Race Report: Arras, 28 October 1973

arras_28_10_73

Race Report: Arras, 28 October 1973

arras_28_10_73

The final round of the French F3 Championship over the tiny circuit of Arras was held over two heats the result being decided on aggregate. Christian Ethuin won the first heat from Jacques Lafitte, both in Martinis with Alain Serpaggi’s Alpine third. Ethuin retired in heat 2 handing victory to Jacques Lafitte from Martini team mate Jean-Pierre Paoli with Jean Ragnotti coming home third. The aggregate result saw Jacques Lafitte take victory from Paoli and Serpaggi.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Arras, 28 October 1973

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, 28 October 1973

thruxton_28_10_73

Race Report: Thruxton, 28 October 1973

thruxton_28_10_73

A small but good quality entry arrived at Thruxton for the final round of the Forward Trust Championship and at the end of practice it was Brazilian pseudonym “Teleco” who set the fastest time in his March 733 ahead of the similar car of Richard Robarts and the Dastle Mk10B of Barrie Maskell. All ready crowned champion Ian Taylor sat on row two, his qualifying blighted by fuel pressure problems. Further back Glen Eagling was having a one-off outing in the Modus March 733 usually driven by Mo Harness.
There were two notable non -starters, Mike Wilds whose engine blew up after only a few laps and newcomer, Brazilian F Ford champion, Alex Dias-Ribeiro. The Brazilian had hired Leonel Friedrich’s March 733 with Hollywood sponsorship but after working his way down to a 1:21.8 a large accident at Village damaged the car, the driver emerging unscathed.

It was “Teleco” who got the best start as the flag fell and he led round the first lap followed by Richard Robarts, Ian Taylor, Barrie Maskell (who had been passed by Taylor at the complex), Tony Rouff’s GRD was next chased by Matt Spitzley’s March and Nicholas von Preussen who proceeded to have a big spin at the chicane in his 733. Robarts managed to grab the lead at the chicane at the end of the first lap but “Teleco” reasserted himself at the complex but Robarts hadn’t given up. As “Teleco” and Robarts entered the chicane on lap 2 Robarts tried for the lead on the outside, the two cars touched but both drivers managed to keep on the road without loosing position.
Once again as the two leaders entered the chicane on lap 3 Robarts tried for the lead and this time by braking as late as possible the Myson car scrabbled into the lead it would hold for the rest of the race. “Teleco” stayed a close second for the remaining laps despite coming under pressure from Taylor in the closing laps and he lead the Baty car over the line by 0.6 seconds.
Maskell lost his fourth place with a spin at the chicane on the second lap allowing Rouff and Spitzley through although the Dastle regained fifth from Spitzley at the chicane on the last lap. Nicholas von Preussen pulled back to seventh after his first lap spin to lead home Derek Lawrence in the Ehrlich.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Thruxton, 28 October 1973

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, 21 October 1973

brands-hatch_21_10_73

Race Report: Brands Hatch, 21 October 1973

brands-hatch_21_10_73

This was the final round of the 1973 John Player Championship and over 40 cars arrived at Brands Hatch to do battle over the Grand Prix circuit. Any one of four men were in with a chance of the JP title: Alan Jones, Tony Brise, Masami Kuwashima and Jacques Lafitte the latter being many peoples favourite due to the general competitiveness of the Martini chassis and Lafitte’s consistency throughout the year.

There was a single 45 minute practice session for the cars that was somewhat delayed due to the late arrival of some fire-fighting equipment and when the cars did get out they found a wet and slippery track in front of them.

By the time practice was over it was the Baty March of Ian Taylor that had set the best time to take pole position from the March of Tony Brise and the Alpine-Renault of Michel Leclere who both set identical times to complete the front row. Championship hopefuls Alan Jones and Masami Kuwashima filled the second row in their GRD and March respectively, the Vegantune engine in Jones car was swapped after practice as a precautionary measure.
Of the other runners Brian Henton nearly stuffed the works Ensign into the bank at Druids and lost a lot of time removing the car from the ditch and pitting, he then found his clutch almost inoperative. Alain Serpaggi did not appreciate the conditions at all and had several spins in the works Alpine-Renault which helped explain his lowly grid position. Mike Wilds hit the sleepers very hard at Paddock and although personally unharmed this could not be said of the Dempster March, some hard work by his crew saw it fit for the race but with several bent pick up points on the tub it was unlikely to handle well. Both Leonel Friedrich and Hakan Dahlqvist crashed before they had completed the requisite three qualifying laps so were excluded whilst Matt Spitzley and Rod Smith were out with engine problems. First and second reserves Danny Sullivan and Per-Olof Zetterstrom got in the race but there was no room for Bernard Chevanne, Buzz Buzaglo and Alain Cudini.

There was some indecision amongst the drivers before the start as to what tyres to wear, most used wets or intermediates for the warm up lap but switched to slicks on the grid the exceptions being Leclere, Max, Harness, Lafitte and Serpaggi.
As the flag fell Leclere led from the front row, his wet tyres warming up faster and giving him more grip, Brise took second from Taylor, Perkins, Kuwashima, Max, Jones, Wood and the rest, and as the cars entered Hawthorns for the first time Brise dived past Leclere into the lead he would hold for the rest of the race. At the end of lap 1 it was Brise from Leclere, Taylor, Kuwashima, Max, Perkins, Jones, Wood, Ethuin, Robarts, Andersson, Paoli, Wilds, Rouff, Lafitte and the rest.
By lap 3 Brise was beginning to pull away from Taylor and Kuwashima who had passed Leclere who had Perkins, Max, Jones, Wood, Ethuin, Harness, Roberts and Andersson behind him. Lafitte was next a bit down the road followed by Nordstrom until the latter hit the barriers at Bottom Bend, next up was Lawrence, Rouff, Beguin, Paoli, Maskell, MacDonald, Svensson, Rousselot, “Teleco” and Albera. At the back Lombardi led Wunderink, Serpaggi (who had pitted to to swop to dries), Sullivan, Lewis (who had to have a push start), Fuller and Zetterstrom. Major retirements were Mike Wilds who spun at Westfield from thirteenth when his fuel pressure disappeared and Brian Henton who bent a front wishbone when he understeered off the track at Hawthorns.

As Brise continued to lead the battle for second was between Taylor and Kuwashima with Perkins, Jones, Wood and Ethuin squabbling over fourth. Wood soon began moving up and by lap 7 he was up to fourth and closing in on the second place fight, soon after Ethuin also demoted Jones and Perkins. Wood passed Kuwashima on lap 11 but the Japanese March driver stayed on his gearbox and regained the place two laps later also demoting Taylor and immediately pulling away. The Australian duo of Jones and Perkins were still at it and the two cars made contact at Hawthorns loosing Perkins quite a lot of ground. Kuwashima’s good run came to an end when he damaged a wheel following an off at Dingle Dell, this moved Wood up to second followed closely by Taylor with Ethuin in fourth and Jones in fifth which would be enough to secure him the championship.
Perkins was fired up after his run in with Jones and he soon clawed back the deficit and as Jones engine began to go off the Brabham passed the GRD for fifth on lap 23. Jean Max was next out when he retired his Martini with handling problems and Leclere retired his Alpine with a punctured wet tyre. Conny Andersson was lucky to escape injury when something on his March appeared to break, possibly as a result of contact with Lafitte at Bottom Bend, the car turned suddenly into the bank on the main straight. Lafitte himself was battling for ninth with Robarts and when Serpaggi tried passing Robarts to unlap himself at Stirlings he touched the Myson March and Robarts spun allowing Lafitte through. Lafitte made up another place shortly when Harness spun at Kidney whilst Robarts dropped further back into the clutches of “Teleco” as his engine began to go off.
As the race entered its last three laps Brise began to slow as his fuel pressure began to drop in the corners and Brise began to use a higher gear where possible to conserve petrol. From 6 seconds the gap dropped to 1.8 seconds but the chequered flag was out and Brise took the win and the championship with Wood leading Taylor home by 0.6 seconds. Ethuin just held on for fourth from a fast closing Perkins who lost out by 0.4 seconds, a frustrated and disappointed Jones took sixth loosing out to Brise in the end by just two points. Jacques Lafitte came home in seventh handicapped by his choice of intermediate tyres and thus ruling himself out of the championship race.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Brands Hatch, 21 October 1973

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, 14 October 1973

mallory-park_14_10_73

Race Report: Mallory Park, 14 October 1973

mallory-park_14_10_73

Sufficient cars arrived for this, the penultimate round of the John Player Championship, that the field was split into two heats to decide who would make the 20 runners in the final.

It had rained overnight and the track was still damp when the Heat 1 runners began their session, most of the drivers, Mike Wilds and Brian Henton being a notable exceptions, opting to run wet tyres. Tony Brise was fastest of the first group with Brise much happier with the handling of his Kent Messenger March now that a broken engine mount had been discovered and repaired. Second quickest was Russell Wood who had fitted the Novamotor from Buzz Buzaglo’s car finding it a big improvement over his normal unit, Richard Robarts completed the front row to make it an all March affair. Leonel Friedrich had been fourth quickest but on his final lap at Gerards the Brazilian had a huge off damaging his March beyond immediate repair. Further back on the grid Jac Nelleman was having an outing in a DART GRD as Pedro Passadore was apparently still afflicted with ‘flu, Wilds found his choice of intermediates was too optimistic whilst Henton tried slicks on his Ensign that still wasn’t properly sorted following a huge accident at midweek testing at Oulton Park. Stirling work by Mo Nunn and his team saw it rebuilt in time for qualifying even if it was wearing a 1972 Colin Vandervell nosecone.

It was a March on pole for Heat 2 also, this time driven by Conny Andersson who shared the same time as second and third men Jacques Lafitte and Jean Pierre Paoli in their works Martinis. Further back John MacDonald was running in the ex-Damien Magee Brabham BT41 and debutante Rod Smith was in the ex-Richard Knight GRD 372. Masami Kuwashima found his practice time severely curtailed when the Holbay in his March proved reluctant to start.

It was dry for the start of Heat 1 and it was Robarts who made the best getaway to head Brise, Harness, Wood and Wilds who had made a great start. Ian Taylor was slow away being blocked by Wood and Nelleman only made it to Gerards on lap 2 before the Dane lost it in a big way writing the GRD off against the bank, new unscrubbed tyres were cited as the cause. Robarts continued to lead until lap 8 when Brise slipped through into the lead at the hairpin, Robarts fought back and regained the lead at Gerards, the Myson driver kept his lead for the remaining lap and a half to lead Brise home by 0.6 seconds, Harness was less than a second down in third with Wilds who had demoted Wood fourth. Henton pulled up well from the back of the grid to finish seventh despite loosing his clutch on lap 2.

There was chaos at the start of Heat 2 when Jean Ragnotti, in an attempt to make up for his back of the grid start, went off and hit the Armco by the pits fortunately without personal injury, also involved was Tom Hilliar who damaged the suspension of his Ensign in the accident. In addition Ragnotti’s team mate Albera punctured a tyre while further round the lap Francia spun his Brabham at Gerards so both men were pleased when the race was red flagged to allow the marshalls to remove the mangled remains of Ragnotti’s March. At the restart it was Andersson who got away the best and proceeded to leave the rest of the field behind him as the Swede pulled out a lead of over four seconds. It was Paoli who slotted into second as Lafitte made a slow start but by lap 6 Lafitte had recovered and he pushed his team mate back to third. Alan Jones was tenth on lap 1 but he soon began overtaking the cars in front and he moved his GRD up to third by the finish pushing Paoli back to fourth and closing right in on Lafitte. Retirements included Barrie Maskell with fuel pressure problems in the Dastle and Hakan Dahlqvist who damaged his Merlyn at the hairpin.

It was originally intended that the fastest 20 would take part in the final but Rousselot complained that the Ragnotti accident had slowed the second heat so it was decided to take the first ten from each race.

Once again Andersson made a great start and immediately opened out a small gap to the next bunch comprising of Harness, Brise and Robarts with a further gap to Jones, Wilds, Lafitte, Beguin, Wood, Rouff, Kuwashima, Henton, Perkins, Nordstrom, Taylor, Francia, Spitzley, Rousselot and “Teleco”. Paoli was a first lap retirement after hitting the bank at Gerards, Rouff loosing his nosecone in the incident, he quickly fell down the field with his car handling very strangely.
Brise was harassing Harness for second place whilst Robarts quickly lost places to Wilds, Lafitte and Jones, Henton was driving carefully further back in the pack, picking up places as and when he could. The unfortunate Andersson only lasted in the lead until lap 7 when his gear linkage broke near the lever forcing him into the pits and retirement. This left Harness in the lead with Brise still on his tail, the two leaders were briefly held up as they lapped the tardy Rouff allowing Wilds and Lafitte to close up a little whilst Jones and Robarts were dropping away. Henton was now flying, he had pulled away from Wood and on lap 15 he passed Robarts on the inside at the Esses and a lap later he repeated the move on Jones except this time on the outside.
Leader Harness was now finding understeer a problem and he was beginning to hold up those behind him which was benefiting the fast closing Henton. Lap 24 and Harness was reduced to weaving to try and keep Brise back the following lap and Wilds made his move pushing Brise back to third. Two more laps and Harness was finished both Wilds and Harness getting the better of him, Henton and Lafitte were next up, the works Ensign having passed the works Martini on lap 26 and two laps later both drivers pushed the poor Harness back a further couple of places. With a lap to go Henton was doing everything he could to catch the two leading Marches and on the final lap Henton took the inside line at Gerards and pulled level with Brise but along the Stebbe Straight Brise moved across on Henton pushing the Ensign onto the grass. The Ensign had a bumpy ride before it regained the track loosing a place to Lafitte in the process.
Therefore at the finish it was Wilds that took the win 1.2 seconds ahead of Brise, Lafitte and Henton but Henton protested Brise’s tactics, the stewards agreed and Brise was disqualified for some dangerous driving that could have had serious repercussions. Harness took fourth just behind Henton with Wood some way back in fifth, Robarts finished sixth after struggling to pass Jones who was suffering from a worn front tyre and a down on power engine.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Mallory Park, 14 October 1973

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, 7 October 1973

oulton-park_7_10_73

Race Report: Oulton Park, 7 October 1973

oulton-park_7_10_73

It was originally planned to run two heats on Saturday with a Sunday final for this round of the John Player Championship but a lack of entries meant just the one race on Sunday. Practice was split into two 45 minutes sessions on Saturday but it was the first session that really counted as it began to rain a few minutes into the second period.

One man who actually set his fast time in the second session in the 5 laps before it rained was pole sitter Larry Perkins, benefiting from some midweek testing Perkins had the Brabham flying to take pole by 0.2 seconds from Mike Wilds and Brian Henton who set identical times. Alan Jones was fourth quickest despite still suffering discomfort from his neck which he had damaged at Brands Hatch, initial fears that he had broken it were allayed when x-rays showed severely strained ligaments. Jones set his time in team mate Pedro Passadore’s car the Uruguayan missing the meeting due to a bout of ‘flu. Tony Brise found the handling of his March not to his satisfaction whilst Ian Taylor and Mo Harness were sorting newly rebuilt cars, Russell Wood as seems to be the norm recently was less than happy with his engine. The last two runners, Tom Hilliar and Andy McGregor failed to qualify, the latter arriving late and having to do all his practice in the wet.

There was chaos as the flag fell, Brian Henton was stranded on the line when the centre pulled out of his clutch, the front rows managed to avoid the stranded Ensign but an unsighted Wunderink slewed sideways and was hit by Maskell and Svensson, all four cars were instant retirements. Back at the front it was Perkins in the lead chased by Wilds, Kuwashima, Jones, Lafitte, Andersson and Paoli, Andersson soon loosing a place to Paoli as his Novamotor began to misfire. Friedrich was the next runner and the next retirement when his engine seized at Knickerbrook causing Robarts to drop down to fourteenth place when he had to try and avoid the slowing March. These incidents moved Dahlqvist, Harness, Spitzley, Brise, Wood and Taylor up a couple of positions. Robarts bad day at the office continued when he retired on lap 2 with a broken throttle cable.
Out in front Perkins was looking untouchable, both car and driver were going superbly and the Cowangie Kid was leaving the second place battle behind him. It was Jones who was now runner up having passed Kuwashima on lap 4 and Wilds on lap 6, Lafitte was fifth ahead of Brise who was quickly making up ground with the second Martini of Paoli seventh. There were two more retirements to add to the list when Andersson’s nose splitter broke off which together with the misfire was enough for the Swede, Mo Harness was out when he spun and hit the barrier at Knickerbrook, he continued but retired at Clay Hill with minor damage.
By lap 15 Perkins appeared to have the race in the bag as second place man Jones was busy fighting off the attentions of Wilds, Kuwashima and Lafitte. Spitzley was the next retirement when he lost his March at Cascades when trying to keep up with Taylor, Wood and Dahlqvist. It was all change at the front on lap 18 when the unfortunate Perkins had his engine loose all its oil at Knickerbrook, Larry switching off the engine before too much damage was done. Jones moved up to take the lead but he was still under intense pressure from Wilds, Kuwashima and Lafitte, Brise was next up but he was unable to get close to the leading foursome.

Kuwashima made his move on Wilds on lap 23 passing the Dempster March at Knickerbrook and immediately setting about trying to wrest the lead from Jones. Wilds lost a little ground and found himself under heavy attack from Lafitte, Mike went a little wide at Esso on lap 26, Lafitte drawing level with the March along Top Straight and he took third entering Knickerbrook. Jones and Kuwashima now found themselves joined by Lafitte and on lap 28 Kuwashima tried the outside line around Jones at Knickerbrook, he then ran wide at Lodge and Lafitte was instantly up to second. Jones found the Martini trying for first at Cascades but Jones wasn’t about to give up the lead without a struggle. Lafitte didn’t get a second chance at Jones as Kuwashima retook second spot at Old Hall on the final lap, all three cars ran nose-to-tail on the rest of the final lap but there were no further position changes and at the finish it was Jones from Kuwashima and Lafitte, the three cars only 0.6 seconds apart. Wilds took fourth a couple of seconds back with Brise well away in fifth with another gap back to Ian Taylor in sixth. The final runner was Tony Rouff two laps down, his disappointing result explained by having to pit with plug trouble as well as loosing the nosecone on his GRD as a result of getting involved in the first lap startline fracas.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Oulton Park, 7 October 1973

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