Race Report: Silverstone, 28 August 1972

silver-stone_28_8_72

Race Report: Silverstone, 28 August 1972

silver-stone_28_8_72

It was two heats and a final again for the latest round of the Lombank North Central Championship the third F3 race in three days, despite this there was an excellent entry with all the top runners present.

Japan’s Masami Kuwashima in his GRD made the best start of the first heat runners and passed the front row occupants to grab the lead, he was pursued by Mike Walker, Tony Brise, Mike Wilds, Andy Sutcliffe and Tom Pryce. Kuwashima led for the next four laps but Mike Walker was determined to get the lead and on lap 6 he slotted his Ensign past the GRD, Kuwashima tried to regain the lead but a slight mistake at Beckett’s allowed Walker to win by 1.2 seconds. Kuwashima took second by a similar distance from Mike Wilds and Tony Brise with Andy Sutcliffe and Tom Pryce next up.

Heat two was all Roger Williamson, he took the lead from pole position, led every lap and won by four seconds. Second place wasn’t so straightforward, Stan Matthews was next up in his new Ensign F372 ahead of Bob Evans (March), Damien Magee (Brabham), Russell Wood (March) and Neil Ginn (GRD). Places were changing all the time with Matthews weaving all over the track in an attempt to break the tow, his efforts were in vain but he still held on to claim second at the flag. Evans came third followed by Wood, Magee and Ginn all within a few tenths of each other.

The fastest 25 from both heats made the final which put Williamson, Matthews and Evans on the front row with Walker and Wood on the second.
Yet again it was Williamson who got away best whilst Walker got his start all wrong and at the end of the first lap the GRD led from Bob Evans, Russell Wood, Tony Brise, Masami Kuwashima, Damien Magee, Mike Wilds, Andy Sutcliffe, Mike Walker and Rikki von Opel. On a couple of occasions Williamson made a small break but the rest were soon with him again, Matthews held second for three laps then it was Evans, next Wood and then Evans again. By lap 7 it seemed as if the only realistic challengers to Williamson were Evans, Wood and Kuwashima but by lap 9 Sutcliffe and von Opel had joined in the fun.
It was all change on lap 13 when Williamson had a moment at Maggotts and in a flash Kuwashima and Evans were ahead with Williamson having to fight off Sutcliffe. On the final lap as they entered Woodcote Williamson decided to go for broke and he left his braking as late as possible, too late in fact and the GRD spun its way down to ninth. It was Kuwashima who led across the line to score his first F3 race win, Evans and Sutcliffe took second and third a few tenths behind the Japanese with Wood fourth and von Opel fifth.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Silverstone, 28 August 1972

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: Misano, 27 August 1972

misano_27_8_72

Race Report: Misano, 27 August 1972

misano_27_8_72

An Italian F3 race held at the newly opened Misano-Adriatico, there were two heats and a final, Vittorio Brambilla (Brabham-Novamotor BT38) won the first heat and Pico Pina (Brabham-Novamotor BT35) the second. Brabhams dominated the final with victory once again going to Vittorio Brambilla.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Misano, 27 August 1972

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: Thruxton, 27 August 1972

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Race Report: Thruxton, 27 August 1972

thruxton_27_8_72

47 cars were entered for this round of the Forward Trust Championship of which 30 could start after qualifying. Practice was dominated by the works Iberia Ensign-Vegantunes of Rikki von Opel and Mike Walker, Andy Sutcliffe’s GRD joining them on the front row.

There was drama at the first corner of the opening lap when 10 of the runners were out on the spot following an unexplained incident, those out were Tony Trimmer (Lotus 73), Mo Harness (GRD 372), Mike Tyrrell (Ensign F372), Bernard Vermilio (Lotus 73), Mike Wilds (Ensign F372), Richard Knight (Martini Mk9), John Bisignano (Martini MK9), Ross Ambrose (Lotus 69), Stan Matthews (March 723) and Chris O’Brien (Brabham BT38). John MacDonald was also involved and ended up in a ditch but he was able to get out and continue albeit well back.

The marshals managed to quickly clear the track and at the front it was Walker from von Opel, Sutcliffe, Jochen Mass, Damien Magee and Roger Williamson who was making up ground after a poor grid position due to a fire and a blown engine. Lap 2 saw Williamson with problems again as he arrived at the chicane and found his GRD brakeless, he half spun the car loosing four places in the process. Meanwhile von Opel was leading a group consisting of Walker, Sutcliffe, Mass and Magee. Walker moved to the front on lap 4 and he and von Opel found themselves with a clear lead on lap 6 after Mass touched Sutcliffe at the chicane. The GRD skated off onto the infield, Sutcliffe regained the track in 13 place with a damaged tub but retired shortly after with engine problems.
For the rest of the race it was all about the two Ensigns with Walker doing most of the leading, starting the last lap they were nose-to-tail at Church when they came up to lap Cavan Riley who stayed well to the right. As Walker pulled out to overtake von Opel who had used the double tow to good effect went to the inside of Walker, as von Opel (with one wheel on the grass) pulled level Walker closed the door a little too hard. Walker hit von Opel and half spun and then hit him again, Walker then found himself spinning down the track and into the ditch whilst an undamaged von Opel was able to keep going and win the race easily. After the race both drivers blamed the other and team boss Mo Nunn blamed them both.
Behind the battling Ensigns Mass and Magee had been having a good clean fight, the verdict going to Mass in the STP March who finished in what was now second place, Williamson bought his brakeless GRD into fourth just ahead of Russell Wood and Randy Lewis.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Thruxton, 27 August 1972

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, 26 August 1972

oulton-park_26_8_72

Race Report: Oulton Park, 26 August 1972

oulton-park_26_8_72
A good field of 26 cars arrived at Oulton Park for this Lombard North Central round despite there being a Forward Trust race at Thruxton the following day. Jochen Mass took pole position in his works STP-March on his first visit to the circuit, Roger Williamson should have been next after equalling the German’s time but a crash at Druids after six laps of practice wrote off the tub of his GRD. Fortunately the works team had a fully plumbed spare in their transporter and in only 3 hours a new car was built up for Williamson who was forced to start from the back of the grid. The works GRD of Andy Sutcliffe made the best start but Mass was in front by Knickerbrook but then had a hairy old moment that dropped him to fourth, luckily the other closely following cars managed to avoid the errant March. A group of eight cars soon pulled away at the front of the field with Walker who had taken over from Sutcliffe on lap 2 in front followed by the GRD then came Mass back up to third, von Opel, Bob Evans, Damien Magee, Masami Kuwashima and Tony Brise. Mass had another grassy moment on lap 6 at Lodge which allowed Evans and von Opel past but Evans was out a lap later when contact with Magee split a front wheel on the March. Sutcliffe was out on lap 9 when he span at Esso and hit the barrier bending a front wishbone,

he tried to continue at the back but was forced to retire with the wheel about to part company from the car. Walker lost the lead to von Opel on lap 10 and then had to watch his teammate disappear into the distance as he had to drop back with increasing understeer. Mass was out on lap 10 with overheating from a damaged radiator caused by one of his incidents, Magee joined him on lap 15 with a spin at Esso, the Irishman finding a stone had punctured his radiator.
So it was that von Opel took the chequered flag from his teammate although Walker was fortunate to hold second after he had been caught by Kuwashima and Brise, the GRD then ran over the Brabham’s rear wheel slightly delaying them both. Walker then took advantage of of the slow Royale of Lee Kaye to ensure his runner-up spot, Kuwashima managing to get ahead of Brise for third. Neil Ginn crossed the line in fifth, the GRD driver having taken the spot from Russell Wood’s March on the last lap. Notable retirements included Williamson who had made it up to ninth before a waterpipe came off the hastily assembled GRD, Peter Hull who bent a corner on his Brabham at Druids on lap 14 when in sixth and Mike Wilds (Ensign) and John Bisignano (Martini) who took each other off early on in the race at Esso.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Oulton Park, 26 August 1972

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: Kassel Calden, 20 August 1972

kassel-calden_20_8_72

Race Report: Kassel Calden, 20 August 1972

kassel-calden_20_8_72

A German F3 race, the Hessenpreis, held over 40 laps of the 2.646 km circuit.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Kassel Calden, 20 August 1972

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: Jyllandsring, 20 August 1972

jyllandsring_20_8_72

Race Report: Jyllandsring, 20 August 1972

jyllandsring_20_8_72

Held at Denmark’s Jyllandsring track there were apparently four heats with results being based on the aggregate of the heats. Tony Brise won two heats and was second in the other two, Russell Wood and Jac Nelleman also won a heat each. Val Musetti had been on pole after a wet practice with his Royale RP11 but retired due to his clutch failing.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Jyllandsring, 20 August 1972

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, 13 August 1972

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Race Report: Nurburgring, 13 August 1972

nurburgring_13_8_72

A very large field of 61 cars entered the Rhein-Mosel-Preis held over 7 laps of the mighty 22.835 km per lap Nurburgring. Many of the runners were German although several UK and Italian based teams made the journey. The race was held in heavy rain with victory going to the works STP-March 723 of Jochen Mass followed by Patrick Depailler guesting in one of the Deutsche Renault AG entered Alpines.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Nurburgring, 13 August 1972

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: Brands Hatch, 13 August 1972

brands-hatch_13_8_72

Race Report: Brands Hatch, 13 August 1972

brands-hatch_13_8_72

A good entry was received for this Lombank North Central round despite the clashing event at the Nurburgring and the organisers adopted a two heats and a final format.

Pole sitter for the first heat was Tom Pryce, his Royale RP11 sporting revised narrow track suspension front and rear, other front row occupant was the Ensign of Mike Wilds who was going very well despite his inexperience of F3.
Pryce made the best start and led from Mike Walker, Neil Ginn, Damien Magee and Mo Harness, Pierre-François Rousselot was an instant retirement when his engine would not start. Pryce seemed to be pulling away gradually over the first three laps but on lap 4 the back end of the Royale got away from the Welshman who spun down to the rear of the field.

This left Walker a couple of seconds ahead of Wilds until lap 7 when it was Wilds turn to revolve at Clearways. A tense battle between Ginn, Magee and Harness were now vying for second place with Magee getting the nod at the flag although given the same time as Ginn with Harness 0.2 seconds further back.

Tony Brise was quickest of the second heat runners showing there wasn’t much wrong with his BT38 although he was waiting delivery of his new GRD, next up were Championship contenders Rikki von Opel and Andy Sutcliffe. Sixth fastest was the U2 of Ray Mallock which was running a limited-slip differential for the first time and was going very well.
Brise got away cleanly at the start but von Opel missed a gear and fell behind Sutcliffe and Russell Wood at Paddock. It was still Brise at the end of lap 1 hotly pursued by Wood, Sutcliffe, von Opel, Bob Evans, Bev Bond, Mallock and Masami Kuwashima. Positions remained static for the next three laps although everybody was trying hard to make up positions, it was Sutcliffe who was first to make a move, getting ahead of Wood and chasing after Brise. Wood lost a further spot when von Opel got ahead at Druids on lap 4, the March driver only lasting another 3 laps before retiring with a broken throttle linkage. Brise, Sutcliffe and von Opel were now scraping hard for the lead and Sutcliffe put the GRD ahead at Clearways on lap 7 and von Opel briefly got in front of the Brabham on lap 8. Onto the final lap and it was Sutcliffe who took the win 0.4 seconds ahead of von Opel who repassed Brise again on the tenth and last lap, Brise finishing third 0.2 seconds behind the Ensign. Next up were Evans, Kuwashima, Bond and Skeaping who had gone well from the back of the grid after a difficult practice. Ray Mallock had to retire the U2 when its newly rebuilt Holbay blew up on lap 4.

The final was made up of the first ten finishers in each heat which unfortunately meant Pryce and Wilds were out, the second heat was the faster of the two so Sutcliffe and von Opel were on the front row.
Sutcliffe got away first at the start followed by Brise from row two and the two Iberia Ensigns of von Opel and Mike Walker. Next up it was Magee, Evans, Kuwashima, Ginn, Harness, Jeremy Gambs, Bond, Val Musetti, Jorge Pinhol, Mike Tyrrell, Chris Skeaping, Brendan McInerney and Robin Smythe. A couple of drivers were already out following a nasty accident at Druids on the first lap, the GRD of Tim Brise was punted up the rear and Brise made contact with the Martini of John Bisignano. Brise found himself launched in the air, flipping over and landing upside-down on the banking. The GRD driver was very lucky to escape with concussion and bruising as the impact had ripped the roll hoop off the chassis of his car, there was a lot of confusion with several drivers not slowing sufficiently and the track ambulance took a long time to arrive.
Once normal racing resumed Sutcliffe, Brise and von Opel began to edge away from Walker but on laps 5 and 6 it seemed as if Walker was closing the gap again but the Ensign spun on some oil at Clearways and dropped back to ninth. von Opel had moved up to second ahead of Brise on lap 6 and he began to harry Sutcliffe, on lap 10 the Ensign was right behind the GRD and three laps later it was in front as von Opel took the lead at Clearways. Sutcliffe closed up again at Druids as von Opel was momentarily delayed by a backmarker, the two cars were side-by-side through Bottom Bend at at Kidney Sutcliffe went for the lead. Sadly there was not enough room for two cars and as von Opel turned in there was contact and both cars spun, von Opel stalling his engine and retiring whilst Sutcliffe rejoined in third with damaged bodywork and bent suspension.
This left Brise with a clear lead which he held to the flag to win by some eight seconds from the similar car of Damien Magee. Third place was a battle between Evans, Kuwashima and Ginn who had been together from the start, they now found themselves joined by the ailing Sutcliffe and the recovering Walker. Sutcliffe dropped to the back of the group with his ill-handling GRD whilst Walker began to move forward with some good overtaking moves. At the flag Evans got third by dint of keeping Walker back with some heavy weaving down the main straight, Kuwashima coming home just behind in fifth. Sutcliffe just managed to get past Ginn for the final point with Harness in eighth hampered by loose bodywork fouling the steering.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Brands Hatch, 13 August 1972

Race Heat 1

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 20:09.40

2 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 20:09.50

3 Luigi Fontanesi

Tecno-Ford 20:13.10

4 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 20:23.40

Race Heat 2

1 Giovanni Lo Voi

Brabham-Ford BT28 15:05.00

2 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 15:05.00

3 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 15:21.00

4 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 15:34.10

5 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28

Race Final

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 30:44.30 144.318

2 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28 30:44.34

3 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 30:45.10

4 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 30:55.40

5 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

6 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 31:11.50

7 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 31:59.60

8 Giovanni Lo Voi

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

Race Report: Paul Ricard, 6 August 1972

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Race Report: Paul Ricard, 6 August 1972

paul_ricard_6_8_72

Despite being held in France this was a round of the UK Shell Formula 3 Championship and a good number of British based runners travelled across the Channel to join the top French F3 drivers. There were two hour-long practice sessions for the two heats and a final format, since the circuit could start 30 runners per race everyone qualified for the 10 lap preliminary races. The grids for the heats were decided on alternate times from qualifying.

Practice was dominated by the Alpine Renaults with Michel Leclere taking pole in the works car and the Shell sponsored car of privateer Lucien Guitteny second fastest, the second works car of Alain Serpaggi took sixth place. Of the other cars, the works Loti of Trimmer and Vermilio were only ninth and fifteenth with neither driver happy about how their 73s were going, the two Ensign-Vegantunes of Mike Walker and Colin Vandervell were in engine problems both requiring engine changes due to blow-ups after the first session. Jean-Pierre Jarier used a Vegantune to set his grid time with his March 713M but swopped

over to a Novamotor for the race. Newcomers were François Guerre-Berthelot in the new monocoque AGS and F. Renault racer Patrick Duchamp who had hired the spare GRD 372 of Andy Sutcliffe.

Williamson made the best start to lead heat one from Leclere and Andersson while Colin Vandervell made a complete hash of things when he selected third gear instead of first and stalled and his Ensign got away well behind the others. At the end of the first lap Leclere put his Alpine into the lead followed by a gaggle of cars consisting of Williamson, Lacarrau, Trimmer, Walker, Rousselot, and Vermilio. It was clear that Williamson was holding up the other cars and there was obviously something amiss with his GRD, his front right-hand tyre was loosing air and gradually the other drivers got past the ailing car. Lacarrau was first past and he set off after Leclere but the Alpine was well clear and Leclere took an easy 20 second victory. Walker passed Williamson with three laps to go and chased after Lacarrau, despite having no clutch since lap 1 the Ensign almost caught the second-placed Martini on the line. As Williamson fell further back Rousselot took an easy fourth after Andersson and Hull spun out and Trimmer moved up to fifth just ahead of Bob Evans. Barrie Maskell was fortunate to escape without injury when his Lotus 69 ended up badly damaged in the catchfencing after a mistake by Richard Knight in his Martini.

Heat two was fairly straightforward, Coulon led away from the start but his metering unit failed after one lap and Serpaggi took off to secure another easy Alpine win. Ethuin and Guitteny had a good battle for second with Guitteny getting the runner-up spot, Beguin held fourth for a time but was passed by the battling trio of Jarier, Kuwashima and von Opel. Jarier took fourth after the spectacular Kuwashima spun out with two laps to go and von Opel slowed a lap early thinking the race was over and was overhauled by Beguin and Nordström.
The first ten finishers from each heat plus the next five quickest on lap times from each heat made the final which allowed Williamson in at the back of the grid, Walker was also worried as to whether he could get his Ensign away as his clutch problems were too serious to be fixed between races. As the lights changed Leclere got away first with Jarier right on his tail, Walker was right to be worried, his Ensign stalled on the line and was collected by the Brabham of Peter Hull, both cars were out with suspension damage. At the end of the first lap it was still Leclere with Jarier locking brakes in second, next up were Serpaggi, Guitteny, Lacarrau, Beguin and Williamson. The GRD man had had a phenomenal first lap passing no less than 16 cars, he wasn’t finished yet and by lap 5 he was up to second and closing on Leclere. Three laps later and Williamson was in the lead and pulling away easily from the Alpine-Renault on his way to an apparently easy victory, Serpaggi had moved up to third with Jarier now down to fourth. With two laps to go Guitteny and Lacarrau got ahead of Jarier and then a fast closing Andersson managed to spin on the final lap taking Jarier with him, this left Beguin in sixth ahead of Vermilio who had gone well in a difficult car.
After the race the first four cars plus Trimmer’s Lotus had their airboxes checked and unfortunately Williamson’s narrowly failed to hold a sufficient vacuum and although it was arguable that he gained any performance advantage he was correctly excluded from the results.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Paul Ricard, 6 August 1972

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: Thruxton, 6 August 1972

thruxton_6_8_72

Race Report: Thruxton, 6 August 1972

thruxton_6_8_72

Thirty cars arrived at Thruxton for this non-championship Echo Trophy race, practice accidents accounted for the Ensign F371 of Ken Mackintosh, the March 723 of Russell Wood and the Martini Mk9 of John Bisignano. Other drivers who didn’t make the race for sundry mechanical reasons or because they didn’t appreciate the weather conditions were Brendan McInerney, John Marston, Lee Kaye, Cavan Riley, Simon Sherman, Bob Shellard and Jorge Pinhol.

It was Tony Brise that made the best start in the heavy rain and at the end of the opening lap he had opened up a significant lead over Jochen Mass and his brother Tim. Alan Jones moved his GRD up to third on lap three demoting the similar car of Tim Brise to fourth whilst second place man Mass was beginning to reel in the leading Brise in his Brabham.

Mass made his move on lap 5 and the STP-March took the lead from the Montessa Motorcycles Brabham and although Brise closed up on a couple of occasions when Mass was lapping backmarkers the German always looked in control. Behind Tim Brise in fifth was Brian McGuire followed at some distance by the Ensign of Mike Wilds, next up was the GRD of Mo Harness and the Brabham BT38 of Randy Lewis.
The top six positions remained the same for the rest of the race although Tim Brise was lucky not to leave the track when he was forced wide whilst lapping the Chris O’Brien BT38 on the last lap. Mo Harness in his new GRD lost a couple of places, on lap 8 to Randy Lewis and on lap 21 to Mike Tyrrell, other than that the race was fairly incident free. At the finish Jochen Mass took a relatively untroubled win in the poor conditions setting fastest lap on the way, such was his rate of progress he lapped everybody bar the next four finishers.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Thruxton, 6 August 1972

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