Race Report: Snetterton, 13 May 1973

snetterton_13_5_73

Race Report: Snetterton, 13 May 1973

snetterton_13_5_73

Japanese driver Masami Kuwashima showed that switching to a March had been a good idea by annexing pole position for this round of the Lombard North Central Championship, he was joined on the front row by Alan Jones and Ian Taylor. Russell Wood found himself back on the eighth row, his March was handling badly following a midweek practice shunt. Damien Magee was a non-starter his Brabham BT41 undergoing a weight saving programme as it was some 40 lbs over the minimum weight limit.

Although practice had been held in the dry it was raining very hard come the race and conditions were very tricky. Alan Jones made a very quick getaway, too quick the stewards adjudged and he received a one minute penalty, the Australian led briefly until he was swiftly demoted down the field.

By the hairpin on lap 1 it was Masami Kuwashima from Ian Taylor, Leonel Friedrich and Jose Santo in his March 733 fourth. Taylor moved into the lead on lap 2 with Tony Brise having moved up to third ahead of Freidrich, Neil Ginn and Mike Wilds. Taylor’s lead lasted a lap as Brise moved to the front and the GRD man quickly pulled out a three second lead that he would hold to the finish. Kuwashima was out on lap 3 when his March left the track and Taylor joined him in retirement on lap 16 when water in the electrics gave his March a terminal misfire.
Thus at the finish it was Brise from a steady Freidrich, Wilds who was driving with one eye on the following week’s John Player round, Neil Ginn took a good fourth ahead of Russell Wood. Alan Jones finished seventh on the road before the addition of his jump start penalty, he had driven most of the race with a flat front tyre!

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Snetterton, 13 May 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: Pau, 6 May 1973

pau_6_5_73

Race Report: Pau, 6 May 1973

pau_6_5_73

This was a round of the French F3 championship and consisted of national drivers with a few UK based interlopers, it supported the European F2 Championship round. Jacques Lafitte dominated the proceedings in his Martini winning from pole position by some 42 seconds. Larry Perkins had his GRD running in the top six but retired before the finish.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Pau, 6 May 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, 6 May 1973

mallory-park_6_5_73

Race Report: Mallory Park, 6 May 1973

mallory-park_6_5_73

It was Tony Brise that came out on top after practice for the latest round of the Forward Trust Championship, still running his hybrid GRD he shared the front row with Mike Wilds and Alan Jones. The Australian had a difficult practice, having taken over Jeremy Gambs entry and his bodywork Jones lost the GRD under braking for the Esses, a dented tub and new suspension needed were the outcome.

It was slightly damp for the race but everybody started on slicks and Mike Wilds led into Gerards ahead of Tony Brise, Damien Magee and Ian Taylor. As the leaders entered the hairpin for the first time Magee made contact with Brise spinning the GRD and delaying himself. To further confuse things as the rest of the runners exited the corner Mo Harness tipped the luckless Brian Henton off the track and into the barrier.

All of these dramas gave Wilds a big lead at the end of the first lap with Magee in second from Taylor, Harness, Jones and Russell Wood who was recovering from a poor practice that had left him on the sixth row. Ian Taylor quickly overhauled the Brabham of Magee and he immediately set out to reduce the gap to Wilds’ Ensign. Lap 7 saw Taylor through to the lead and although Wilds never gave up the chase the Baty March of Taylor took the win by 0.8 seconds. The seventh lap also saw Wood forced to retire his March with a broken damper, the Chequered Flag car had been fifth right behind Harness at the time, this moved the battling Leonel Friedrich and Masami Kuwashima up a place. The Japanese driver was having his first outing in his new March 733 and was still getting used to it, Freidrich who had started well back after practice gradually pulled away from Kuwashima to take fifth at the finish.
Sadly however much of the race was ruined by the antics of Tony Brise, he was fourteenth after his first lap incident with Magee with his nose cone flapping in the breeze. He dropped a couple of more place on the second lap and then started to move up again until he met John Sheldon’s Royale at the Esses. Brise made a poorly judged effort to pass Sheldon causing both cars to spin, Brise briefly pitted and then rejoined. He then cruised around looking for Magee he appeared to deliberately baulk the Brabham at least twice causing Magee to loose places to his pursuers on both occasions. There were harsh words between the drivers after the race and the stewards fined Brise £20 which was generally viewed as very lenient in view of how potentially dangerous his antics could have been. Magee also received a £10 fine for his first lap manoeuvre, the Irishman was less than pleased as he and most other observers felt it was a racing incident.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Mallory Park, 6 May 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: Sembach, 6 May 1973

sembach_6_5_73

Race Report: Sembach, 6 May 1973

sembach_6_5_73

Run over ten laps of the 5.61km Sembach airfield circuit the runners consisted of German nationals with victory going to the experienced Willi Deutsch.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Sembach, 6 May 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: Imola, 1 May 1973

imola_1_5_73

Race Report: Imola, 1 May 1973

imola_1_5_73

This was a round of the Italian national championship and was supporting the Interserie round.

Details are few, there were two heats on the Saturday with the final on Sunday, Victory in both his heat and the final went to Carlo Giorgio in his new March-Novamotor 733 which he bought to replace his Ensign. Pessenti-Rossi lead briefly but dropped back to finish second, Francisci did well to finish fifth after starting on row nine.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Imola, 1 May 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, 23 April 1973

mallory-park_23_4_73

Race Report: Mallory Park, 23 April 1973

mallory-park_23_4_73

34 cars arrived for the latest round of the John Player Championship and for some odd reason the first 20 cars were put into Heat 1 and the remaining 14 into Heat 2 instead of splitting them equally. Heat 2 was however reduced to 13 when the unlucky Neil Ginn shunted his GRD, unlucky because he had been toiling hard to build up the car around a borrowed tub and he crashed when trying the car out in a F Ford session.

Tony Brise took pole position in the damp conditions for Heat 1 using the rear end of his last year’s 372 chassis grafted onto his 373 tub to overcome the accident damage sustained at Oulton Park. The March 733s of Ian Taylor and Russell Wood completed the front row ahead of the Ensign of Mo Harness and the year old March of Roger Keele.

It was raining harder for Heat 2 and Alan Jones was out in the best of the conditions and took pole by nearly two seconds from Damien Magee’s Brabham, Magee took practice carefully with his Novamotor engine suffering from a blown head gasket. Equalling the Irishman’s time was Uruguayan Pedro Passadore in his 1972 GRD whilst Mike Wilds headed the second row from American Tom Hilliar whose time raised some eyebrows amongst the other runners.

Brise leapt into the lead from the start of Heat 1 but entering the hairpin on the first lap Ian Taylor outbraked the GRD and the March took the lead it would hold to the finish, Taylor beating Brise over the 10 laps by 1.4 seconds. Harness held third for the entire race although he came under heavy pressure in the closing stages from Wood who had moved up from sixth on lap 1 demoting Dahlqvist and Freidrich along the way. Dahlqvist took a lonely fifth with Freidrich in sixth, the Brazilian had his hands full keeping Carlsson and Keele at bay. Of the other runners Kuwashima and Tyrrell both spun at Gerards, the Japanese driver had to pit for a clean visor and Tyrrell took a long time to get going again, neither would make the final.

Heat 2 was a fairly processional affair, Alan Jones lead from start to finish to win by over 10 seconds from Damien Magee who took it easy as his engine still wasn’t right despite a post-practice rebuild. Passadore finished third ahead of Wilds who had overtaken Perkins early in the race, Perkins lost another place to Maskell’s Dastle on the last lap.

The final consisted of the first 12 from Heat 1 and the first 8 from Heat 2 and as the cars came onto the grid it was still very wet although not raining so all the finalists started on wets. Alan Jones was on pole due to his faster heat time and he led away at the fall of the flag, he was followed by Ian Taylor and Damien Magee with Tony Brise in fourth, next up came Harness, Passadore, Dahlqvist, Carlsson, Wood, Freidrich, Maskell, Wilds, Perkins, Henton, Bülow, Keele, Nordström, Robarts, Svensson and Sheldon. Lap 2 saw Taylor loose his March at Gerards, fortunately the other runners managed to avoid the errant car and Taylor resumed in sixth place. Taylor’s mishap allowed Jones to make a break from Brise who was now up to second ahead of Magee in third, Brise set off after the leader and by lap 15 the two cars were nose to tail. Brise forced his GRD into the lead on lap 16 and immediately began to open out a lead of a couple of seconds over the Australian.
As the track began to dry out Jones found the handling of his GRD improving whilst leader Brise found that his GRD was suffering from understeer especially at Gerards, Jones slowly whittled down Brise’s lead and on lap 26 Jones was back in front again. It was now Jones turn to pull out a lead and despite his best efforts Brise could do nothing about it and Jones took the chequered flag some three seconds ahead of Brise.
Meanwhile behind the leaders it was Russell Wood who was making the best progress, 10th on lap 2 by lap 29 he was up to fourth and sitting on the tail of Taylor who had recovered to third after his earlier indiscretion. Like Brise Taylor was suffering from understeer and one lap later Wood moved up to third spot, Taylor now found himself under pressure from Harness but the Ensign driver spun at the hairpin. Harness continued in fifth but under attack from Magee and Freidrich he spun again damaging the nose of the Ensign, he finished a disappointed tenth.
Magee now moved up to challenge Taylor but although he set fastest lap the Irishman was unable to find a way past. Freidrich took sixth despite a last lap spin at the Esses. Passadore had been sixth ahead of Carlsson but the Swede had to retire with valve damage and Passadore hit the sleepers at the Esses on lap 31 possibly due to a puncture. Other retirements were Dahlqvist who lost a wheel from his Merlyn on the Stebbe Straight and Keele who hit the bank at Gerards after making contact with Bülow who was able to continue.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Mallory Park, 23 April 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: Nogaro, 22 April 1973

nogaro_22_4_73

Race Report: Nogaro, 22 April 1973

nogaro_22_4_73

Details are very sparse about this French F3 race, it was held in two parts and the Martini’s of Christian Ethuin and Jacques Lafitte finished ahead of the Alpine-Renault of Michel Leclere.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Nogaro, 22 April 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: Oulton Park, 20 April 1973

oulton-park_20_4_73

Race Report: Oulton Park, 20 April 1973

oulton-park_20_4_73

Round two of the John Player Championship suffered from several non-starters but there were still enough to mean that two heats were required to decide who would take part in the final.

Tony Brise and Russell Wood both set the same time to head the grid for the first heat, their time of 1:36.2 equalling the lap record held jointly by Jody Scheckter and Jacques Coulon. The GRD of Japan’s Masami Kuwashima completed the front row ahead of Hakan Dahlqvist in the Merlyn and the Ensign of Mo Harness.
The GRD of Alan Jones set the quickest time in Heat 2 ahead of Ian Taylor and fellow Australian Larry Perkins. Brian Henton headed row two despite an off at Cascades that removed a corner from his GRD, alongside him was Sweden’s Gunnar Nordström. Less fortunate runners were Mike Wilds whose engine broke a jackshaft in the first session, a replacement Holbay not arriving until qualifying was over, Mike Tyrrell with a slipping clutch and Danny Sullivan who also suffered an engine failure after only a few laps of practice.

Tony Brise lead Heat 1 from start to finish with Russell Wood trying everything to catch the flying GRD but missing out by 0.2 seconds at the flag. Damien Magee made a great start and clung onto the back of Woods on the opening laps until a moment at Cascades on lap 4 saw the Irishman lose the tow from the March and his engine lacked enough grunt to allow him to close up again. Masami Kuwashima nearly caught the Brabham of Magee on the last lap, the two cars crossed the finish line side by side with Magee getting the verdict. Of the retirements Per-Olof Zetterström hit the sleepers at Lodge on lap 1 with his BT41 as did the similar car of Johnny Gerber a few laps later when his throttle stuck open, John Sheldon retired his Royale with bent valves in his Vegantune.

Alan Jones dominated Heat 2 in the same fashion as Brise in the first although his cause was helped by Brian Henton and Ian Taylor colliding at the entry to Old Hall, Henton continued while Taylor pitted and then continued a couple of laps down in order to qualify for the final. Larry Perkins held second spot behind Jones although he came under pressure from a recovering Henton in the closing laps, a half spin by Henton at Esso saw Perkins safely home. Retirements were Ken Sedgley with an off at Cascades on lap 4, Svensson with a blown head gasket and poor Mike Wilds who retired on the warm up lap with a big end failure.

It was raining for the final although there was still some doubt about whether wets were necessary, in the end all the field opted for grooved tyres except for Pedro Passadore who retired after one very fraught lap. Barrie Maskell non started when his engine failed in the paddock whilst Nick von Preussen and Tom Hilliar did not come to the grid for reasons unknown. Neil Ginn only managed the warm up lap when his GRD left the track at Old Hall and hit the sleepers.
Brise made the best start in the slippery conditions and led from Wood, Magee and Jones who promptly lost a place to Perkins when he touched the Armco at Deer Leap but regained it immediately when Perkins left the track at the next corner. First lap retirements included Jeremy Gambs and Ingvar Carlsson, both out at Esso and Mike Tyrrell with drowned electrics, Jose Santo was also out within a few laps.
Meanwhile back at the front Brise had opened a bit of a gap to Wood although the March was closing up again and the pair of them had moved well away from third place man Alan Jones. Brise began to find his visor misting up and when he lifted it a little to let some air in the slipstream ripped it off and Brise now had no protection from the spray. As the leaders came up to lap Friedrich and Musetti (the latter for the second time) along Top Straight Brise missed the Royale with his limited vision as he concentrated on the March and in a second Brise hit Musetti. The leader was out on the spot with suspension damage and Musetti had to stop to replace a punctured tyre. This left Wood with a comfortable half lap lead over Jones although since he hadn’t seen Brise’s accident Wood he was a little surprised to receive the chequered flag as the winner. Second man Jones also lost his visor during the race and had a battle in the closing laps with a fast closing Masami Kuwashima. Magee took fourth from Friedrich despite having dropped behind the Brazilian for a while, Ian Taylor took sixth from his back of the grid start despite a couple of spins. Mo Harness had been running well in fifth but his Ensign aquaplaned off at Old Hall and hit the Armco.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Oulton Park, 20 April 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, 8 April 1973

silverstone_8_4_73

Race Report: Silverstone, 8 April 1973

silverstone_8_4_73

Qualifying for Heat 1 saw Mike Wilds’ Ensign take pole position 0.4 seconds under Alan Jones lap record, unfortunately Mike’s demon Holbay failed and meant a less powerful unit would have to be installed for the race. Ian Taylor used his F Ford experience of the track to line up second although he would also require an engine change, Alan Jones in his GRD completed the front row.
French visitor Christian Ethuin Motul Martini was fastest of the Heat 2 runners with a time a full second slower than Wilds pole time from the first heat. Russell Wood placed his March next to Ethuin with another of the French runners, Alain Serpaggi third in the works Alpine-Renault. Tony Brise found himself back on the third row when his practice was hampered by a loss of compression in one cylinder of his Holbay, Brise was using his 1972 GRD in preference to the later model as he preferred the handling. Also having engine bothers were Mike Tyrrell whose Vegantune seemed down on power and Damien Magee who had his Novamotor fail during qualifying so a Holbay was installed for the race.

Mike Wilds made the best start in Heat 1 but Ian Taylor took the lead at Copse with Michele Leclere moving up to third ahead of Alan Jones. Jacques Lafitte was making good progress and soon moved his Martini up to third ahead of Masami Kuwashima’s GRD, Jones dropped back to fifth and Leclere to sixth with Larry Perkins next in seventh. There were problems at Abbey when Gunnar Nordström, Brian Henton and Johnny Gerber all went for the same piece of track at once, Henton spun and retired whilst Alain Cudini’s Alpine spun to avoid Henton and was struck by the March of Max Bonnin who seemed not to see the yellow flags. The GRD of Nordström and the Brabham of Gerber escaped the mess and were able to continue.
Lafitte took second at Becketts on the second lap with Taylor still just in the lead, next up it was Jones, Kuwashima, Perkins and Leclere. Wilds made his move on lap 3 taking the lead on the exit from Stowe only to find Lafitte passing him at Club, Wilds having no further chance to reply as his engine ran its bearings at Abbey. Alan Jones now moved up to second but Kuwashima was flying and took the lead on lap 5 whilst Jones found himself on the way to the pits with a stuck throttle spring, the Australian loosing a lap whilst it was fixed.
Kuwashima still lead from Perkins with Lafitte third despite a grassy moment at Copse on the sixth lap and Taylor in fourth. On the penultimate lap Perkins passed Kuwashima at Woodcote and on the last lap he pulled away through Club and Woodcote to take the win by 0.6 seconds from Lafitte who took second from Kuwashima by overtaking the Japanese on the grass at Woodcote! Taylor took fourth right behind Kuwashima the March slowed by poor handling from a slow puncture, Leclere’s Alpine was fifth hampered by fuel starvation. Nordström took sixth despite his earlier problems at Abbey, the Swede just holding off an impressive Danny Sullivan having his first F3 race in the Ehrlich.

It was all Russell Wood in Heat 2, his March took the lead at Copse on the first lap and then proceeded to draw away from the rest of the field to win by an easy eight seconds despite a sideways moment at Stowe on the second lap. Alain Serpaggi held second for the first three laps until Christian Ethuin demoted him at Woodcote, Tony Brise was fourth for two laps before his engine blew elevating Mo Harness up a place. All of these leading runners were well spaced out and all eyes were on the battle for fifth spot. Hakan Dahlqvist had his Merlyn just in front of Jean-Pierre Paoli’s Martini, Richard Robart’s GRD and Lionel Friedrich’s March. Brazilian saloon car champion Friedrich was going very well in his first F3 race, in fact his first experience of F3 was in practice for the meeting as his car wasn’t completed until then. Paoli tried to get ahead of Dahlqvist at Stowe on lap 8 but the Frenchman lost control of his Martini spinning out and retiring. Dahlqvist managed to hold his fifth place to the flag just ahead of Friedrich and Robarts although the Swede managed to miss seeing the chequered flag and hit another car on what should have been his slowing down lap, fortunately damage to both cars was slight.

For Sunday’s final the runners from the faster Heat 2 were to the fore of the grid and the leading positions were:

    
Pole
Serpaggi
 
Ethuin
 
Wood
 
Dahlqvist
 
Harness
 
Lafitte
 
Friedrich
 
Perkins
 
Taylor
 
Kuwashima

Quick runners at the back who had heat problems but who had qualified through fast race laps included Mike Wilds, Alan Jones and Jean-Pierre Paoli.

As the flag fell Danny Sullivan was an immediate retirement with his Ehrlich gearless and Leclere made a huge jump start from the sixth row, he was up with the second row by the time the race officially got underway. Serpaggi lead into Copse from Ethuin, Wood, Taylor, Harness, Lafitte and Dahlqvist whilst Wilds and Paoli in trying to make up for their lowly grid positions both hit the bank at Becketts after making contact with each other. Wood took advantage of the slipstream of the two leaders to push his March into the lead by Stowe and at the end of the first lap it was Wood from a smoking Ethuin, Taylor, Harness, Serpaggi, Dahlqvist, Lafitte, Kuwashima, Friedrich, Perkins and Magee.
Wood increased his lead on lap 2 as Taylor took second at Stowe from Harness and Ethuin who was shortly to pit with his engine blown. Lafitte moved into fourth on Ethuin’s retirement and behind the Martini a huge battle was developing for fifth between Kuwashima, Serpaggi, Dahlqvist, Friedrich and Max, Perkins had been with the group until he spun at Abbey on lap 4 and out on the same lap was Magee with a jammed relief valve. By half distance the front four cars were all well spaced out and Kuwashima and Max had pulled away from Friedrich who had also moved clear of Dahlqvist and Serpaggi. Friedrich was the next to retire when on lap 12 he had to pit when his rear wing came loose.
Alan Jones had been driving well from his back of the grid start and by half distance he had moved his GRD up to a solid ninth place and behind him there was a scrap between Conny Andersson’s Brabham, Bernard Beguin’s Martini and Richard Robarts’ GRD but all three were soon out. First Beguin spun at Stowe and then retired with a broken fuel pump, Andersson was out with a puncture and Robarts engine cried enough. As Robarts toured in from Abbey he was narrowly missed by the Royale of Val Musetti and in going off line Musetti had a huge accident from which he was lucky to escape injury.
Wood’s lead came under threat following a sideways moment at Stowe on lap 11 and by lap 14 Taylor was right behind Wood and began to put him under heavy pressure. Taylor set a new lap record in his chase and on lap 16 he took the lead into Stowe but Wood retaliated around the outside of Taylor as the cars went under the Express bridge and as the two cars entered Woodcote side by side Wood dived across on the inside to regain the lead. Wood stayed in front for lap 17 but on lap 18 Wood had a grassy moment at Stowe which allowed Taylor back in front, Wood however stayed right behind Taylor and was notably quicker from Club to Abbey. Lap 19 and Wood continued to sit on Taylor’s gearbox and then on the final lap as Taylor left his braking as late as possible into Becketts his wheels locked and the white March ran wide. Instantly Wood was back in front and although Taylor lost little ground Wood’s extra speed through Club allowed him to stay ahead and take the win. Harness and Lafitte finished in third and fourth unable to catch each other or the two leaders. Kuwashima took fifth just beating Dahlqvist to the line, the Swede passing Jean Max on the final lap, Serpaggi was close behind in eighth with Alan Jones a couple of seconds back in ninth.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Silverstone, 8 April 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: Nurburgring, 1 April 1973

nurburgring_1_4_73

Race Report: Nurburgring, 1 April 1973

nurburgring_1_4_73

A huge crowd of some 90,000 came to the Nurburgring for this meeting which featured Interserie and European Sports Car rounds as well as this F3 race. Practice was dominated by the French Alpines and Martinis with Tony Brise the best UK runner in fifth.

The French cars also dominated the race with victory going to the works Alpine of Alain Serpaggi ahead of the works Martini of Jean-Pierre Paoli that had lead briefly on lap 5. Leclere had been running with Serpaggi until a quick stop near the end, his car was later disqualified for being underweight. Brise had to stop to change a broken airfoil on lap 1 and was then hampered by a failing head gasket during the rest of the race.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Nurburgring, 1 April 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