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

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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

nurburgring_13_8_72

Race Report: Nurburgring, 13 August 1972

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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

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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

Race Report: Thruxton, 30 July 1972

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Race Report: Thruxton, 30 July 1972

thruxton_30_7_72

A large entry of 76 cars was received for this round of the Lombard North Central Championship including many of the top French teams, regrettably industrial action at the docks meant that several of the foreign cars never made it to the track. Due to the number of cars the entry was split into two 10 lap qualifying heats for the 20 lap final.

Roger Williamson made a superb start from pole position in heat one and by the end of the first lap he was a second to the good over the rest of the pack, he continued to pull away at a few tenths per lap to win by four seconds. Initially Rikki von Opel had slotted into second place but at the end of lap 1 Mike Wilds outbraked the Ensign into the chicane to take second, Jochen Mass also tried to get past but couldn’t quite make it. The works March of Mass was wearing a new nosecone, based on the old bulbous design it now had a slot added for the newly relocated front radiator. Wilds began to pull away from the battling von Opel and Mass on lap 3 but almost immediately he was struck by fuel surge problems and von Opel and Mass towed themselves back onto the Ensign’s tail.

Lap 6 saw von Opel make it ahead of Wilds into second place which he held to the flag despite concerted efforts from both Wilds and Mass to get ahead especially under braking into the chicane. Alain Serpaggi closed right up to the battling trio in front but was 0.2 seconds down at the finish, Tony Trimmer had been next until a spin at Segrave on lap 6 left the Lotus well down the field. Peter Hull finished in sixth, the Brabham had been right with Serpaggi but the spinning Trimmer caused the New Zealander to loose the tow and fall away.
Mike Walker had taken pole for heat two with his Ensign sporting a raised roll centre, revised pick-up points and a longer wheelbase. Chris Skeaping should have been next but a hub failed in practice sending the works Chevron heavily into the bank at the chicane, the car was hastily repaired for the race but on the warm-up the cockpit bodywork flew off, with no spare the Chevron was out.

Japanese driver Masami Kuwashima took advantage of the empty space resulting from Skeaping’s withdrawal to put his GRD into the lead ahead of Jacques Coulon at the start, however over-enthusiasm saw a kerb clipping moment at Church causing Kuwashima to spin off into the infield loosing a couple of laps before he regained the track. This left Coulon in the lead but Walker was soon ahead and despite several good efforts from the Frenchman Walker eventually pulled away to a 3.2 second victory. Sutcliffe and Leclere had a tremendous battle for third with Sutcliffe being hampered with wrong gearing, at the end they crossed the line almost together and were credited with the same time. Neil Ginn, Alan Jones and Jean-Pierre Jarier had a great dustup for fifth with Ginn coming out on top, the three cars being separated by 0.4 seconds at the finish. Next up was Damien Magee having his first run in the ex-Alan McCully Brabham BT38, the Irishman dead-heating on time with the similar car of Tony Brise.

A few drops of rain had fallen at the end of the second heat so the grid for the final was made up from the first fifteen in each heat in alternating grid slots with Williamson in pole. There was some doubt about the engine in Williamson’s car has it had been emitting rattling noises during the first heat but it was decided not to change it for the final.
Once again it was Williamson who made the best start and at the end of lap 1 he led from Walker, von Opel, Mass, Sutcliffe, Leclere, Serpaggi, Wilds, Jarier, Coulon, Jones, Hull, the Brise brothers, Vermilio, Magee, Harness, MacDonald, Tyrrell, Trimmer and the rest. von Opel locked up at the chicane on lap 2 and dropped a couple of places which allowed Walker to break away from the rest of the pack. Mike Wilds was soon out with bad fuel surge after a float chamber had been adjusted to try and cure the surge he had suffered in his heat.
Now clear of the other cars Walker began to home in on Williamson and on lap 4 he took the lead at the chicane, Williamson stayed on the tail of the Ensign for a lap but then Walker began to edge away and at half distance he was leading by a couple of seconds. However Williamson wasn’t beaten and he gradually began to close the gap again, the GRD was quicker under braking and through the corners whilst the Ensign had the advantage down the straights. On lap 14 Williamson was right with the Ensign and he made a couple of efforts to get by on the straight only to drop back again, the GRD lost ground again on lap 16 and it seemed as if Walker had the measure of his fellow competitor. Williamson put his head down again and on lap 19 he put the GRD back into the lead albeit briefly but then a moment at the complex at the last lap seemed to be the end of his chances. At Church Williamson began to close up again on Walker and as they went into the chicane the Ensign moved wide to block the outside line and Williamson immediately dived to the inside and as the two cars braked it was Williamson on the absolute limit that took the lead and as they crossed the finish line the GRD was 0.2 seconds ahead of the Ensign.
Behind the first two finishers third had initially been a fight between Leclere, Serpaggi, Coulon, Sutcliffe, von Opel, Mass, Hull, Jarier, Tony Brise, Jones and Tim Brise. von Opel’s problem at the chicane broke the group a little and left Mass leading Leclere, Sutcliffe and Serpaggi. Tony Brise went straight on at the hairpin on lap 7 which delayed both Alan Jones and his brother. Mass had dropped to the back of the third placed group by lap 11 along with Sutcliffe as both were suffering from down on power engines whilst von Opel had moved up to challenge the three Frenchmen. Leclere and Serpaggi worked together to pull ahead of von Opel and Coulon and by the finish they had a four second gap over Sutcliffe who lead Coulon by 0.4 seconds.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Thruxton, 30 July 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, 23 July 1972

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Race Report: Mallory-Park, 23 July 1972

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This consolation race was made up of the 11 non-qualifiers from the Lombank North Central round.

It was Jeremy Gambs who made the best start from the middle of the front row whilst pole man Keiichi Tahara went off the road at the Esses writing off his GRD in the process. Richard Mallock moved into second place until overheating caused his U2 to drop away and eventually retire leaving Simon Sherman in his Royale RP11 and John MacDonald’s March 713M to squabble over the runner-up spot. In the last few laps Sherman closed in on Gamb’s Ensign but the Royale man failed to catch the winner by 1.4 seconds. Of the other runners front row occupant John Littler’s Ensign was out with carburetor problems and Jorge Pinhol’s GRD spun off at the Esses.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Mallory-Park, 23 July 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, 23 July 1972

Mallory-Park_23_7_72

Race Report: Mallory Park, 23 July 1972

Mallory-Park_23_7_72

A more than full grid arrived for this round of the Lombard North Central Championship and the non-qualifiers were given a consolation race at the end of the day.

Only 1.8 seconds covered the 20 runners in the main race, fastest was the works Iberia Ensign of Mike Walker from the GRD of Andy Sutcliffe, the man currently leading the Lombank Championship, third fastest was the GRD of Japanese driver Masami Kuwashima. Surprisingly far back were the GRD of Roger Williamson with tyre and handling problems, Tony Brise whose Brabham BT38 needed an engine change and Barrie Maskell in Roger Keele’s usual Lotus 69 who appeared to have been been given a wrong time.

It was Kuwashima in his GRD who made the best start and and the end of lap 1 he led from Mike Walker with a hard charging Roger Williamson already up to third, Andy Sutcliffe was fourth with Peter Hull and Bob Evans in fifth and sixth. For the next three laps the field circulated nose to tail with no change of positions, then on lap 4 Walker passed Kuwashima into the Esses and at the hairpin Williamson and Sutcliffe followed suit. For the remainder of the race it was a three-cornered battle between these three top drivers, Walker led most of the race although Williamson got ahead at Gerards on lap 9 but the Ensign was back in front at the Esses. Williamson made his move on lap 19 when he took the lead again at Gerards and he immediately eked out a small lead he held to the finish. Walker fought hard to keep Sutcliffe behind him aided by the GRD driver being hampered by a misfire. Kuwashima had fallen back into a long battle with Hull and the GRD and the Brabham swopped places continually until near the end of the race when Kuwashima had to drop back when his engine started to loose oil from a loose filter.
Most of the rest of the field ran the race without difficulty the only notable retirement being that of Barrie Maskell with sundry problems, both Tony Brise and Alan Jones were disappointed with their lowly finishes for no obvious reason.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Mallory Park, 23 July 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: Salzburgring, 16 July 1972

salzburgring_16_7_72

Race Report: Salzburgring, 16 July 1972

salzburgring_16_7_72
This race was entitled the Rundstreckenrennen Ulm and took place over an unknown number of laps of the 4.238 km circuit, clashing with a race at Hockenheim the very small entry consisted of four lesser known German F3 runners and a couple of Italian entries.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Salzburgring, 16 July 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