipe on his airbox meant it would not hold the necessary vacuum.
All of this moved Kuwashima up to second ahead of Vermilio, Lewis and Santo all of whom were well spread out by the finish. The penalised “Teleco” and Sullivan took tenth and twelfth despite a big spin by the latter at Woodcote. Buzaglo was a retirement when he went off onto the grass, also at Woodcote, the resultant moment causing some damage and retirement.

Henton made a super getaway at the start of Heat 2 (initially it was thought too well and he was penalised but this was overturned on appeal from Henton), Rouff slipped into second from Taylor and Harness. As the cars entered Woodcote at the end of lap 1 Rouff used Henton’s slipstream to take the lead he would hold, except for a few brief moments, for the rest of the race. Henton was second from Taylor, Wood, Harness, Gerber (who appeared to jump the start without penalty), Passadore, Wunderink, Friedrich, Perkins, Maskell, Musetti, Robarts, Catlow, Craven, Hilliar, Sedgley and Coen. Derek Lawrence crawled into the pits to retire with the clutch in his Ehrlich burnt out.
Lap 2 saw six cars break away at the front with Rouff leading Henton, Wood, Taylor, Harness and Gerber. Wood moved up to second on lap 3 but Henton pushed him back to third again on the following lap and Gerber left the group with a spin at Copse. Next out was Mo Harness due to a combination of a slow puncture and a non-functioning limited slip diff so by lap 9 the fight for victory was down to four cars, Rouff still led but Woods was trying both sides to get past whilst Henton and Woods were not really in the hunt as both were suffering from flat engines. Under the Daily Express Bridge Wood was trying everything he knew to demote the American but Rouff kept his cool to take the win by a second, Henton kept third despite suffering from bent valves in his Rolt engine, Taylor took fourth 0.2 seconds behind the GRD. Retirements included Barry Maskell who had been in the top ten until an ignition problem meant a pit stop and Friedrich who had been in a similar position on the first lap until he damaged his March with an off at Club.

The qualifiers for the final were the first 12 from each heat plus the next 12 fastest laps, this resulting in the following grid:

Wood
 
Rouff
 
Jones
 
Taylor
 
Henton
 
Robarts
 
Harness
 
Kuwashima
 
Wunderink
 
Passadore
 
Spitzley
 
Vermilio
 
Perkins
 
Catlow
 
Lewis
 
Gerber
 
Gambs
 
Santo
 
Sherman
 
Sheldon
 
Sullivan
 
“Teleco”
 
MacDonald
 
Maskell
 
Buzaglo
 
Sedgley
 
Crossley
 
Craven
 
Hilliar
 
Musetti
 
Friedrich
 
Fuller
 
Tyrrell
 
Lawrence
 
Coen
 

There was a considerable amount of creeping before the flag fell and several cars seemed to jump the start although only Johnny Gerber was penalised. GRD men Jones and Rouff led the rest and entering Copse Rouff dived into the lead chased by Jones, Wood, Kuwashima and Henton. Woodcote saw Wood make his move and pass the two leaders, Rouff kept second from a huge group consisting of Jones, Kuwashima, Henton, Robarts, Passadore, Taylor, Perkins, Wunderink, Harness, Gerber, Vermilio, “Teleco”, Lewis, Buzaglo, Maskell, Catlow and Sullivan, the rest followed further back. For the next five laps there were numerous place changes as positions began to settle down, Rouff moved back to the front with Jones pressuring him hard, Wood in third headed Kuwashima, Henton, Gerber, Perkins, Robarts, Vermilio and Taylor all tied together. There was a gap back to the next group, “Teleco” headed Maskell who was moving up well, next came Buzaglo, Wunderink, Harness who was recovering after a spin down the field on lap 3, Lewis, Santo, Sullivan, Spitzley and Catlow. The next bunch were further down the road, Craven led Lawrence, Musetti, Sherman, Crossley, Gambs, Passadore another spinner, down from sixth on lap 3, Sedgley, MacDonald and Hilliar.
During lap 6 Rouff, Jones and Woods pulled slightly away from Kuwashima who was beginning to go backwards and was soon passed by Gerber who then pulled himself onto the tail of the leaders. With no apparent difficulty Gerber then proceeded to pass the three cars in front of him and on lap 10 the Brabham was in the lead. Gerber soon pulled out a small gap to the others who weren’t too worried as their pits advised them of Gerber’s jump start penalty.
For the last ten laps it was a three way battle between the GRDs of Rouff and Jones and the March of Wood with the GRDs doing the leading as Wood watched and waited for a mistake to allow him to get ahead. On lap 19 Jones moved up to second and towed up to Gerber with the intention of passing the Mexican and letting the Brabham act as a buffer. Lap 20 and Jones tried for the lead at Becketts, unfortunately as he dived inside he hit a patch of oil and spun causing Rouff and Wood to take avoiding action which split them up. Gerber took the chequered flag first but dropped to seventeenth with his penalty, thus Rouff took the win from Wood with Jones recovering to third and just holding Henton off at the line who was again troubled by bent valves. Harness did well to take fifth after his spin from Kuwashima who was hampered by an engine that was loosing power.
Amongst the non-finishers were Perkins who spun at Becketts and was collected by Vermilio, both cars retiring on the spot. Robarts had been right behind Henton but he spun on the grass by the pits and stalled his engine, the subsequent push start saw him excluded from the results. Maskell retired with a faulty fuel pump on lap 19 having been sixth at one point and Lewis and Sullivan made contact at Copse on lap 9 with both cars being rendered hors de combat.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Silverstone, 14 July 1973

Race Heat 1

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 20:09.40

2 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 20:09.50

3 Luigi Fontanesi

Tecno-Ford 20:13.10

4 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 20:23.40

Race Heat 2

1 Giovanni Lo Voi

Brabham-Ford BT28 15:05.00

2 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 15:05.00

3 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 15:21.00

4 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 15:34.10

5 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28

Race Final

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 30:44.30 144.318

2 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28 30:44.34

3 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 30:45.10

4 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 30:55.40

5 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

6 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 31:11.50

7 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 31:59.60

8 Giovanni Lo Voi

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

Race Report: Magny Cours, 14 July 1973

magny-cours_14_7_73

Race Report: Magny Cours, 14 July 1973

magny-cours_14_7_73

This Bastille day meeting at Magny Cours clashed with the John Player Championship event supporting the British GP so unsurprisingly the field was restricted to French national runners.

Alain Serpaggi’s Alpine Renault took pole position from the Martini of Bernard Beguin and as the flag fell he made a superb start to lead from Beguin, Jean-Pierre Paoli (Martini), Jacques Lafitte (Martini), Michel Leclere (Alpine), Alain Cudini (Martini), Philippe Albera (March), Pierre-Francois Rousselot (March), Jean Max (Martini), Christian Ethuin (Martini), Bernard Chevanne (Martini) and Jean Ragnotti (March). Lafitte and Leclere running together demoted Paoli on lap 3 and two laps later Ethuin and Albera managed to hit each other forcing Albera into retirement.

Beguin began to come under pressure from Lafitte and Leclere and on lap 12 Beguin spun down to sixth, restarting just ahead of a battling Rousselot and Ethuin. Ethuin then got ahead of Rousselot on lap 15 as Beguin pulled up to the battle between Paoli and Cudini. Second place man Lafitte had a bit of a moment on lap 15 and Leclere took advantage to move up to second to make it an Alpine 1-2 at the finish, Lafitte took third whilst Beguin passed Cudini and Paoli to take fourth at the flag. Paoli lost three laps with a pit stop right at the end caused by a spin and Ethuin dropped back to ninth hampered by clutch problems.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Magny Cours, 14 July 1973

Race Heat 1

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 20:09.40

2 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 20:09.50

3 Luigi Fontanesi

Tecno-Ford 20:13.10

4 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 20:23.40

Race Heat 2

1 Giovanni Lo Voi

Brabham-Ford BT28 15:05.00

2 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 15:05.00

3 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 15:21.00

4 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 15:34.10

5 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28

Race Final

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 30:44.30 144.318

2 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28 30:44.34

3 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 30:45.10

4 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 30:55.40

5 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

6 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 31:11.50

7 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 31:59.60

8 Giovanni Lo Voi

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

Race Report: Snetterton, 8 July 1973

snetterton_8_7_73

Race Report: Snetterton, 8 July 1973

snetterton_8_7_73

The field for this Lombard North Central round was quite severely curtailed by non-starters, the travails of Paul Ricard proving particularly taxing. Pole position went to Alan Jones’ GRD from the March of Masami Kuwashima and the second DART GRD of Pedro Passadore. Row two saw an uncomfortable Richard Robarts (broken ribs due to a diving accident) heading Brazilian Leonel Friedrich. Third row occupants Ian Taylor and Tony Brise both from suffered engine problems, Taylor a misfire and Brise a blown Holbay after four laps.

There were problems before the start when “Teleco”‘s March refused to start in the paddock as did the Vegantune of pole man Jones, a change of master switch seemed to cure the problem but then the GRD refused to start again on the grid. The rest of the field started leaving Jones to get away well after the others in last place after a push. It was Passadore that took the lead from Kuwashima but at the Hairpin Taylor moved to the front from Passadore, Kuwashima and Rouff although lap 2 saw Rouff drop behind Friedrich and Robarts. Derek Lawrence was now running in sixth ahead of the March 733 of Nick Crossley whilst further back Brise was out with yet another blown engine and Jones was already making his way through the back markers.
Lawrence was gradually being dropped by the leaders and on lap 5 Kuwashima moved up to second and Friedrich and Passadore fought over third place swopping places on a number of occasions. Robarts was next out when a tyre failed at Riches and Lawrence found himself being passed by Jones on lap 6. The same lap saw Kuwashima try for the lead at Riches, for a moment he seemed to have done it but he lost control of his March and spun off the track. Friedrich was now on the move, on lap 11 he demoted Passadore and set off after Taylor. Passadore began to drop back with a puncture and just as he was about to loose a place to Rouff both men found themselves being overtaken by the flying Alan Jones.
Taylor managed to keep his March ahead of Friedrich to the finish helped by the Brazilian being another to suffer a puncture in the closing laps, Jones took an excellent third on the road although his push start penalty dropped him to fourth behind Rouff but ahead of Lawrence.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Snetterton, 8 July 1973

Race Heat 1

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 20:09.40

2 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 20:09.50

3 Luigi Fontanesi

Tecno-Ford 20:13.10

4 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 20:23.40

Race Heat 2

1 Giovanni Lo Voi

Brabham-Ford BT28 15:05.00

2 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 15:05.00

3 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 15:21.00

4 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 15:34.10

5 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28

Race Final

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 30:44.30 144.318

2 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28 30:44.34

3 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 30:45.10

4 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 30:55.40

5 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

6 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 31:11.50

7 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 31:59.60

8 Giovanni Lo Voi

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

Race Report: Niederstetten, 8 July 1973

niederstetten_8_7_73

Race Report: Niederstetten, 8 July 1973

niederstetten_8_7_73

The “Hohenloher Flugplatzrennen” was held over 20 laps of the 2.665 Km Niederstetten airfield circuit, 13 cars were entered consisting of national German F3 runners.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Niederstetten, 8 July 1973

Race Heat 1

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 20:09.40

2 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 20:09.50

3 Luigi Fontanesi

Tecno-Ford 20:13.10

4 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 20:23.40

Race Heat 2

1 Giovanni Lo Voi

Brabham-Ford BT28 15:05.00

2 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 15:05.00

3 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 15:21.00

4 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 15:34.10

5 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28

Race Final

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 30:44.30 144.318

2 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28 30:44.34

3 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 30:45.10

4 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 30:55.40

5 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

6 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 31:11.50

7 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 31:59.60

8 Giovanni Lo Voi

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

Race Report: Silverstone, 1 July 1973

silverstone_1_7_73

Race Report: Silverstone, 1 July 1973

silverstone_1_7_73

Despite most of the leading runners being at Paul Ricard for the John Player Championship a good entry still arrived at Silverstone for this Lombard North Central round. There was some amazement when the Silverstone timekeepers gave the same fastest time to no less than six cars! Pole position went to F3 returnee Derek Lawrence who was out in the Ehrlich formerly pedalled by Danny Sullivan, he used his experience to gain a good tow and get pole position. Other front row occupants were the Royale of John Sheldon and the March of Richard Robarts. Further down the grid Pedro Passadore was debuting a new DART run GRD.

Robarts jumped into the lead at the start with Friedrich slotting into second followed by Rouff and Passadore, entering Woodcote Passadore demoted Rouff back to third as Sheldon moved up to tag onto the back of the leaders. Robarts and Friedrich looked as if they were going to pull away but Rouff put his head down and reeled them back in. Friedrich sat on Robarts tail and on lap 5 he slipstreamed into the lead at the end of Club Straight, Robarts tried to regain the lead at Woodcote without success. Next lap Robarts tried again and this time he made it stick as Friedrich dropped another place to Rouff who was now looking very strong and on lap 8 the American made it to the front.
For the next two laps Rouff lead his first F3 race but on lap 10 Robarts went back to the front with Rouff dropping to second, third was Passadore from Sheldon, Friedrich, Santo, “Teleco” and Spitzley making up ground after a bad start. Andy Sutcliffe had been next but he had to retire his Elden with a broken throttle cable so next up came Lawrence ahead of Bernard Vermilio (Merlyn) and late entrant Damien Magee (Brabham).
Robarts continued to lead for the rest of the race although Friedrich got a second wind and moved up again from fifth and challenged hard but finished up 0.6 seconds behind the Myson March. Rouff and Passadore had a great battle for third with the two cars being given the same finishing time as were Sheldon and Santo fighting over fifth. “Teleco” had a spin at Becketts on the penultimate lap but was far enough ahead of everyone else to retain his eighth place whilst Vermilio and Magee made contact at Woodcote on the last lap with Magee spinning his car across the finish line.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Silverstone, 1 July 1973

Race Heat 1

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 20:09.40

2 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 20:09.50

3 Luigi Fontanesi

Tecno-Ford 20:13.10

4 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 20:23.40

Race Heat 2

1 Giovanni Lo Voi

Brabham-Ford BT28 15:05.00

2 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 15:05.00

3 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 15:21.00

4 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 15:34.10

5 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28

Race Final

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 30:44.30 144.318

2 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28 30:44.34

3 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 30:45.10

4 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 30:55.40

5 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

6 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 31:11.50

7 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 31:59.60

8 Giovanni Lo Voi

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

Race Report: Paul Ricard, 1 July 1973

paul-ricard_1_7_73

Race Report: Paul Ricard, 1 July 1973

paul-ricard_1_7_73

This round of the John Player Championship was one of the support races for the French GP and consisted of two heats on the Saturday with the final on the Sunday. The entry consisted of most of the usual French F3 Championship teams together with most of the front running British drivers, the only notable absentee being Damien Magee whose Brabham BT41 had been sold in Ireland.

The heats and final were held on the short circuit rather than the full GP track and at the end of qualifying it was Jacques Lafitte’s Martini that took the fastest time and the pole for Heat 1. The heats would consist of alternating practice times so pole position in Heat 2 went to the second fastest car, the Alpine-Renault of Alain Serpaggi. The rest of the runners lined up as below, of the other drivers Gerber was happier with his Brabham after a switch to Firestones, Alan Jones had float-level problems with his Vegantune and Russell Wood was suffering from a very poor Novamotor. Tony Brise was unusually far down for no apparent reason and poor Larry Perkins was a very disappointed non-starter when a puncture sent his GRD off the track and into the Armco, Perkins suffered bad bruising and a broken finger.

Pole man Jacques Lafitte led from the start of Heat 1 hotly pursued by Ian Taylor and the rest of the field. Lafitte immediately began to pull away from Taylor to the tune of a couple of seconds as Taylor in turn eased away from Rousselot, Paoli, Kuwashima, Gerber, Ethuin, Brise, Wilds, Henton, Andersson, Lewis, Tyrrell, Wood, Svensson, Dötsch and Zetterström. Lafitte continued to extend his for the remainder of the race, eventually crossing the line some 16 seconds ahead of second man Rousselot. Taylor had held second for the first half of the race but his engine began to loose power and he was gradually dropped back into the clutches of Rousselot, Paoli, Ethuin and Kuwashima. Taylor refused to give way and it was only on the penultimate lap that Rousselot and Ethuin managed to get ahead of the Baty March. Kuwashima and Paoli took fifth and sixth ahead of Johnny Gerber who complained of gearbox difficulties. Tony Brise and Mike Wilds finished a disappointing eighth and ninth with no concrete reason for their lack of form, Russell Wood took twelfth still in engine problems. Brian Henton finished second to last following no less than three spins after running as high as tenth, he would qualify for the final as a result of setting a fast lap.

Heat 2 was as uninteresting as Heat 1, Alain Serpaggi lead away at the start followed by his Alpine team-mate Michel Leclere and for the rest of the race the two cars, never more than a couple of seconds apart, pulled away from the rest of the field. Bernard Beguin, despite hitting Alan Jones at the start, moved up to third by demoting the ragged Ragnotti and stayed there to the finish. There was a five car battle for fourth between Ragnotti, Max, Dahlqvist, a slightly battered Jones and Albera, Jones gradually moved up through the group to take fourth three laps from the end which he held to the flag. Ragnotti and Max were next up ahead of Albera and Cudini who had passed Dahlqvist two laps from the end.

The 30 runners for the 30 lap final lined up as follows:

Lafitte
Serpaggi
Rousselot
 
Leclere
Beguin
 
Ethuin
Taylor
 
Jones
Kuwashima
 
Ragnotti
Paoli
 
Max
Gerber
 
Albera
Brise
 
Cudini
Wilds
 
Dahlqvist
Lewis
 
Guitteny
Wood
 
Chevannes
Andersson
 
Ljungfeldt
Henton
 
Nordström
Tyrrell
 
Bülow
Svensson
 
Sedgley

Alan Jones was in trouble before the race started when his engine refused to start on the dummy grid, he was push started but was late away. Serpaggi made the best start from his pole position and for the first two laps the Alpine led the rest headed by Lafitte, Rousselot, Beguin, Ragnotti, Kuwashima, Taylor, Ethuin, Paoli, Brise, Gerber, Albera, Max, Guitteny, Wilds, Cudini, Andersson, Lewis, Jones and the rest.
Lafitte took over the lead on lap 3, the Martini moving easily past the Alpine, Lafitte then, as in Heat 1, pulled away from the rest to win by a dominant 9.2 seconds. Rousselot was next to get ahead of Serpaggi moving up to second on lap 4 with Leclere and Beguin next up, these four ran nose to tail for most of the race but there was almost no positional changes. Leclere did get ahead of Serpaggi on lap 13 but a spin five laps later dropped him to fifth and another gyration finally saw the Alpine come home eleventh. Rousselot stayed in second for the rest of the race as Beguin began to fall away and Kuwashima and Paoli moved up
Kuwashima was going very well, he took fourth when Leclere had his first spin and three laps from the finish he passed Serpaggi and moved up to within less than a second of Rousselot at the chequered flag. Serpaggi held onto fourth with Beguin and Paoli in fifth and sixth ahead of Ragnotti and Albera. Johnny Gerber recovered well after spinning on some dropped oil when tenth at half distance, some quick driving saw him move up ahead of Ethuin and Leclere. Tony Brise had been ahead of Gerber but before the race the rear rollbar had been disconnected to increase understeer. This proved to be a disaster and Brise slipped down the field until he was hit by Jean Max which resulted in a split oil cooler and retirement, he was joined by his assailant. Mike Wilds had just passed Brise before his accident and on the next lap he found Brise’s spilt oil, Wilds spun dropping to sixteenth, some spirited driving saw him recovered to thirteenth at the flag.
Both Jones and Wood were in desperate engine woes, Jones spun out of fourteenth and then had to slow dramatically over the closing laps when his engine began to make odd noises, whilst Wood found that his engine was still just as powerless as it had been for the whole weekend. Ian Taylor had an awful race, a first lap incident saw the nosecone of the March badly damaged, bits of broken fibreglass wedged themselves in Taylor’s rear suspension causing all sorts of handling problems, he slipped down the field to finish nineteenth.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Paul Ricard, 1 July 1973

Race Heat 1

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 20:09.40

2 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 20:09.50

3 Luigi Fontanesi

Tecno-Ford 20:13.10

4 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 20:23.40

Race Heat 2

1 Giovanni Lo Voi

Brabham-Ford BT28 15:05.00

2 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 15:05.00

3 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 15:21.00

4 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 15:34.10

5 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28

Race Final

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 30:44.30 144.318

2 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28 30:44.34

3 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 30:45.10

4 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 30:55.40

5 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

6 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 31:11.50

7 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 31:59.60

8 Giovanni Lo Voi

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00