M – F3History

16 May, 202125 May, 2022

Martini

Tico Martini’s first racing machine was a kart-like 650cc Triumph motorcycle powered hill climb machine that he built in 1962. Within a year this naturalized Frenchman of Italian parents was looking after the technical side of the Winfield Racing Drivers School at Magny Cours and he began building his first cars at a garage at the track. All the Martini chassis have since had either the MW, (for Martini-Winfield) or MK (for Martini-Knight, the Knight brothers owned the Winfield school) designations. The first Martini F3 was a car designed for the school team and this was followed by a succession of F3, Formule France and Formule Renault machines depending on what the French market demanded at the time and by the end of the 70s Alain Prost in the ORECA run Martini MK27 Renault was the dominant force in F3. Over the next few years Martini continued to build F3 cars as well as being very successful in F2, there was even a disastrous try at F1 with Rene Arnoux in 1978. Martini have continued to produce F3 cars through the 90s and beyond although success against the Dallara monopoly has been rare.

1968

The first F3 Martini car was the MW1 built for the Winfield school, their first F3 proper was the MW3 and was raced by Etienne Vigoreux who was a graduate of the Winfield school. The Ford powered car was a spaceframe with conventional suspension, results were adequate with a fifth at Dijon and sixths at Rheims and Magny Cours.

1969

A new car was introduced in 1969 it was a development of the Formule France chassis. The MK4 retained a spaceframe and it was reminiscent of a current Brabham. Results were again OK with two thirds at Magny Cours which wasn’t too surprising as that was were all the testing was done.

1970

James Hunt testing the MK5. The MK5 was a development of the MW3, still retaining its spaceframe chassis and wishbone based suspension. For the first time the small bulges for the fuel tanks were fitted to the sides of the car, something that would be a Martini characteristic for several years. Obviously Martini had got everything right as its drivers were fulsome in their praise for the cars handling. Jean-Pierre Jaussaud scored the teams first win at Nogaro also taking a second at Cadwell Park whilst Jean-Luc Salomon also took seconds at Paul Ricard and Montlhéry.

1971

The MK7 was perhaps the first Martini F3 that successfully penetrated the customer market and 11 of these neat little cars were built, all for use by French drivers. The design followed the standard Martini line, a space frame chassis with wishbone suspension. Bodywork was typically low and flat with low bulging fuel tanks, the chassis was considered to be slightly overweight. As can be seen from the picture it seems as if an unusually shaped full-width nose was used on faster circuits. Front and rear wings were occasionally fitted but with these low powered machines the drag penalty of the simple wing designs of the period was often considered not worth the handicap. In France the cars were usually second best to the Alpines but Migault did win and Coulon and Dolhem had some good results. Ford Novamotors were the preferred power unit.

1972

The MK7 space frame was retained for the 1972 MK9 but there was a switch to Holbay engines, however the most noticeable change was the full-width nose cone and aerodynamic engine covers. Once again in France the Alpines were still the more successful but Coulon had some good results with some wins at the end of the season at Magny Cours, Monthlhéry and Brands Hatch in his Filipinetti run car.

1973

Once again the MK12 continued to use the rather heavy space frame originating from the MW7 but further refinements were carried out to the bodywork with smoother noses whilst often the engine cover was left off. The car proved to be very popular amongst French privateers and for the first time Martini took the French championship away from Alpine. Highlight of the year was Jacques Laffite’s victory in the Monaco F3 race in his BP sponsored car. This would be the last F3 Martini for several years as France turned to Formule Renault for a while.

1977

Martini, but not France, returned to F3 in 1977 with a conventional monocoque that still managed to retain the Martini look with its low bulging fuel tanks. Only a few races were contested but once again victory was taken at Monaco with Didier Pironi victorious in his Toyota Novamotor powered MK21.

1978

For 1978 the “B” version of the MK21 was offered although any changes were of a minor variety. The car wasn’t particularly competitive with only a handful of top 6 results. A certain amount of controversy surrounded the one Martini success, Prost’s win at the Jarama round of the European Championship, as up until then the MK21B had been little better than a midfield runner and after the victory it returned to its former position. At the time fingers were pointed at the legality of the Gordini-tuned Renault engine that Prost had exclusive use of.

1979

The MK27 was a straightforward monocoque built right down to the minimum weight limit, the car weighed in at 443kg, only three over the limit, special attention was also paid on making the car easy to work on. The engine, which in the case of the works car was a Renault, was mounted in a tubular framed bay. The Renault engine was reckoned to be more powerful than the Toyota engines and it certainly weighed less, the aluminium block of the Renault weighing 15kg less than the Toyota. Additionally Renault and their tuner Gordini spared no expense in developing the engines and by season end Prost had 5 works engines at his disposal. The best example of the Renault advantage was that Prost won 7 of the 12 European Championship series, there was also a clear difference between Prost’s car and the other customer Martini Renaults as when Streiff switched from a Renault to a Toyota he immediately became far more competitive

1980

The MK31 was a tidied up version of the MK27 and again simplicity was the name of the game, Renault had withdrawn from the scene and the cars were now mostly Toyota powered. They were particularly strong on tight and twisty tracks and they dominated the first part of the season including three one-two finishes. When March updated their 803 to the “B” version it got the upper hand over the Martini’s which also seemed unsuited to the later season tyre developments and Alboreto beat Boutsen to the European Championship but Alain Ferté took the French Championship in his MK27/31.

1981

The MK34 was a further refinement of the MK27/31 line, unfortunately the cars suffered badly from a lack of straight line speed and there was almost no real development from the factory during the season. There was something of a tyre war that year with Michelin determined to win the European Championship and the Monaco GP support. To this end they supplied the works Martinis of Ferté and Alliot plus the private car of Streiff and this helped the cars a great deal, especially Ferté who seemed to get the best out of the rubber. This gave Ferté the Monaco win plus the runner-up spot in the European standings even though he only won one race, a string of second places giving him the required points.

1982

The MK37 was a new design, it used an aluminium monocoque that Martini claimed was more rigid than that of the MK34, it was also narrower to give the maximum width of ground-effect sidepods. Front suspension was by top rockers and lower wishbones whilst at the rear it was parallel links with the dampers mounted on brackets over the gearbox to allow for a clean airflow through the rear suspension. Sadly the MK37 was not a great success, it still suffered badly from a lack of straight-line speed, it was 7mph slower than a Ralt RT3 or the Euroracing 101. This year there was however development carried out and the rear suspension was worked on all season and a new slippery body (that looked very like the Euroracing) was introduced. At least the drivers were able to throw the car about a bit and Alain Ferté was able to win again at Monaco as well as at Magny Cours and Alliot won at La Châtre, all circuits were the lack of speed wasn’t a handicap.

1983

Perhaps surprisingly, in view of the MK37’s problems, the MK39 was just a tidied up version of the previous year’s car. More work was carried out on the suspension and a new body design was employed. Martini decided to give the European Championship a miss and concentrate on the French Championship. This worked and Michel Ferté just won after beating the Ralt of François Hesnault by two points, both drivers winning five rounds each during the year.

1984

Once again it was evolution rather than revolution for the MK42 but after all this development things looked good again for Martini. Ivan Capelli took the European Championship in the Coloni-run car winning three races. Capelli also took a fourth win at Monza but was excluded when the airbox on the car was found to be illegally modified. This put rather a cloud on Capelli’s year but he did win two more races after Monza in a fully legal car. In the French Championship the MK42 dominated taking the first five places in the order Grouillard, Delavallade, Raphanel, Belmondo and Morin.

1985

The arrival of the flat-bottom regulations for 1985 saw a new model, the MK45, appear on the scene. It looked much smaller and neater than some of the more recent Martinis with its low, sloping sidepods. Once again it did very well with Raphanel and Dalmas taking 1-2 in the French Championship and Volker Weidler winning the German equivalent whilst Alex Caffi finished second in the Italian version. Yet again it was a Martini win at Monaco with Dalmas taking the victory laurels.

1986

The MK49 was in effect a stopgap whilst Martini were working on their first composite chassis. It was very much an evolution of the MK45 and once again was successful. Perhaps its most remarkable achievement was Dalmas winning the Monaco GP support race, the eighth successive win for Martini! At home Dalmas won six of the eleven rounds to win the French Championship, Michel Trollé taking third. Elsewhere it was less successful with just a sixth place in the final standings of the German Championship for Otto Rensing.

1987

There were high hopes for the MK52, Martini’s first composite chassis, it used pushrod suspension and was a typical late eighties design. Jean Alesi, runner-up in the 1986 series, was the works driver in France and in the first race of the French Championship at Albi he could only finish twelfth. For the next round Alesi borrowed his previous year’s Dallara and immediately won, the third round saw Alesi in a MK49 with MK52 suspension finishing seventh. Alesi was fed up and insisted on running a new Dallara for the rest of the year, he won six more rounds and took the championship. Martini blamed the problems on the drivers saying they were unwilling to develop the car but it was a similar story in Germany where despite some heroic efforts by Otto Rensing he could only manage two fourth places at Hockenheim and Zolder.

1988

The MK55 was Martini’s attempt to recover after the disaster of the MK52 and to some degree it was a success. The works cars of Lionel Robert and Didier Artzet ran well on occasions with the highlight a 1-2 at Paul Ricard and Artzet was leading comfortably at La Chatre until a loose wheel put him out. Sadly both men had to leave the championship half way through due to sponsorship problems. They finished seventh and eighth in the French Championship despite this, a case of what might have been. In Germany Frank Biela won at Mainz and the Hungaroring and took a second at Brno to finish third in the German Championship. Not a bad effort after the disaster of the previous year.

1989

Another new car for 1989, the MK58, it didn’t win any races but Yvan Muller and Lionel Robert had some good results in France to take fifth and sixth in the final standings although Robert did the last three races in a Dallara. Despite the previous years success in Germany the only runner of note was Michael Roppes, eighth at the end of the year.

1990

After the recent improved form of the Martini it all went wrong again in 1990 with the MK60, results were poor in both France and Germany.

1994

After leaving F3 for a few years Martini returned to the fray in 1994 with the Opel-powered MK67. The car was designed in 1993 but not built until ’84 when Promotec, the team running it, had secured the necessary finance. The car was driven by David Dussau who by the time the car appeared in the middle of May was the joint leader of the French F3 Championship in a Dallara. It finished fifth on its debut at Dijon in June, despite this promising beginning it seems the team weren’t happy with it and returned to the Dallara for the rest of the year.

1996

The Mk73 first appeared in August 1996 driven in the German F3 Championship. The idea was to have the car racing in 1996 so that it would qualify for the 1997 French championship which would only allow cars that raced before the end of 1996 to race. It showed immediate promise with a couple of top six finishes against the massed hordes of Dallaras.

1997

Martini’s ploy of introducing the MK73 early and getting some racing miles under it’s belt paid off in 1997. Although it was Dallara that took the French championship and Martini were up against the sheer numbers of the Italian cars Montagny showed the MK73 was a front runner with four wins towards the end of the year. In addition German driver Wolf Henzler took an excellent second place at the Monaco GP support race as well as finishing third in the German Championship. Henzler’s win at the Nurburgring was the first time Dallara had been beaten in Europe for over three years.

1997

The MK73 continued into 1998 and once again proved successful with Wolf Henzler and Pierre Kaffer finishing third and fourth in the German Championship. There was a similar story in France where Frank Montagny continued on his wining way taking no less than ten wins during the season in the French Championship. Montagny just missed out winning the championship by three points after a phenomenal run of wins be Dallara-mounted David Saeleans. At the end of the season at Spa there was a round of the British Championship, Montagny qualified fourth and was battling for second with Saelens when they had a coming together which indicates the Martini MK73 could run with the best in any series.

1999

The MK79 showed immediate promise in France when it won the opening two races of the French Championship at Nogaro in the hands of Sebastien Bourdais. The car then went off the boil for several races until Bourdais took another two wins at Dijon. From then on Bourdais continued to run at the front and at the end of the year he was crowned French Champion and the MK79 had got the best of the Dallaras.

2000

Drivers

The MK79 continued to be used in 2000 but the previous year’s success was not to be repeated and the best the MK79 could manage was to finish 7th in the French Championship. This was despite winning the opening round of the Championship but thereafter there was only one other top three finish and it was back to Dallara on top. A new car, the MK80 raced in early season races in the German Championship but the car struggled to qualify/race in the top twenty and after a handful of races it was not seen again.

1968 MW3
Etienne Vigoreux.

1969
MW4
Jacques Lafitte.

MW3
Jacques Lafitte.

1970
MW5
Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, Jean-Luc Salomon.

MW3
Jimmy Mieusset.

1971 MW7
Phillip Albera, Joel Auvray, Patrice Compain, Jacques Coulon, Guy Dhotel, José Dolhem, Lucien Guitteny, François Laccarrau, François Migault, Marcel Morel, Patrick Perrier, François Rabbione.

1972
MK9
Phillipe Albera, Joel Auvray, Bernard Beguin, John Bisignano, Ray Caruthers, Miguel Coarasa, Jacques Coulon, Guy Dhotel, José Dolhem, Cliff Haworth, François Laccarrau, Philippe Munier.

MW7
José Dolhem, François Rabbione.

1973
MK12
Bernard Beguin, Patryck Boutin, Bernard Chevanne, Alain Cudini, Christian Ethuin, Jacques Laffite, Jean Max, Jean-Pierre Paoli.

MK11
Bernard Beguin, Cliff Haworth.

MK9
Philippe Albera, Patric Boutin, Philippe Munier, Jean Ragnotti.

?
Georges Ansermoz

1974 MK9
Reinhard Pfändler, Marcel Wettstein.

1975 MK9
Reinhard Pfändler.

1976 MK9
Marcel Wettstein.

1977 MK21
Didier Pironi, Danny Snobeck.

1978
MK21B
Patrick Bardinon, Anders Olofsson, Alain Prost.

MK21
Patrick Bardinon, Jacques Coulon, Anders Olofsson.

1979
MK27
Richard Dallest, Jo Gartner, Mats Paninder, Alain Prost, Serge Saulnier, Philippe Streiff.

MK21
Jean-Pierre Malcher, Serge Saulnier.

1980
MK31
Daniele Albertin, Philippe Alliot, Mauro Baldi, Thierry Boutsen, Enzo Coloni, Pascal Fabre, Alain Hubert, Patrick Lancelot, Oscar Ruben Larrauri, Piero Necchi, Vinicio Salmi, Philippe Streiff, Manuel Valls.

MK27/31
Alain Ferté.

MK27
Alfredo Ruggeri.

1981
MK34
Philippe Alliot, Paolo Barilla, Eddy Bianchi, Gerhard Berger, Pascal Fabre, Alain Ferté, Ricardo Galiano, Paolo Giangrossi, Denis Morin, Jean-Michel Neyrial, Emanuele Pirro, Vinicio Salmi, Jean-Louis Schlesser, Philippe Streiff, Patrick Teillet, Didier Theys, Andy Wietzke.

MK31
Jakob Bordoli, Albert Coll, Josef Kaufmann, Michel Lateste, Jean-Michel Neyrial, Pierre Petit, Emanuele Pirro, Riccardo Galiano Ramos, Dominique Tiercellin, Alexandre Yvon, Jean-François Yvon.

MK27
Dieter Bergermann.

?
Manfred Hebben.

1982
MK37
Philippe Alliot, Gerhard Berger, Alain Ferté, Michel Ferté, Franco Forini, Patrick Gonin, François Hesnault, Philippe Huart, Guy Leon-Dufour, Pascal Pessiot, Philippe Renault, Franco Scapini, Alfredo Sebastiani, Patrick Teillet, Didier Theys, Jürg-Pascal Vogt, Walter Voulaz.

MK34
Guido Dacco, Jacques Gambier, Philippe Huart, Josef Kaufmann, Arie Luyendijk, Bernard Santal.

MK31
Jakob Bordoli, Bernard Bribes, Alain Fell, Eric Lukes, Alexandre Neefs, Camilo Parizot, Claude Tourand.

MK21B
Hervé Delaunay.

1983
MK39
Harald Becker, Frédéric Dellavallade, Pascal Fabre, Michel Ferté, Patrick Gonin, Olivier Grouillard, Josef Kaufmann.

MK37
Ferdinand de Lesseps, Pascal Pessiot, Jürg Vogt.

MK35 (Appears to be a converted Super Vee chassis)
Bruno Eichmann, Manfred Hebben, Josef Kaufmann.

MK34
Thomas Bertschinger, Rolf Engert, Cor Euser, Claude Marcq.

MK31
Otto Christmann, Erich Höhmann, Alexander Seibold.

?
Georges A. Hedinger

1984
MK42
Harald Becker, Paul Belmondo, Ivan Capelli, Frédéric Dellavallade, Ricardo Galiano, Bruno di Gioa, Olivier Grouillard, Manfred Hebben, Jean-Pierre Hoursourigaray, Josef Kaufmann, Denis Morin, Pierre-Henri Raphanel, Bernard Santal, Richard Weggelaar.

MK39
Cor Euser, Josef Kaufmann, Jürgen Kühn, Ferdinand de Lesseps.

MK37
Jacky Eeckelaert, Ruedi Schurter.

MK34
Karl-Heinz Wenig.

MK31
Otto Christmann, Erich Höhmann.

1985
MK45
Alex Caffi, Yannick Dalmas, Frédéric Dellavallade, Bruno di Gioia, Philippe de Henning, Franz Konrad, Jean-Noel Lanctuit, Nicola Larini, Gilles Lempereur, Denis Moran, Stefan Neuberger, Jari Nurminen, Markus Oestreich, Pierre-Henri Raphanel, Philippe Renault, Jo Ris, Bartl Stadler, Alfonso de Vinuesa, Volker Weidler.

MK44
Mario Bauer, Helmut Mundas, Rudi Seher, Pietro Spazolla, Alfonso Toledano.

MK42
Bernard Cognet, Franz Hunkeler.

MK39
Bernard Cognet, Karl-Heinz Wenig.

MK35 (Appears to be a converted Super Vee chassis)
Otto Christmann.

MK31
Eberhard Ernst.

1986
MK49
Eric Bachelart, Eric Bellefroid, Eric Bernard, Yannick Dalmas, Markus Oestreich, Manuel Reuter, Michel Trollé, Volker Weidler, Yuuji Yamamoto.

MK45
Gianni Bianchi, Jakob Bordoli, Andy Bovensiepen, Peter Elgaard, Pierre Hirschi, Peter Kroeber, Helmut Mundas, Stefan Neuberger, Franz-Josef Prangemeier, Otto Rensing, Ralf Rauh.

MK44
Willi Bergmeister, Sigi Betz, Helmut Bross, Eberhard Ernst, Richard Hamann, Christian Vogler.

MK37
Romeo Nüssli.

MK35 (Appears to be a converted Super Vee chassis)
Otto Christmann.

MK27
Karl-Heinz Maurer.

?
Adi Lechner, Delia Stegemann.

1987
MK52
Jean Alesi, Markus Oestreich, Otto Rensing.

MK49/52
Jean Alesi, Yuuji Yamamoto.

MK49
Roland Franzen

MK45
Jakob Bordoli, Stefan Neuberger, Bernard Thuner.

MK42
Georg Arbinger.

MK35 (Appears to be a converted Super Vee chassis)
Otto Christmann.

MK31
Karl-Heinz Kerschensteiner.

MK27
Karl-Heinz Maurer.

1988
MK55
Georg Arbinger, Didier Arztet, Frank Biela, Franz Binder, Ellen Lohr, Lionel Robert, Peter Zakowski.

MK52
Frank Biela, Jakob Bordoli.

MK49
Roland Franzen, Georg Neyer.

MK35 (Appears to be a converted Super Vee chassis)
Otto Christmann.

1989
MK58
Cathy Muller, Yvan Muller, Michael Roppes.

MK55
Lionel Robert, Peter Schär.

MK49
Pierre-André Cossy.

MK45
Romeo Nüssli.

1990
MK60
Frank Beyerlein, Franz Engstler, Meik Wagner.

MK58
Olivier Caekebeeke, Walter Kupferschmid.

MK55
Günter Muskovits.

MK52
Romeo Nüssli.

MK49
Richard Neurauter.

?
Roland Bossy.

1991
MK58
Peter Fischer.

MK52
Romeo Nüssli.

?
Walter Kupferschmid.

1992
MK60
Peter Fischer.

MK58
Hansruedi Debrunner.

MK52
Romeo Nüssli.

1993
MK60
Peter Fischer.

MK52
Romeo Nüssli.

1994
MK67
David Dussau.

MK58
Hansruedi Debrunner, Christoph Grossenbacher.

1995 MK45
Othmar Oswald.

1996
MK73
Wolf Henzler.

MK58
André Gauch.

1997
MK73
Tom Coronel, Wolf Henzler, Franck Montagny, Tom Schwister, Oriol Servia, Steffen Widmann, Jaroslaw Wierczuk.

MK58
André Gauch.

1998 MK73
Sebastien Bourdais, Jonathan Cochet, Tomas Enge, Marcel Fassler, Yasutaka Gomi, Wolf Henzler, Thomas Jäger, Pierre Kaffer, Franck Montagny, Timo Rumpfkeil, Toby Scheckter, Timo Schneider, Tom Schwister, Steffen Widmann.

1999 MK79
James Andanson, Westly Barber, Sebastien Bourdais, Marcel Costa, Patrick Frieschar, Ryo Fukuda, Hugo van der Ham, Alexander Müller, Timo Rumpfkeil, Yannick Schroeder.

2000
MK80
Thomas Mutsch.

MK79
Marcos Ambrose, James Andanson, Romain Dumas, Andreas Feichtner, Patrick Hildenbrandt, Ying-Kin Lee, Thomas Mutsch.

MK73
Philip Giebler, Adam Jones.

2001 MK79
Simon Abadie, Jerome dalla Lana.

16 May, 202130 May, 2022

Matra

SA Engins Matra ( Mécanique-Aviation-Traction) sojourn in motor sport was relatively brief but they achieved a phenomenal amount winning Le Mans, the F1 World Championship, the F2 European Championship and a large number of F3 races. The company was formed in 1941 and specialised in aeronautical and missile engineering and they first took an interest in cars when they took over the ailing René Bonnet car company in 1964. In 1965 Matra Sports was created and in spring the MS1 F3 car was shown, it was almost immediately competitive and Matra followed this in 1966 with cars for F2 and Group 6 sports car racing. By 1967 the Matras were really flying and Jacky Ickx took the F2 European Championship a feat emulated by Jean-Pierre Beltoise the following year and Johnny Servoz-Gavin the year after. In 1968 Matra produced their first F1 cars the Ford powered MS10 for Tyrrell and Jackie Stewart and their own V12 powered MS11. Stewart took three wins in the first year and in 1969 with the new MS80 he won five more races and took the World Championship. Matra continued in F1 until 1972 but their insistence that the cars must now run with Matra engines meant that success was limited despite some heroic efforts by Chris Amon. Their F2/F3 interest had finished at the end of the sixties when regulation changes made their cars obsolete. They continued to run in Sports cars winning Le Mans in 1972, 1973 and 1974, at the end of ’74 they also withdrew from this class of racing ending their motor sport involvement for a couple of years. Matra returned briefly to F1 providing an updated version of their V12 engine for Ligier between 1976-78 and again in 1981-82, Laffitte managing a couple of wins.

1965

Matra’s first F3 car was the MS1, the MS standing for Matra Sports, designed by Paul Carillo and based on the René Bonnet F2 design, it was a monocoque car featuring suspension along conventional lines with the front inboard. Its most unusual feature was the tub which had been built using aerospace techniques, so tightly and accurately were the sections joined that fuel bag tanks weren’t required as the tub was leak-proof. This technique meant that lateral bracing to the tub was possible giving it a very high degree of stiffness. The car was an immediate success winning the high-profile support race at the Rheims 12 hours in Jacky Ickx’s hands. Later in the year Ickx won again at Cognac and Jaussaud took a win at Montlhéry. Four cars were built during the year, two in short-chassis which had the MS1 designation and two in long-chassis configurations that were designated as MS2.

1966

The MS5 was the definitive version of the F3 car and was a refined version of the MS1/MS2. Matra capitalised on the success of their first year building six more cars. The cars were raced almost entirely in France and during the year they took eight wins with Johnny Servoz-Gavin the most successful driver with three wins. Six MS5s were built in total.

1967

The MS5 was modified for 1967 with suspension changes being introduced to take advantage of the latest in tyre development, the new car was known as the MS6. It certainly seemed to work as the cars had an excellent reputation for their ability to put the power down giving them a definite edge over their rivals. A further three new cars were built to add to the previous tally. The season started in fine style with Jean-Pierre Beltoise dominating the Temporada series in Argentina by winning all four races. After that the MS5 just kept winning racking up another 17 wins during the year including finishing 1-2-3-4-6 in a race at the French circuit of Dax. Although there was no “World”championship for F3 most observers reckoned that Henri Pescarolo was the star of the year.

1968

Matra withdrew from F3 in 1968 selling off their cars to any (in an oddly chauvanistic decision) Frechman that could afford one. Development had now ceased and the cars began to slip from their previous pinnacle with Jean-Pierre Jabouille being the only driver to make a mark with five wins. The MS5 continued in private hands for a couple of years until changes in regulations that required the fitting of bag tanks made them obsolete.

Drivers

1965
MS1
Jean-Pierre Beltoise, Jean-Pierre Jaussaud.

MS2
Jean-Pierre Beltoise, Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, Eric Offenstadt.

1966
MS5
Jean-Pierre Beltoise, John Fenning, Jacky Ickx, Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, Derek Kavanagh, Henri Pescarolo, Johnny Servoz-Gavin, Claude Vigreux.

1967
MS6
Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, Henri Pescarolo, Roby Weber.

MS5
Jean-Pierre Beltoise, Alain Boudier, Robert Challoy, Michel Dagorne, “Geki”, Jean-Claude Guenard, Jean-Pierre Jabouille, Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, Johnny Servoz-Gavin, Philippe Vidal.

MS1
Alain Boudier, Serge Mesnil.

1968
MS5
Hervé Bayard, Max Bonnin, Jean-Pierre Jabouille, Adam Potocki.

?
Gérard Bazin.

1969
MS5
Hervé Bayard, Max Bonnin.

16 May, 202125 May, 2022

McLaren

McLaren together with Ferrari are the two most successful teams in Grand Prix history and like Ferrari McLaren have had success in other classes of racing, notably Can-Am and Indy car racing. Bruce McLaren had bought the Xerex Special sports car from Roger Penske in America and after racing it himself he decided in 1964 to build his own sports car the McLaren M1A powered by an Oldsmobile engine. Trojan took over the production of customer cars and at the end of 1965 McLaren took the decision to leave the Cooper F1 team and start his own GP project, the rest, as they say, is history. After a sticky start finding a suitable engine when he tried a converted Ford Indy V8 and then a Serenissima V8 he bought one of the new BRM V12s and fitted to his new M5 chassis and was immediately competitive. The following year, 1968, he bought some Ford DFVs and fitted them to the M7A, Denny Hulme joined and McLaren started winning GPs. At the same time the legendary Bruce & Denny show totally dominated Can-Am racing for the next few years and their cars won USAC races in America. Tragically Bruce lost his life in a testing accident at Goodwood in 1970 but the team continued through the good years with Emerson Fittipaldi and James Hunt but by the end of the seventies the team began to fade as ground effect came in. Sponsors Marlboro pushed McLaren into joining together with Ron Dennis of Project Four and McLaren International was formed. This shotgun marriage worked better than anyone dared hope and from then on McLaren became the team to beat as Alain Prost, Niki Lauda, Ayrton Senna, Gerhard Berger, Mikka Hakkinen and David Coulthard bought the team win after win.

1968

Designed by Robin Herd the M4A consisted of a bathtub monocoque formed from aluminium panelling bonded and riveted to four mild steel bulkheads. The front suspension was a single top link with radius arms and lower wishbones, outboard coil spring/damper units and an anti-roll bar were also fitted. Twin radius arms, reversed lower wishbones and single top links with outboard coil spring and damper units were found at the rear of the car. The M4As seemed to suffer from a lack of development and although they started the season reasonably well and Mike Walker took a win at Oulton they quickly faded into also-rans. No more cars were built and this would be the only McLaren to race in F3.

Drivers

1968 Ian Ashley, Mike Walker.

16 May, 202125 May, 2022

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.

16 May, 202125 May, 2022

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

16 May, 202125 May, 2022

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.

16 May, 202125 May, 2022

Melkus

The Melkus factory was based in Dresden and its founder Heinz Melkus began building cars in the late fifties. From 1959 on Melkus began producing F Junior cars and they soon became very popular in the Eastern Bloc countries due to the difficulties of obtaining cars such as Coopers. The cars were powered by 3-cylinder 2-stroke Wartburg engines and whilst the were never really competitive with Western cars they nevertheless went very well against similar cars.

As the new F3 came into being initially several of the late model F Junior cars were converted over to the new regulations and then purpose built F3 designs were produced. Once again they were seldom in with a chance against the Western cars as their Wartburg engines only gave about 85-90bhp. Spaceframe construction was favoured in all the F3 designs, and some developments were carried out to make the cars as aerodynamic as possible to compensate for power deficiencies, bodies were very slippery and the suspension was sited inboard front and rear. Surprisingly drum brakes were used up to 1970 when the first disc-braked cars were built, presumably disc brake components were in short supply through the 1960s. One interesting aerodynamic tweak that was seemingly tried was that the air from the radiator was ducted along the body in two tunnels to vent at the tail.Heinz raced his eponymous cars with much success in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Latvia and Russia and his son Ulrich was similarly successful until his death from a racing accident in 1990. As the new F3 became more and more competitive and the Eastern European authorities became more insular Melkus switched to building Formula Easter cars. Sadly Heinz Melkus died on the 5th September 2005. Thanks to Alexey Rogachev for the new pictures and the guys at TNF for additional information.

Drivers

1964 ?
Laszlo Bognar, Manfred Bretschneider, Peter Bretschneider, Max Byczkowski, Ferenc Demel, Peter Findeisen, Wolfgang Kauf, Günther Klug, Horst Klug, Werner Markhoff, Heinz Melkus, Frieder Rädlein, Hans Roediger, Valerij Schachverdov, Dieter Schierz, Siegfried Scholz, Istvan Sulyok, Tibor Szeles, Hans-Theo Tegeler.

1965
64
Vladimir Ptushkin, Ants Seiler, Georgy Surguchev.

63
Rudolf Goldin, Vladimir Ptushkin, S Shakhbazyan.

?
Laszlo Bognar, Manfred Bretschneider, Max Byczkowski, Ferenc Demel, Peter Findeisen, Vladimir Hubacek, Günther Klug, Werner Markhoff, Heinz Melkus, Frieder Rädlein, Hans Roediger, Siegfried Scholz, Miklos de Sorgo, Istvan Sulyok, Tibor Szeles, Antoni Weiner.

1966
65
Frieder Rädlein, Heinz Melkus.

64
Yuri Andreev, Viktor Lapin, Yakov Vartpatrikov.

63
O. Kosinov.

62
Laszlo Bognar.

?
Herbert Armstroff, Manfred Bretschneider, Peter Bretschneider, Peter Findeisen, Evegeny Glukharev, Vladimir Hubacek, Günther Klug, Wolfgang Klug, Klaus-Peter Krause, Manfred Lesche, Siegfried Leutert, Hans Roediger, Miklos de Sorgo, Istvan Sulyok, Tibor Szeles.

1967 Herbert Armstroff, Manfred Bretschneider, Peter Bretschneider, Peter Findeisen, Vladimir Hubacek, Günther Klug, Wolfgang Klug, Wolfgang Krug, Klaus-Peter Krause, Manfred Lesche, Werner Markhoff, Heinz Melkus, Frieder Rädlein, Ralf Röber, Hans Roediger, Siegfried Scholz, Tibor Seles, Miklos de Sorgo, Istvan Sulyok, Tibor Szeles.

1968 Herbert Armstroff, Manfred Bretschneider, Peter Bretschneider, Peter Findeisen, Peter Jurack, Günter Klingner, Klaus-Peter Krause, Wolfgang Krug, Wolfgang Küther, Manfred Lesche, Werner Markhoff, Heinz Melkus, Ulli Melkus, Frieder Rädlein, Ralf Röber, Hans Roediger, Miklos de Sorgo, Istvan Sulyok.

1969 Manfred Bretschneider, Siegfried Bubenik, Peter Findeisen, Frank Hausmann, Roland Jurack, Günter Klingner, Günther Klug, Klaus-Peter Krause, Wolfgang Krug, Wolfgang Küther, Manfred Lesche, Werner Markhoff, Heinz Melkus, Ulli Melkus, Frieder Rädlein, Ralf Röber.

1970 Manfred Bretschneider, Siegfried Bubenik, Peter Findeisen, Frank Hausmann, Günter Klingner, Klaus-Peter Krause, Wolfgang Küther, Manfred Lesche, Dieter Lindner, Werner Markhoff, Heinz Melkus, Ulli Melkus, Dieter Raabs, Frieder Rädlein, Joachim Willmann.

1971 Siegfried Bubenik, Christian Gallus, Frank Hausmann, Günter Klingner, Kurt Klotz, Klaus-Peter Krause, Wolfgang Krug, Wolfgang Küther, Manfred Lesche, Dieter Lindner, Werner Markhoff, Heinz Melkus, Ulli Melkus, Miklos de Sorgo, Joachim Willmann.

1972 Siegfried Bubenik, Christian Gallus, Frank Hausmann, Günter Klingner, Klaus-Peter Krause, Wolfgang Küther, Dieter Lindner, Heinz Melkus, Ulli Melkus.

16 May, 202125 May, 2022

Mcnamara

McNamara were based at Lengreiss on the Rhine and was started by Francis McNamara a US serviceman who had raced F Vees whilst posted to Germany. McNamara first built a number of successful Vees and then in 1969 a spaceframe design by Dan Hawkes was modified by Austrian Jo Karasek to become the F3 McNamara Sebring Mk3, the car showed promise and in 1970 a modified version, the 3B, was introduced. However by this time McNamara had moved up the ladder and in 1970 they built an Indianapolis car for STP to be driven by Mario Andretti and they modified Andretti’s F1 STP March 701. Unfortunately the Indy car proved a failure and the modified 701 was no faster than the original design. Later McNamara had problems with the sudden death of his wife, his own disappearance and the launch of an Interpol investigation.

1969

The first F3 design had a spaceframe chassis and the suspension was heavily based on Brabham lines and several early cars used some Brabham components. Front suspension was double wishbones with outboard spring/dampers. Rear suspension was by top link and lower wishbone with twin radius rods, springs and dampers were again outboard. It was clothed in a distinctive looking wedge shaped body and although there were no wins the car was by no means disgraced. Wheelbase: 92 ins. Track: front 57 ins. rear 56 ins. Wheels: 13 ins.

1970

The MK3B was introduced for 1970 and featured revised suspension geometry. Quite a few cars were sold in Germany on the strength of the 1969 results, one win was recorded during the year, Gerold Pankol at Diepholz. Several other top six places were recorded notably by a young Niki Lauda. At the end of the year McNamara withdrew from F3.

Drivers

1969
Helmut Marko, Werner Riedl.

1970
3B
Wilfried Holder, Niki Lauda, Francis McNamara, Gerold Pankl, Werner Riedl, Peter Schäbitz, Lothar Schörg, Nikolaus Ukmar.

?
Ole Vejlund.

1971
3
Josef Resch.

3B
Horst Eiteneuer, Wilfried Holder, Klaus-Jürgen Rappensberger, Peter Schäbitz, Werner Schommers.

15 May, 202110 July, 2021

Maurer

Listed as the SK86F and Toyota powered it is not clear if this has any connection with the Maurer F2 team of the early eighties, since the German team pulled out of F2 at the end of 1983 it seems odd. The car competed in the 1986 Japanese F3 Championship taking part in two races finishing 17th and 16th.

Drivers

1986 Shinji Yoshikawa.

15 May, 202110 July, 2021

Mazilli

It seems likely that this was an Italian manufacturer in view of the name and of the apparent driver nationalities. Two cars were entered at a Kassel-Calden event in 1974 where they did not seem to be very competitive. Both cars were entered by Scuderia Italia which I assume is the same Scuderia Italia of F1 fame that ran the BMS Dallaras and BMS Lolas for drivers such as Alex Caffi, Andrea de Cesaris, JJ Lehto and Michele Alboreto, they now run Ferraris in the FIA Sportscar Championship. Presumably they usually raced in Italy as this seems to be the only German race they appeared in.

1974

The only details I have for the car are that it was called the T374 and it was Ford powered.

drivers

1974 Francesco Bergami, Giacomo Fadini.

Martini

1968

1969

1970

1971

1972

1973

1977

1978

1979

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1994

1996

1997

1997

1999

2000

Drivers

Matra

1965

1966

1967

1968

Drivers

McLaren

1968

Drivers

Modus

1974

1975

1976

Drivers

Merzario

Drivers

Merlyn

1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

1969

1971

1972

1973

1975

Drivers

Melkus

Drivers

Mcnamara

1969

1970

Drivers

Maurer

Drivers

Mazilli

1974

drivers

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