A – F3History

14 May, 202120 May, 2022

Avidesa

One of the few Spanish contributions to F3 racing, the Avidesa team employed the Selex company (q.v.) to produce a car for them in 1983 for their Spanish drivers Adrian Campos and Jose-Luis Lobelli. Selex had been producing neat, tidy F3 cars on and off since 1969 without any great success, this would be the Barcelona company’s last F3 car.

1983

The Avidesa 383 was a development of the 1982 Selex and was entirely conventional. Powered by an Alfa-Romeo engine there were several top ten finishes with a best of seventh at Jarama for Campos. Many felt the Avidesa had great potential but the team were hampered by the inexperience of Campos in setting up a car, the Spaniard had only done 5 races at the start of the season! Lobelli was more experienced but seemed to get second best in the equipment stakes and a broken ankle sustained in a fall from a transporter curtailed his season. For 1984 Avidesa bowed to the inevitable and bought a Ralt RT3 for Campos.

Driver

1983 Adrian Campos, Jose-Luis Lobelli.

14 May, 202120 May, 2022

Avia

A Czechoslovakian F3 car is an unlikely thought and a Czechoslovakian F3 car built by a bus manufacturer even more so, but in 1970 and 1972 it nearly happened when Avia tried constructing a chassis for the formula. The company, based in Prague, manufacture buses and heavy goods vehicles including Renault trucks built under licence and a racing project under the control of company engineer Václav Lim was initiated. It would seem that the problem of obtaining the specialist components required for such a venture precluded any hope of success. Lim continued to build cars for Formula Easter (1.3-litre production-based engines) driving himself winning numerous races and as well as three national championships

14 May, 20214 May, 2022

Autotecnica

Entered and driven by Romano Orsola, the Ford-powered Autotecnica failed to arrive at Vallelunga in October 1967. There are no records of any other appearances.

Driver

1967 Romano Orsola

14 May, 202120 May, 2022

Ausper

Ausper was formed by Australian Tom Hawkes who built the Tomahawk F Junior at the end of 1960. In the winter of that year Hawkes formed Competition Cars of Australia constructing the Ausper T2. For 1961 the T3 was built, it consisted of a multi-tubular spaceframe with unequal length wishbones at the front and lower wishbones and twin radius rods at the rear, the driveshaft acted as a top link. Brakes were Alfin drums: 10 in front, 9 in rear whilst the gearbox was an Ausper modified Renault. In 1964 Anthony “Bubbles” Horsley (of Hesketh F1 fame) entered and raced a T3 in a number of German and Italian F3 rounds without any great success. It seems that the German encouraged F Junior cars to make up the grids and it is quite likely that the T3 stayed in F Junior trim and wasn’t modified to F3 spec. In 1966 Patrick Allfrey took part in some early season races but finished well off the leaders, by now the car would have been to F3 specifications

Driver

1964 Tony Horsley.

1966 Patrick Allfrey.

14 May, 202110 July, 2021

Aumont

This French car took part in a number of races in France and East Germany between 1964 and 1966, powered by a Panhard engine in ’64 and ’65 and a Ford for ’66. One car was driven by Gabriel Aumont (possibly the designer?) and entered by Automobiles Gabriel Aumont, results were poor with a best of a couple of 12th places. Judging by the picture above it was a very small and neat car with inboard front suspension utilising upper rocker arms and a lower

Drivers

1964 Gabriel Aumont, Luis Fernandes, José Lampreia, Rene Villet.

1965 Gabriel Aumont.

1966 Gabriel Aumont.

14 May, 202110 July, 2021

AU Bode

Almost nothing is known about this car, it raced in Germany between 1964 to 1966, it was entered and raced by Karl Starke. Designed by Erich Bode, it was powered by a DKW engine and it had a few top ten finishes in the East German races. It was originally designed for F Junior and it is not clear whether it was still racing as a F Junior or whether it had been converted to f3 spec. Since it had a box-section chassis and leaf spring front suspension it wasn’t very competitive, it was also known as the Bode 3 in F Junior guise.

Drivers-

1964 Karl Starke.

1965 Karl Starke.

1966 Karl Starke, Klaus Tenbensel.

14 May, 202110 July, 2021

Arno

The first Arno appeared at an end of season Italian Championship round, it apparently didn’t handle too well and was difficult to set up. For 1984 Arno built three cars, the A02-384, featuring a honeycomb monocoque with double wishbone suspension, inboard springs and dampers operated by pushrods. This car must have been an improvement as Mancini came tenth in the Italian Championship in his Alfa powered car with a best finish of third.
A new car was built for 1985, the A03-385, but results were disappointing and Arno disappeared during the 1986 season.

Drivers

1983 Fabio Mancini.

1984 Fabio Mancini.

14 May, 202110 July, 2021

Argo

Three manufacturers of the Classic F3 era, Argo, GRD and Modus, had two important things in common; firstly they were all based in Norfolk and secondly they all has Swiss Jo Marquart as their designer. Arguably they had a third thing in common, they were nearly very successful but for one reason or another they never quite fulfilled their potential.
After Modus had failed Marquart began work on the first Argo in a domestic garage and he was joined by John Peterson an American cofounder of the British Novamotor agency and former mechanic Nick Jordan. The first JM1 chassis was completed in February 1977 and showed a lot of promise. Until the advent of the full ground effects F3 car Argos, especially the JM6, would still be a competitive proposition. However by 1981 when the Ralt RT3 was dominating racing Argo’s two attempts to emulate the Ralt, the JM8 and the JM10, would prove to be disasters and Argo moved away from F3 until a return in 1990.

1977

Unsurprisingly the JM1 was very similar to the last of the F3 Modus line although the bodywork was reduced giving a lower, smoother shape. Front suspension was by double wishbones with outboard coil springs and dampers, top link/bottom wishbone set up was fitted at the rear. Most noticeable feature was the full width nose with a deep cockpit surround reminiscent of the Ralt RT1. Stefan Johansson gave the marque its first victory at Anderstorp in August and David Kennedy would have a brace of 2nds in the European Championship.

1978

Up until a week before the beginning of the season there was no deal for the works team so when David Kennedy came up with some money the previous years JM1 was wheeled out with no modifications or testing. Not surprisingly results were poor and Kennedy withdrew part way through the year. Stefan Johansson continued with his previous years example and managed some good results.

1979

A new car was needed for 1979 and the JM3 was the answer, it consisted of a slim monocoque with wide sidepods and one-piece bodywork. Racing Team Holland ran a pair without success so Roberto Guerrero became the focus of development. Towards the end of the season a revised car with stiffer suspension, monocoque and harder dampers was tried with some signs of improvement.

1980

The JM6 was a successful development of the previous year’s JM3. For this year cars were only raced in the UK and by the summer they were very much the car to beat. By year end Guerrero had won five races and finished second in the Championship whilst Tassin had two victories and finished fourth in the series. Front suspension was by wishbones with outboard coil springs and dampers. Rear suspension was by a top link with a lower wishbone with a toe-in link, a single radius rod was fitted. Rear brakes were inboard whilst coil springs and dampers were outboard.

1981

The JM8 was displayed to a waiting world in December 1980, it was intended to incorporate the best of the JM6 in a ground effect package. It had a narrower monocoque with larger sidepods housing the radiators and the suspension was inboard all round. It was claimed this would improve straight line speed whilst retaining “proven cornering abilities”.
The aluminium tub was fitted with a tubular frame at the rear to take the engine/gearbox package. A cast magnesium oil tank that doubled as an adaptor plate was situated between the engine and gearbox. Suspension was inboard front and rear with top rocker arms and lower links and wishbones, uprights were buried in the wheels to reduce drag. Outboard Lockheed brakes were fitted all round.
Sadly the car was a total disaster, early testing was promising but once it hit the race tracks it was nowhere. Tierry Tassin quickly abandoned it for a Ralt RT3 and works driver Jon Beekhuis reverted to a JM6. Just about everybody who bought one dumped it. A revamped version was bought out at the end of the season but there was no improvement.

1982

The JM10 was a completely new design consisting of an aluminium tub that extended to the rear to allow for semi-stressed engine location rather than the more usual subframe. Suspension was inboard with wide sidepods to maximize ground-effect. The entire programme was late and a testing accident at Silverstone delayed it even more, after a single race it was withdrawn for further development and not seen again. Several cars appeared in Germany without any signs of running at the front of the field.

1990

Drivers-

1977 JM1
Christian Debais, Ulf Granberg, Ruedi Gygax, Bruno Huber, Stefan Johansson, David Kennedy, Jorge Koechlin, Danny Sullivan.

1978
JM1
Janito Campos, Armin Conrad, Bruno Eichmann, Norbert Hütter, Stefan Johansson, David Kennedy, Dieter Kern, Fredy Schnarwiler, Leon Walger, Bernd Wicks.

1979
JM1
Armin Conrad, Jörg Reto, Jean-Yves Simeni.

JM3
Bruno Eichmann, Roberto Guerrero, Bruno Huber, Rob Leeuwenberg, Arie Luyendijk.

1980
JM3
Bruno Huber.

JM6
Bruno Eichman, Roberto Guerrero, David Sears, Thierry Tassin.

?
Edy Kobelt.

1981
JM3
Bruno Huber, Marcus Simeon.

JM6
Jan Ridell.

JM8
Jon Beekhuis, Enrique Benamo, John Booth, Paul Hutson, Victor Rosso, David Sturdy, Tierry Tassin.

?
Josef Binder, Beat Blatter, Armin Conrad.

1982
JM10
Arie Luyendijk, Jan Thoelke, Marcel Wettstein.

JM6
Bruno Huber, Uwe Teuscher, Jan Thoelke.

1983
JM10
Justin Sünkel, Marcel Wettstein.

JM8
Bruno Huber.

JM3
Franz Meier.

?
Josef Binder, Georges A. Hedinger.

1984
JM10
Rainer Fischer, Justin Sünkel, Marcel Wettstein.

JM8
Bruno Huber.

JM3
Franz Meier.

1985
JM10
Justin Sünkel.

JM8
Norbert Gapp.

JM1
Bruno Huber.

1986

JM10
Justin Sünkel.

1990 JM18
Eric Cheli.

14 May, 202110 July, 2021

Arcus

Almost nothing is known about this Czech-built car, it appeared at a race at Dresden in June 1970 entered and driven by Franticek Janotka, himself a Czech, no engine was specified. Thanks to Stefan Örnerdal for additional information

Driver

1970 Franticek Janotka.

14 May, 202110 July, 2021

ARC

Built by French Sports Car constructor, the ARC MF4-Toyota seemingly appeared for one race (Nogaro) at the end of 1982 and was never seen again.

Driver

1982 Joel de Miguel.

Avidesa

1983

Driver

Avia

Autotecnica

Driver

Ausper

Driver

Aumont

Drivers

AU Bode

Drivers-

Arno

Drivers

Argo

1977

1978

1979

1980

1981

1982

1990

Drivers-

Arcus

Driver

ARC

Driver

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