Race Report: Thruxton, 29 October 1972

thruxton_29_10 _72

Race Report: Thruxton, 29 October 1972

thruxton_29_10 _72

The fifth AGIP F3 Cup was held over two heats and a final and was dominated by the Italian contingent.

It was raining hard as the cars came out to the grid and nearly all the runners were using Firestone wets, the two notable exceptions being Roger Williamson and Chris Skeaping both of whom were using Dunlops which were generally reckoned inferior to the Firestone product.

Once again as in so many recent races it was Tony Brise who made the best start and that was the last time the rest of the field saw him as he proceeded to pull away from second place man von Opel at over a second a lap. von Opel managed to hold onto Brise for three laps but then the GRD man who was flinging his car around with armfuls of opposite lock, especially through the chicane, began his inexorable progress towards victory. After loosing touch with Brise von Opel had a lonely race into second place as Mike Walker in the sister Ensign was some distance behind in third.

Initially Walker was on his own in third but as the race progressed Neil Ginn slowly caught him up and was only just behind at the flag. Ginn had been involved in a battle with Alan Jones and Bob Evans but on lap 5 he passed Jones at Club and soon pulled away to leave Jones and Evans to finish 5th and 6th at the finish. Several drivers managed to have accidents in the wet conditions and Chris Pryer in Lee Kaye’s Royale, Mike Greenwood in Colin Vandervell’s Ensign, Jean-Claude Alzerat and Simon Sherman all left the track without personal injury. Poor Syd Fox who was débuting the Huron had to retire on the warm-up lap when his Renault engine stopped.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Thruxton, 29 October 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, 22 October 1972

brands-hatch_22_10_72

Race Report: Brands Hatch, 22 October 1972

brands-hatch_22_10_72

An excellent entry was received for this the final round of the Shell Super Oils Championship, a number of the top French F3 runners had travelled over to the UK to strengthen the field even more. Due to the number of runners the race would be held over two heats on Saturday and a final on Sunday.

GRDs were fastest for heat 1 with the familiar sight of Roger Williamson in pole position from the Multiglide car of Alan Jones, row two was an all Ensign affair with Mike Walker leading Mike Wilds. Of the other runners Alain Serpaggi and Jacques Coulon headed the French runners in their Alpine and Martini respectively while further back Barrie Maskell wasn’t happy after only managing 4 laps before his ever problematical Vegantune siezed requiring a replacement to be fitted. Bernard Vermilio was debuting a new GRD-Novamotor whilst making his F3 debut was Mexican F Ford ace Johnny Gerber who was having an outing in the ex-Andy Sutcliffe GRD.

Heat 2 saw the GRD of Tony Brise take pole from the number one Alpine of Michel Leclere with the Ensign of Colin Vandervell, who lost time with a broken throttle linkage, leading the March of Russell Wood on the second row. Down at the back of the grid Buzz Buzaglo was having his first F3 race in the ex-Mike Wilds/James Hunt March 713S as was F4 champion Nick Crossley in the ex-Stan Matthews March 723 Novamotor. Tony Trimmer qualified in von Opel’s car as his own car, a converted F2 chassis, wasn’t ready for qualifying. Randy Lewis and Mike Tyrrell were transferred from the first heat after missing practice and had to start from the back.

Qualifiers for the final would be composed of the first 15 from each heat plus the next 6 fastest laps, three from each heat.

Williamson made a superb start to lead Heat 1 and by the end of the first lap he already had a lead of two seconds over Bob Evans who had also made a great start from the third row of the grid. Williamson was in marvellous form and he gradually increased his lead so that at the end of the 10 laps he had six seconds in hand over the second placed finisher. Behind Evans at the end of lap 1 it was Jones from von Opel, Wilds, Walker, Jarier, Coulon, Serpaggi, Hull, Maskell and Skeaping. For the next 5 laps Evans held second despite constant pressure from von Opel with Walker and Coulon just behind, both Alan Jones and Jean-Pierre Jarier were next up although both were afflicted with their engines cutting out. On lap 6 Jarier’s engine cut out at the wrong moment and he left the track at Hawthorns and continued at the back of the field, he would qualify for the final via his fastest lap
Also in trouble was Hull who left the track at Southbank when his throttle return springs broke, he would also qualify via his fastest lap. Alan Jones found himself demoted by a couple of places when he was passed by both Wilds and Serpaggi. With only two laps remaining Evans finally lost second place to Coulon but still took a very good third, just behind the first three the two works Ensigns of Rikki von Opel and Mike Walker had a very tough battle, von Opel just got the nod although Walker was given the same race time.

Just to show Williamson wasn’t the only one who could dominate a race Tony Brise stamped his authority on Heat 2 in similar fashion, at the end of lap 1 he had a 3 second gap and he then held a confident 5 second lead to the end of the race. Leclere made a very poor start delaying most of the rest of the field as he moved across the track and Vandervell was able to get ahead into second place. Leclere slotted into third and began to harry the Potterton Ensign until he was able to slip through at Westfields on lap 5, the Frenchman was then able to ease away and take second at the finish by 1.8 seconds from Vandervell. Fourth place had been a battle between Pryce, Magee and Albera who were then joined by Wood on lap 5 and then on lap 7 Ethuin, Ginn and Serpaggi all joined in the fun. Magee moved ahead of Pryce who was suffering handling problems in his Royale and soon Wood and Albera also found a way past the Welshman.
Despite heavy pressure from both Wood and Albera Magee drove very calmly to keep fourth place at the finish,.Ethuin took seventh despite a barging match with Neil Ginn at Bottom Bend on lap 9. Next up, a couple of seconds adrift, were Guitteny and the disappointed Pryce, Conny Andersson had been with them but had to retire with engine difficulties leaving fellow Swedes Svensson and Nordström to finish tenth and eleventh.

About 40 minutes before the start of Sunday’s final it began to rain, although it stopped after 10 minutes there was general panic amongst the teams as wet tyres were readied. For most of the teams the choice was simply wet or dry, intermediates were not readily available. After the warm-up laps most drivers opted for slicks as although the club circuit was wet and slippery the rest of the GP track was reasonably dry. However conditions were obviously very tricky and no less than 12 cars spun at Druids on the warm up and Nelleman went off at Bottom Bend and was unable to start. As the cars took to the grid the majority were on Firestone slicks with the exception of Williamson and Skeaping on Dunlop slicks, Serpaggi, Musetti and Svensson went for the full wets, McInerney for semi-slick Firestone B33s and most interestingly Filipinetti team manager Vic Elford put Jacques Coulon on an old set of Firestone YB24 intermediates.

As usual Williamson made a great getaway hotly pursued by Brise and Leclere, everybody made it up to Druids but immediately several cars spun, notably Tony Brise and Alan Jones, a number of cars were badly delayed waiting to get through the mayhem. Brise was an immediate retirement while Jones made it back to the pits to retire with damaged bodywork. At the end of lap one it was Leclere from Williamson, Coulon, Evans, Magee, Serpaggi, Vandervell and Pryce all running together, Musetti was next up on his own with a gap to Nordström, Guitteny, Walker, Wood, Vermilio, Lacarrau, Svensson, Hull, Jarier and Trimmer. The rest of the field were someway back with Wilds the worst casualty in 32nd place. Everybody was driving with great care as so many parts of the track were very treacherous but the leaders were managing to keep their cars on the track.
Leclere managed to pull out a lead of a few hundred yards from Williamson who was suffering the close attentions of Coulon. These three had opened up a gap over Magee who had got ahead of Evans, Serpaggi was right behind Magee but he was soon passed by von Opel and the Brabham and the Ensign then began to pull away from the others. By lap 5 is was still Leclere just ahead of Williamson and Leclere, Magee and von Opel were fighting over fourth just ahead of Serpaggi, Pryce and Evans with Vandervell all on his own in ninth. In tenth place Tony Trimmer was making excellent progress from his start at the back of the grid and he had Hull and Walker for company. Other retirements to join Brise and Jones were Russell Wood who was out on lap 6 with bad handling and Rousselot a lap later with a bad misfire.

By now lap times started to fall dramatically as a dry line began to appear and Williamson began to close the gap on Leclere and by lap 14 he was sitting on the Frenchman’s tail, entering Clearways on lap 15 the Alpine ran wide and in a flash the GRD was in the lead to the cheers from the grandstands. Coulon was still third although his intermediates were starting to be a handicap on the drying track and von Opel was catching him despite a lack of brakes and a damaged nose fin. Behind these two there was a big battle between Magee, Evans and Serpaggi whilst Pryce had fallen back after a spin. On lap 14 the nose of Magee’s Brabham made contact with Evans rear tyre causing a puncture and the March was out. The impact dislodged the nose of Magee’s car and on lap 19 the car aquaplaned along the main straight and the Irishman made heavy contact with the pit barrier, he was lucky to escape injury.

Suddenly on lap 18 the rain began to fall again and immediately cars were spinning most notably at Druids and Bottom Bend. Leclere found himself going wide at Druids on lap 20 and Coulon was immediately ahead of his compatriot, immediately Coulon was reeling in Williamson the Martini’s intermediates now ideal for the conditions. On lap 21 Coulon was in the lead but Williamson was hanging on and on lap 23 the Martini nearly spun at Bottom Bend and Williamson was back in front again. Coulon recovered rapidly and was soon quickly closing the gap to the leader again, on lap 24 they were running side by side through Hawthorns, Westfield and Dingle Dell. Coming into Clearways Coulon’s extra grip gave him the advantage and he was back in front, Williamson tried everything he could to get the lead back but Coulon held on to take victory by a second, Leclere finished third a few seconds further back. von Opel brakeless Ensign managed to hold off Serpaggi for fourth, Pryce finished a lonely sixth from Walker and Hull who was lucky to escape from a last lap incident at Stirlings.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Brands Hatch, 22 October 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, 15 October 1972

brands-hatch_15_10_72

Race Report: Brands Hatch, 15 October 1972

brands-hatch_15_10_72

There were two practice sessions for this Lombard North Central round and the grid lined up as below. Notable non-starters were Mike Wilds and Damien Magee who both suffered from terminal engine problems during qualifying.

Brise made the best start as the flag fell with Roger Williamson desperately looking for a gap to close up on the other GRD driver. The field made it to Bottom Bend with Brise ahead of von Opel, Williamson, Jones, Wood and Evans but next man up Walker was tapped from behind and his Ensign spun in the middle of the pack. Andy Sutcliffe spun in taking avoiding action and Tony Trimmer in his first outing in an Ensign was unable to avoid hitting the GRD, Trimmer’s car then hit the bank hard and the driver was fortunate to escape injury.

Brise led the next eight laps, the yellow flags at Bottom Bend making overtaking difficult but on lap 9 von Opel calmly dived inside Brise at Paddock and immediately began to pull away. Williamson also managed to get past Brise on the following lap but for some reason all the leading GRD drivers were afflicted with understeer on most corners and Williamson was forced to overdrive the car in an attempt to stay with von Opel. Finally on lap 15 Williamson’s efforts came to naught with a spin at Kidney which lost him several places.

Out in front Rikki von Opel cruised home to an easy victory from Tony Brise with Alan Jones third after a moment at Clearways delayed him. Roger Williamson recovered to fourth from Russell Wood and Bob Evans who nearly lost sixth at the finish from a fast closing Stan Matthews and Peter Hull. Most notable retirement was Barrie Maskell who only managed two laps until fuel feed problems afflicted his Vegantune.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Brands Hatch, 15 October 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: Snetterton, 8 October 1972

snetterton_8_10_72

Race Report: Snetterton, 8 October 1972

snetterton_8_10_72

An excellent entry was obtained by the BRSCC for the Archie Scott Brown Memorial Trophy Race, a qualifying round for the Shell Super Oil Championship, and despite several non-starters there were enough cars to run a two heats and a final format.

Many drivers took advantage of unofficial practice on Saturday but qualifying proper took place on Sunday morning and for the Heat 1 runners wet tyres were the order of the day. By the end of the session it was Alan Jones in pole position, his Multiglide GRD over a second quicker than the Brabham BT38s of Peter Hull and Randy Lewis. Row 2 saw the Team MD5 GRD of F Ford champion Ian Taylor leading the GRD of Roger Williamson. Taylor’s car was the one driven by Barrie Maskell at Mallory, whilst Williamson set his time in only 4 laps as his engine broke on the fifth. An excellent sixth fastest in only his fifth ever circuit race was Jo Vonlanthen in his GRD, sharing the third row with the Swiss newcomer were the Chevron of Chris Skeaping and John MacDonald in the ex-Alan Jones BT38. Further down the grid, lower than normally expected, were the Ensign of Rikki von Opel and the March of Jean-Pierre Jarier. Martin Howse was a non-starter after hitting one of the unyielding Snetterton banks while right at the back and taking it easy on its debut was Mike Catlow in the Elden Mk9.

By the time the runners for Heat 2 come out on the track conditions had improved and the track was dry resulting in much faster times. Mike Walker took the fastest time to place his Ensign on pole with Tony Brise in his GRD and, going very well, Stan Matthews in another GRD alongside. The second row saw Colin Vandervell’s GRD heading the Brabham of Damien Magee, the Irishman was forced to replace the Novamotor with a Vegantune (John Macdonald’s spare) following a blow-up. The third row was headed by the GRD of Neil Ginn from the Merlyn of Hakan Dalqvist and an engine-troubled Bob Evans. Other drivers with problems were Mike Wilds with a blown engine, Russell Wood who non-started after a shunt and Brendan McInerney who only managed four laps before his engine dropped a valve.

It was still dry when the Heat 1 runners lined up on the grid and as the starter dropped the flag Hull jumped into the lead followed by Jones and von Opel who took advantage of the pit lane exit. First retirement was posted by John Macdonald at Riches when his drive shaft broke. By the end of the first lap it was Jones from Hull hotly pursued by Williamson, Taylor was fourth ahead of a big bunch with Lewis, Skeaping and von Opel to the fore. Williamson moved up to second on lap 2 and took the lead on the following lap but Jones wasn’t about to give up and for the next three laps he sat on Williamson’s tail. Williamson gradually eked out a lead helped by a speed advantage down the straight and at the end of the ten laps he was 5.2 seconds ahead of Jones. Rikki von Opel had an excellent race and shrugged off the attentions of the bunch and soon hauled in Taylor and Hull moving up to third on lap 6. Ian Taylor found his engine loosing power and he gradually fell back to finish eighth. As Taylor dropped back Jarier was moving forward and over the closing laps was involved in a tense battle for fourth with Hull, at the finish it was the Frenchman ahead of the Kiwi. Rousselot finished sixth behind Hull and ahead of Lamplough and the disappointed Taylor. Other retirements besides Macdonald were the ever unlucky Chris Skeaping with an overheating engine and Musetti with a broken clutch.

It was Brise who took the lead at the start of heat two as Walker was distracted by a moments hesitancy on the starter’s part. It was still Brise at the end of the first lap from Matthews, Walker, Evans, Vandervell, Andersson, Magee, Ginn, Wilds, Dalqvist, Dötsch and Kuwashima. Brise began to pull out a lead on lap 2 whilst the Ensigns of Matthews, Walker and Vandervell were opening up a gap over Anderson, Evans and Magee. Further back Wilds was going well and had just passed Ginn who lead the rest of the field.
Walker passed Matthews on lap 3 and started to close on Brise at 0.5 seconds a lap but Brise steadied the gap at around four seconds until lap 7 when the Ensign was suddenly on the tail of the GRD. Brise had indulged in a brief off at Riches when he encountered another car’s oil, he managed to recover just ahead of Walker who, with an eye to the final, decided to take things carefully and followed Brise home to the finish. Matthews just took third from Vandervell, both drivers sharing the same race time with Wilds finishing a good fifth after Magee lost three laps with a broken throttle cable. Andersson took sixth just ahead of Dahlqvist with Ginn next after passing a down-on-power Evans on the last lap. Retirements were Kuwashima after a huge off at Coram avoiding a spinning Marazzie who himself had a shunt at Russell two laps later.

Everybody who had finished in the heats qualified for the final and the grid positions were decided by alternate finishing positions due to heat 2 being much slower because of the oily conditions. Tony Brise got his start absolutely right and at the end of the first lap he led from Williamson, Jones, Vandervell, von Opel, Jarier, Matthews, Walker, Wilds, Hull, Evans, Lamplough, Rousselot and the rest. Lap 2 saw Williamson push his GRD to the front and he and Brise began to pull away from the rest, however all Williamson’s efforts to pull away from Brise were in vain and on lap 5 it was the Montessa GRD back in front.
Behind these two Jones was leading a group consisting of Jarier, Vandervell, von Opel and Walker whilst already out with damaged engines were Evans, Taylor and Dalqvist and Musetti’s clutch had failed again. Lap 10 and Williamson was in front again but Roger was suffering with locking brakes into the hairpin due to the front end getting light because of adjustments made to the split rear wing after the heat. Brise went ahead again on lap 11 but the two cars were inseparable, both drivers taking turns to set new lap records. Although Brise was able to pull away a couple of times by about a second every time Williamson clawed his way back again.
On lap 22 the two leaders came across some backmarkers and in the confusion Williamson went ahead again at Riches only to be repassed around the back of the circuit. For the last six laps it was Brise leading every time until the last lap when Williamson drafted Brise all the way down the Norwich Straight pulling out at the last second and with two wheels on the grass he outbraked Brise and took the lead. As the two cars headed towards the Esses Brise drew level with Williamson but realising he was on the wrong line fell back again. Both cars opposite locked their way around Coram with Williamson holding the tight inside line and keeping his nose in front as they both hurtled towards Russell. Williamson braked a little early for Russell but kept the tight line forcing Brise to go wider and Roger held the lead along the straight. Brise dived for the inside as the cars passed the pits and the Montessa GRD inched its way up to the Wheatcroft car but there was not enough time and Williamson just scrapped home the winner although both cars shared the same race time, Brise having the consolation of a new lap record.

The rest of the field were unsurprisingly relegated to a supporting role and Walker finished a lonely third ahead of Vandervell, these two pulling away from the other runners on lap 7. Walker gradually pulled away from Vandervell and both drivers had rather a lonely race as they became detached from the other runners. Of the others Mike Tyrrell had a nasty shunt at Riches and von Opel spun in avoidance causing his radiators to get blocked which caused his retirement a couple of laps later. Jarier also left the track in avoiding Tyrrell and fell to the back of the field, he then drove very quickly to haul his way back up to 11th at the finish. Alan Jones retired on lap 10 with a blown engine while Rousselot and Matthews were having a good dice until the Frenchman spun into the bank at Russell on lap 13, Matthews continued in a good fifth but his engine gave out on lap 22. Mike Wilds eventually took fifth although he was very lucky as his engine failed as he raced for the finishing line and he only just fended off Conny Andersson. However the race was really about two men and their GRDs, everyone else was racing for the lower placings.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Snetterton, 8 October 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: Montlhery, 8 October 1972

montlhery_8_10_72

Race Report: Montlhery, 8 October 1972

montlhery_8_10_72

Most of the runners at this meeting were the usual French teams and drivers.

Jacques Coulon took a lead he would hold to the finish on lap 2 pulling away to win by an astonishing 42.5 seconds. Behind the flying Martini the Alpines of Leclere and Serpaggi had a good battle until Leclere had to retire with a broken clutch and soon after Serpaggi had to pit to straighten the nosecone although he retained his second place. Behind the two Alpines were Bernard Beguin in his Martini, Dave Brodie’s March 713M and Philip Munier in his Martini. Brodie was next to pit to have a broken wing fixed loosing a lap and dropping to fifth at the finish and soon after Munier was forced to retire his Martini leaving Beguin in a safe third place.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Montlhery, 8 October 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: Mallory Park, 1 October 1972

mallory-park_1_10_72

Race Report: Mallory Park, 1 October 1972

mallory-park_1_10_72

A clashing race at Magny Cours meant that although a healthy entry arrived at Mallory Park none of the frequent French visitors were on hand and the field was very much what would be expected at a Forward Trust or Lombard North Central round. Notable UK absentees were the JPS Lotus 73s, although both Tony Trimmer and Bernard Vermilio were in the Paddock rumour had it that the generally disappointing cars were being shelved and the F3 project had been abandoned.

Fastest in the misty practice for heat one was Russell Wood in the Novamotor-powered works STP March 723, sharing the front row with him were the GRD of Tony Brise and the Brabham of Damien Magee. The second row consisted of Stan Matthews, running well again in his new Ensign, and the familiar face of Barrie Maskell in an unfamiliar GRD. Sponsored by Competition Car this was the 372 chassis Ian Taylor had failed to qualify at Oulton Park. Next up was the Royale of Martin Howse with a time nobody believed ahead of the Ensign of Mike Walker. Further back Brendan McInerney was pleased with his new Ensign and Scotland’s Ronnie Mackay had hired Russell Wood’s March 723. Slowest of all was Bev Bond who was so disgusted with the performance of his Ehrlich that he scratched from the race.

Heat two pole sitter was the familiar Roger Williamson GRD, sitting next to him was Jean-Pierre Jarier who was having a ride in the second works March usually driven by Jochen Mass and Colin Vandervell in his Ensign. Row two consisted of Mike Wilds in his Ensign and Masami Kuwashima’s GRD. An interesting new runner was Dave Brodie who was in the La Vie Claire March normally pedaled by Jean-Pierre Jarier, this was the Brode’s first F3 race since 1968 when he drove a Titan. Mo Harness was a disappointed non-starter after he suffered engine problems with his GRD-Leabro.

Tony Brise made the best start to lead into Gerards on the opening lap of heat one, Magee followed chased by Wood and Maskell, Mike Tyrrell initially held fifth but a wild spin on lap two at the Esses dropped him back and caused a lot of the field to have to take heavy avoiding action. As Wood and Magee became involved in a fierce duel for second Brise began to edge away at the front. Further back Walker was making progress after being eighth at the end of the first lap and by lap 12 he had pulled up behind a battling bunch consisting of Maskell, Magee, Wood and Matthews. Walker passed Matthews on lap 14 and nearly passed Maskell on the line although the GRD driver held onto fourth. The only retirement was Howse whose Royale had quickly slid down the field eventually retiring with gear selection problems, similar difficulties also handicapped McInerney who otherwise might have expected to finish higher than twelfth.

It was Williamson who jumped into the lead at the start of heat two with Vandervell and Jarier close behind. Tim Brise slotted his GRD into fourth until under pressure at the Esses on lap 2 Brise lost control and the car spun heavily into the barriers. Hitting the Armco/sleepers sideways-on the GRD was launched into the air landing back on the side of the track upside down. Fortunately this time the rollhoop on the GRD only partially collapsed and Brise was able to crawl out with only minor injuries. The race was run under the yellow flags for several laps whilst the marshalls cleared away the debris from Brise’s accident. Jarier appeared to get ahead of Vandervell under the yellow but no action was taken against the March driver, Williamson was forced to retire his GRD when a rear shock absorber snapped possibly as a result of contact with Vandervell at the hairpin.
Once the yellow flags were removed Jarier found himself under pressure from a closing Vandervell but the March driver held on to take the chequered flag by 0.4 seconds from Vandervell with von Opel third a further 2.2 seconds adrift. Mike Wilds had been running well in fourth but suffered a puncture as a result of a nudge at the hairpin from Peter Hull, the New Zealander moving up to take the place, Mike Knight taking fifth from a down on power Kuwashima. Due to the Brise incident only these six qualified for the final from the second heat.

Tony Brise jumped into an immediate lead at the start of the final as a result of a perfectly timed getaway with Magee taking second place. Unfortunately the Irishman was suffering from engine problems and only suceeded in delaying the other runners as they struggled to find a way past. Magee began to find himself slipping down the order as the other drivers passed him one-by-one, the Brabham eventually retiring on lap 15 when in twelfth place. Wood and Vandervell had moved up to second and third by lap 6 and had a great battle until Wood missed a gear at half distance which did his engine no good and resulted in his retirement. Colin Vandervell began to come under increasing pressure from Rikki von Opel who was flying having been in thirteenth on lap 1 he was third by lap 24. Setting a new lap record von Opel closed on Vandervell who was suffering from increasing understeer and on lap 32 the Iberia Ensign demoted the Potterton version to third and although Vandervell held on to von Opel to the finish he was unable to retake the runner up spot.
Mike Walker had been lying fifth in the second Iberia Ensign when on lap 7 contact with Jarier who drove into the side of him at the hairpin forced his retirement with damaged rear suspension. Jarier was able to continue to finish sixth although he was subsequently fined £70 for his dubious driving having already been warned about passing under a yellow in the second heat. Maskell found himself being chased hard by Rousselot in the final laps but some determined driving saw him hold onto fourth with the Frenchman taking fifth 0.2 seconds behind.
It looked as though Peter Hull would take sixth but a coming together with Alan Jones at the hairpin two laps from the finish saw Jones retire and Hull drop to seventh just ahead of Stan Matthews who was suffering from an inoperative limited-slip diff. Retirements included Kuwashima who gave up with a powerless Holbay mill, Ronnie Mackay who did his hired March a power of no good by hitting the bank backwards at Gerards and Richard Knight who was disqualified following a push start.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Mallory Park, 1 October 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: Magny Cours, 1 October 1972

magny-cours_1_10_72

Race Report: Magny Cours, 1 October 1972

magny-cours_1_10_72

Clashing with a Shell Motor Oil round at Mallory and arguments about starting money meant that a very disappointing field arrived at Magny Cours to challenge for the F3 European Cup. Because France had been victorious in the previous years race at Thruxton they were the host nation for this year.
Only three countries were represented, France, Sweden and Italy, each having two teams. France A had the works Alpine-Renault A364s of Michel Leclere and Alain Serpaggi and France B had the Martini Mk 9s of Jacques Coulon and Bernard Beguin. Sweden A consisted of the Brabham BT35 of Conny Andersson and the Merlyn Mk21 of Hakan Dahlqvist with the B team being the Brabham BT38 of Ulf Svensson and Jorgen Jonsson in his BT35 version The Italian team were all Brabham BT35 mounted, the A team was Vittorio Brambilla and Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi and the B team Carlo Giorgio and Luigi Fontanesi.

The races were held over two heats and a final. Heat one was dominated by Jacques Coulon who led away from pole position for a flag to flag victory. Initially Brambilla held second ahead of Leclere but the Italian dropped back after a moment leaving Leclere an comfortable runner-up. Brambilla dropped away to a big dice for third which he won from Fontanesi who was in trouble with his wing falling off and Torsten Palm who was one of a number of drivers who were racing without being part of a national team.

Pole man Serpaggi won heat two with a similarly dominant display as Coulon’s, the Alpine never being headed although Conny Andersson was always close behind after Lucien Guitteny spun out of second place. Andersson eventually took second place 0.5 seconds away from Serpaggi with Dalqvist third ahead of Giorgio and Guitteny.
In the final Coulon jumped into an immediate lead followed be Serpaggi, Leclere, Brambilla, Andersson, Fontanesi and Dalqvist. Serpaggi soon found himself demoted by Leclere on lap 2 and Brambilla on lap 3, meanwhile out in front Coulon just cruised away from the rest of the field to a very easy 25 second victory. Brambilla had a huge dice with the two Alpines until he bent the front fins on his Brabham on lap 15 following a moment and he dropped away to fourth as Leclere pulled away from Serpaggi. Andersson finished a lonely fifth after both Albera and Fontanesi fell off the circuit, these incidents moving Dalqvist up to sixth at the flag.

In the European Cup the final positions were:

1 France A (Leclere and Serpaggi) 5 points
2 France B (Coulon and Beguin) 9 points
3 Sweden A (Andersson and Dahlqvist) 11 points
4 Italy A (Brambilla and Pesenti-Rossi) 13 points
5 Sweden B (Svensson and Jonsson) 24 points

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Magny Cours, 1 October 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