Race Report: Brands Hatch, 30 September 1973

brands-hatch_30_9_73

Race Report: Brands Hatch, 30 September 1973

brands-hatch_30_9_73

This round of the John Player Championship unfortunately clashed with the Nogaro round of the French championship which resulted in the absence of any of the French drivers, nevertheless a good entry still arrived at Brands Hatch to do battle over two heats and a final.

Practice for Heat 1 saw Brian Henton fastest, Superhen was having another outing in the works development Ensign that this week featured new wings, font and rear, and the engine cover was missing. Next up was Sweden’s Conny Andersson with Mike Wilds completing the front row. Buzz Buzaglo was showing good form now that he had a new rev counter fitted, his old one had been running 1200 rpm too fast so the Australian was now able to make better use of his engine.

Alan Jones should have been in Heat 1 but on leaving the pits and approaching paddock his left front wheel locked and the GRD hit the sleepers. It was decided rather than to rush things and to allow Jones to receive treatment for a sore neck he should take over Pedro Passadore’s car in Heat 2. It was perhaps then a little surprising to see Jones put his troubles behind him and take the fastest time in his heat ahead of Hakan Dahlqvist and Tony Brise despite not fitting into his team mates car too well. Times in the second heat were quite a lot slower than the first due to a heavy coating of oil around most of its length. Larry Perkins found himself at the back of the grid when a driveshaft broke on his Brabham before he had been able to set a competitive time. Barrie Maskell, despite a recent spell in hospital with a virus infection,was out again in a heavily revised Dastle which he felt was a definite step in the right direction.

Brian Henton and Conny Andersson made the best starts when the flag fell for Heat 1 but it was Henton who had the edge and he pushed the Ensign into the lead from Andersson, “Teleco”, Buzaglo, Wilds, Taylor, Kuwashima, Rouff, Nordström, Robarts, MacDonald, Santo, Vejlund, Elton, Musetti, Moffett and Lewis, the latter suffering from a bent fin following contact at Druids. Henton and Andersson were now involved in a fraught battle for the lead with Andersson taking over at the front on lap 3 when he passed Henton at Druids and the Ensign lost more ground when Henton understeered wide at Clearways but within a lap Henton was right back on Andersson’s tail. On lap 9 as the two leaders entered Kidney Henton aimed for a very small gap on the inside of Andersson and made it through and back into the lead. Once back in front Henton was determined to stay there and he hung on for the remaining lap and a half to take the win by 0.4 seconds. Third place had initially belonged to “Teleco” hotly pursued by Buzaglo, Wilds, Taylor, Robarts and Kuwashima. On lap 8 Wilds passed “Teleco” and the Brazilian dropped away to finish a second away in fourth with Buzaglo a similar distance back in fifth but 0.6 seconds up on Taylor in sixth. The only retirement was Barrie Maskell with a blown head gasket whilst Randy Lewis lost a couple of laps in the pits.

It was Dahlqvist from the middle of the front row who led the rest of the field on the opening lap of Heat 2 followed by Jones, Harness, Friedrich, Brise, Wood, Lombardi, Rousselot, Maskell, Perkins, Lawrence, Svensson, Zetterstrom and Preussen. Jones took the lead at Druids on lap 2 opening out a small advantage over Harness who was now up to second with Dahlqvist almost immediately loosing two more places to Brise and Friedrich. Harness and Brise then moved up to challenge Jones and although the positions did not change in the final laps this wasn’t from lack of trying by any of them. Jones found his damaged neck beginning to trouble him in the closing stages of the race but he hung on to win by 0.2 seconds from Harness with a similar gap back to the third placed Brise. Dahlqvist just headed Friedrich over the line for fourth and fifth with a battling Wood and Rousselot next up. Larry Perkins had made good early progress from his back of the grid start but then found himself bogged down in amongst midfield runners, Lella Lombardi had been running seventh but a spin at Clearways on lap 2 dropped her down the field.

The final consisted of the fastest 20 cars overall and the grid lined up as follows:

Jones
 
Andersson
 
Henton
 
Brise
 
Harness
 
Wilds
 
Friedrich
 
Dahlqvist
 
Rousselot
 
Woods
 
Taylor
 
Buzaglo
 
“Teleco”
 
Kuwashima
 
Robarts
 
Nordström
 
Rouff
 
Perkins
 
Maskell
 
Lawrence
 

Alan Jones was still being troubled by his sore neck and had to receive a painkiller injection before the start of the race but despite this it was his GRD that took the lead towards Paddock but he suddenly seemed to miss a gear allowing Henton to gain the advantage. Ian Taylor found himself pushed off and into the bank at Paddock and the luckless Jones had a spin at Druids resuming in last place. The order at the end of the first lap was Henton, Andersson, Wilds, Brise, Harness, Friedrich, Rousselot, Wood, Dahlqvist, Buzaglo (with a one minute penalty for a jumped start), “Teleco”, Kuwashima, Nordström Robarts, Rouff, Perkins, Maskell, Lawrence and Jones.
By lap 5 Henton had eked out a small gap over Andersson who was under heavy pressure from Wilds, Brise, Harness, Friedrich, Rousselot and Dahlqvist there was then a gap of a couple of seconds to Buzaglo, Kuwashima and Robarts then another gap to a battling Wood and “Teleco” next the similarly duelling pair of Rouff and Perkins. Jones had caught up with these last two but spun again on lap 8, he made up the lost ground again but after another spin on lap 16 he called it a day in too much discomfort from his injured neck.
Henton had opened up a reasonable lead by lap 10 and Andersson who had been clear in second now came under renewed pressure from Mike Wilds and on lap 11 Wilds tried to overtake into Kidney. Both drivers braked a little too late and Andersson ran wide causing Wilds to spin in avoidance, the closely pursuing Brise, Harness and Freidrich managed to make it through as Wilds resumed now down to fifteenth place. Andersson had only dropped to fifth but his nose had been damaged and he retired his March on lap 15.

By half distance, 20 laps, Henton had five seconds in hand over Brise, Harness and Friedrich all of whom were a couple of seconds apart. Next came a big group consisting of Dahlqvist, Robarts, Rousselot, “Teleco”, Perkins, Buzaglo, Wood and Wilds all fighting over fifth. Kuwashima had been with this group but he retired his March with handling problems. Not much happened over the next ten laps but on lap 28 it looked as if Brise had began to close on Henton as the gap dropped to three seconds but the Ensign driver soon opened up his lead again. Harness lost third place on lap 26 when he made contact with the GRD of Nordström when lapping him, he lost enough time for Friedrich, who had been dropping away, to catch and pass him. For the next fourteen laps there would be a tough battle between the two men over third position.

Larry Perkins was making good progress from his lowly starting spot, he was now up to seventh having started seventeenth but he had a battling group right behind him consisting of Rousselot, Buzaglo, Wilds and Woods. Robarts had been with them but he retired after a couple of pit stops failed to cure an electrical fault that caused his engine to misfire.
For the final ten laps nothing happened to the two leaders and Henton led Brise home by some six seconds. Third was not so clear cut, Friedrich, Harness and “Teleco” were all battling for the spot and entering Paddock for the last time there was pandemonium, what happened wasn’t clear but the track was certainly oily, some of it from Friedrich who had a leaking oil cooler. If the cause wasn’t clear the result was, Harness made heavy contact with the banking and Friedrich and “Teleco” had big moments allowing Perkins and Dahlqvist to go through. Thus it was Perkins who took third by 0.2 seconds from Dahlqvist, Friedrich should have been next but a half spin at Bottom Bend allowed “Teleco” to take the place, Friedrich recovering to sixth despite a puncture and no oil. One final incident saw seventh placed Buzaglo lock up on the oil at Druids, the following Wilds got sideways avoiding him and was rammed by Rousselot, Mike Wilds happily overtook all of them to gain the place.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Brands Hatch, 30 September 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, 19 August 1973

brands-hatch_19_8_73

Race Report: Brands Hatch, 19 August 1973

brands-hatch_19_8_73

This was the latest round in the Forward Trust Championship and most of the usual runners were present at Brands Hatch.

Mike Wilds jumped in amongst the front row from the second when the flag fell, as Ian Taylor and Tony Brise moved across to cover Wilds pole sitter Mo Harness led into Paddock, unluckily for Wilds he had anticipated the starter and was awarded the usual one minute penalty. Behind Harness it was Taylor from Wilds and Brise with Taylor in a determined mood and making all possible efforts to take the lead and entering Paddock both cars touched, fortunately without causing any problems. Finally on lap 5 by taking a novel line across the grass at Clearways Taylor somehow forced his way past a surprised Harness. Wilds took advantage of Harness loosing concentration to move up to second as Harness now found himself under attack from Brise. Next up was Richard Robarts in his ex-Nick Crossley March from Alan Jones GRD and Buzz Buzaglo’s March, the last four all running nose to tail. With the leaders unaware of Wilds penalty Taylor was under increasing pressure from the Dempster March, on lap 14 Wilds feinted around the outside at Paddock, as Taylor moved across to cover Wilds dived to the inside and took the lead. Brise also managed to get ahead of Harness at Kidney and closed in on the leaders.

There were no further changes amongst the leaders and Wilds took the chequered flag only to find that with his penalty he had dropped to fifteenth. A surprised Ian Taylor thus found himself declared the winner from Brise in second and Harness in third. Robarts had been right with Harness but fuel surge was causing his engine to cut out dropping him to seventh at the flag. Leonel Friedrich moved up to challenge Harness having moved up from tenth at the start passing Alan Jones on lap 12 but couldn’t find a way past. Jones found himself embroiled in a tense battle with Buzz Buzaglo until Jones managed to open out a gap, Buzaglo then battled with “Teleco” until the pair of them came across the slowing Robarts and “Teleco” got ahead in the confusion. Pedro Passadore had been running with “Teleco” until he had a spin at Druids, a pit stop showed a damper had failed, Johnny Gerber had also been with them but a slipping clutch saw him retire.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Brands Hatch, 19 August 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, 29 July 1973

brands-hatch_29_7_73

Race Report: Brands Hatch, 29 July 1973

brands-hatch_29_7_73

An excellent entry of 51 cars arrived at Brands Hatch for the latest round of the John Player Championship and with no clashing French round most of the top runners from France arrived to take on the best of the English. The drivers were split into three heats with 45 minutes of practice per heat on Sunday morning, Heat 1 was delayed when the unfortunate Rudolf Dötsch had a heavy shunt with his GRD at Kidney when he missed a gear and he was taken to hospital with a broken leg.

Heat 1 was dominated by the French visitors with four of the first five places on the grid, Bernard Beguin’s Ecurie Volant Shell Martini taking pole position by 0.1 seconds from the Kent Messenger GRD of Tony Brise, completing the front row was the BP France Martini of Jacques Lafitte.

Heat 2 saw surprise package Hakan Dahlqvist take fastest time in his Merlyn from the March of Mo Harness which equalled Dahlqvist’s time, Alan Jones was third fastest his GRD 0.2 seconds further back. Brian Henton was a non-starter when he wrote his GRD off with a big shunt at Paddock.
It was the French again who dominated Heat 3 with Alain Serpaggi setting the quickest time of all three heats to plant his Alpine on pole ahead of the Motul La Defense Mondial Martini of Christian Ethuin and the Ecurie ELF March of Alain Cudini. Johnny Gerber non-started when he slid off at Druids and damaged a front corner of his Brabham beyond immediate repair.

Tony Brise launched his March into an immediate lead as pole-sitter Beguin was slowed by a sticking throttle pedal that refused to free itself until the second lap. Leclere’s Alpine moved into second ahead of Lafitte’s Martini with Friedrich assuming fourth spot. Leclere’s second spot only lasted to Clearways on the third lap when fuel pressure problems intervened dropping the Alpine to ninth by the flag. Despite Lafitte’s best efforts Brise held on to the lead to beat the Martini by exactly one second after the ten laps, Friedrich took third after a tense race-long battle with Rousselot beating the Frenchman to the line by 0.2 seconds. Beguin took sixth behind Albera’s Antar March after getting ahead of Spitzley on the eighth lap.

Mo Harness repeated Brise’s flag to flag victory in Heat 2, Lella Lombardi initially holding second spot in her Brabham until she was passed by Alan Jones at Paddock on lap 3. Jones then set off after Harness catching the March on lap 7, the GRD tried hard to pass the March making a last big effort at Clearways on the final lap, but Harness refused to be rattled and won the heat by 0.4 seconds. The next three cars finished almost together with Lombardi just holding off Dahlqvist and Ragnotti with Jean Max only half a second further back. Masami Kuwashima had been holding fourth when his March and the Martini of Jean-Pierre Paoli made contact at Druids putting both cars out of the race.

Russell Wood elected to start from the back of the grid for Heat 3 when he found his March minus first and second gears on the warm up lap. Christian Ethuin made the best start to take the lead in his Martini hotly pursued by the similar car of Alain Cudini and Alain Serpaggi’s Alpine. Serpaggi hounded Cudini for eight laps until he finally found a way past and he immediately closed in on Ethuin but in the remaining two laps was unable to do anything about the flying Martini. Conny Andersson kept the three leading Frenchmen in sight and took fourth just ahead of Pedro Passadore in fifth and Mike Wilds (who had been delayed at the start behind Serpaggi) in sixth. Randy Lewis would have qualified for the final in eighth but a one minute penalty for a jumped start saw him relegated down the final order. Retirements included Danny Sullivan on lap 1 with no gears and Russell Wood with a puncture, Buzz Buzaglo had to pit on lap 3 with a broken spark plug when well placed.

The final consisted of the fastest 20 cars overall and the grid lined up as follows:

Serpaggi
 
Ethuin
 
Brise
 
Cudini
 
Lafitte
 
Jones
 
Harness
 
Andersson
 
Wilds
 
Passadore
 
Lombardi
 
Rousselot
 
Friedrich
 
Ragnotti
 
Dahlqvist
 
Beguin
 
Max
 
Albera
 
Robarts
 
Taylor
 

Brise and Ethuin had recorded identical race times in their respective heats but as Brise had set his time first he was given pole position. As the flag fell Andersson made an unbelievable start from row three and as the cars entered Paddock the Swede took the lead and at the end of the first lap it was Andersson from Brise, Lafitte, Ethuin, Serpaggi, Harness, Passadore, Jones and Friedrich. Andersson’s lead only lasted as far as Druids on lap 2 when Brise outbraked Andersson to take first place. Almost immediately Brise began to pull away from a four car group of Andersson, Lafitte, Ethuin and Serpaggi, all of whom had eyes on second. Mo Harness had dropped a couple of seconds behind this bunch with Alan Jones next up after having just passed Pedro Passadore.
Dahlqvist was out on lap 4 when his Merlyn hit the Paddock banking very hard removing a wheel. Passadore found himself going backwards when he was passed by Cudini on lap 4 and then Wilds on lap 6.
At 10 laps it was Brise then Andersson, Ethuin, Lafitte, Serpaggi, Harness, Cudini, Jones, Wilds, Rousselot and Passadore. Andersson was beginning to pull clear of the French trio behind and Harness was doing his level best to catch them. Lap 15 and Rousselot’s oil tank split covering the track with oil which allowed the French to temporarily recatch Andersson but he then pulled away again. Cudini caught Harness and was trying for sixth when a moment around the back of the circuit dropped him behind the battling Jones and Wilds. Wilds demoted Jones on lap 25, the Australian finding his GRD suffering from a lack of traction.
Entering Clearway’s on the last lap Ethuin’s Martini shed a wheel which flew into the spectator enclosure smashing a car windscreen and narrowly missing a couple of spectators. Meanwhile at the front Brise took the chequered flag 3.6 seconds ahead of Andersson whilst Serpaggi pulled up alongside Lafitte at the line, they were given the same time but Lafitte took the third place. Harness finished just over half a second down in fifth with Mike Wilds taking the sixth place.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Brands Hatch, 29 July 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, 24 June 1973

brands-hatch_24_6_73

Race Report: Brands Hatch, 24 June 1973

brands-hatch_24_6_73

With the exception of the few drivers that had gone to Rouen most of the rest of the top UK runners arrived at Brands Hatch for this round of the Lombard North Central Championship. Pole position went to the GRD of the improving Richard Robarts 0.2 seconds inside Rikki von Opel’s lap record. Completing the front row were the Marches of Tony Brise and Leonel Friedrich, the latter receiving a gear ratio change after practice. On the third row was the welcome sight of Andy Sutcliffe in the Elden Mk12, despite a tired engine Sutcliffe showed there was nothing much wrong with the chassis. Ian Taylor found himself well down the grid when he had to qualify with his March minus third gear.

It was Brazilian Friedrich who led away from Brise and Robarts but by the end of the lap Brise had moved into the lead and that was how it would stay for the rest of the race. Friedrich kept in touch with Brise until lap 5 when the ex-Linguard Goulding Alpine of Allan Davies lost it’s oil. Entering Paddock Brise held a big slide on the oil but Friedrich went off and had to abandon his car, only just in time as Jimmy Fuller lost his Brabham BT38 at the same corner and careered into the empty March.
Robarts was now second but under pressure from a now fully geared Ian Taylor, just as Taylor was about to make a move on Robarts his metering unit detached itself and despite efforts to temporarily repair it was to no avail and the Baty March was out. Andy Sutcliffe took over third, he had been behind Mo Harness but the Ensign had spun off at Kidney on lap 1. There were no further changes in position and Brise cruised home to an easy 14 second victory over Robarts.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Brands Hatch, 24 June 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, 20 May 1973

brands-hatch_20_5_73

Race Report: Brands Hatch, 20 May 1973

brands-hatch_20_5_73

With most of the leading exponents in Zandvoort for the John Player Championship event this round of the Forward Trust Championship gave some of the lesser lights a chance to shine.

Despite a huge spin at Kidney it was Brian Henton’s GRD that took the pole from the similar cars of Richard Robarts and Neil Ginn. Mike Tyrrell wasn’t happy as he felt he had gone faster than the 49.8 the timekeepers had credited him with, sitting next to him was F3 newcomer, Australian F Ford champion, Richard Knight. Val Musetti who was towards the back of the grid decided to fit different fourth and fifth gears for the race and up at the front Henton decided to fit a new third.

As the flag fell Robarts made the best start followed by Henton but Friedrich moved up to second through Paddock, Henton dropped to third with Ginn in fourth. Henton tried hard for the next two laps to get ahead of Friedrich again but on lap 4 he tried too hard and spun out at Paddock. This meant that Robarts was now leading from Friedrich, Ginn and Tony Rouff with Henton recovering fast. By lap 6 Friedrich was reeling in Robarts and Henton had moved back to fourth, two more laps and the gap from first to second was down to under half a second but the intervention of back markers opened the gap again. Friedrich caught up to Robarts again on lap 12 and he tried for the lead along the top straight but Robarts had the edge and Friedrich was slower out of Clearways so the Brazilian could never quite get ahead and Robarts crossed the line 0.2 seconds to the good.
Henton had another spin at Paddock on lap 12 as Matt Spitzley moved up to fourth at the expense of Rouff and these two held their places to the flag finishing some way behind Neil Ginn. Of the other runners Mike Tyrrell finished an oversteering seventh and Henton pitted to disconnect his rear anti-roll bar in an attempt to improve his handling. Musetti’s gear ratio changing strategy proved to be a major mistake when the new gears refused to engage and the Royale had to do most of the race in second or third.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Brands Hatch, 20 May 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, 4 March 1973

brands-hatch_4_3_73

Race Report: Brands Hatch, 4 March 1973

brands-hatch_4_3_73

This was the opening round of the Lombard North Central Formula Three Championship and pole position went to championship favourite Tony Brise who was still running his 1972 GRD, Brise wasn’t happy with the car’s handling and felt his 0:49.2 lap time was on the optimistic side. Second quickest was the Chequered Flag March 733 of Russell Woods who set the same time as Brise with Mike Wilds third fastest in his oversteering Dempster Developments Ensign. A surprise fourth quickest and showing you didn’t need the latest machinery was Damien Magee in his old Palliser, sharing the same time as Magee was the overheating Baty March of Ian Taylor.

As the flag dropped it was the two men from the second row who made the best starts with both Mike Wilds and Damien Magee getting the best of the front row starters and leading into Paddock. 

At the end of the first lap the two cars of Magee and Wilds were side by side across the line and as they entered Paddock Magee went around the outside of Wilds and the two cars made contact. Wilds went sideways as Magee took the lead and lost several places dropping down to fifth with the nose on his March now askew. Taylor was now second with Wood and Brise third and fourth, all three were charging and on lap 3 they had caught up with Magee. There was now a furious four way battle for the lead with all the drivers showing their F Ford roots with plenty of wild manoeuvres and wheel banging. Lap 4 saw Wood pass Taylor at Kidney and on the next lap he repeated the move on Magee putting the Chequered Flag March into the lead.
It took Taylor a further three laps to demote Magee to third, diving inside the Irishman at Druids but Magee wasn’t giving up and repeatedly pushed the Palliser back alongside the March under braking. On lap 14 they came across some backmarkers and in the confusion Magee regained his second place and although Taylor tried hard to move up again more backmarkers balked him and he had to settle for third at the finish less than a second behind Magee.

Back at the front Wood had gradually pulled away from the battling duo behind him and he took the win by 4.2 seconds from Magee and Taylor. Brise had never been far behind the two men ahead but he still wasn’t happy with his GRD and settled for fourth ahead of Wilds and Jones who had both had a long duel with Japan’s Masami Kuwashima. Val Musetti took a good eighth after starting from the back row of the grid, ninth was Brian Henton who suffered several spins, he had been dicing with Mo Harness in his Ensign but Mo had to retire with a broken wishbone. Tony Trimmer was out in a borrowed Brabham BT41 but a blown head gasket in practice meant a poor grid position and the engine was still poorly in the race causing several pit stops.

After the race an angry Mike Wilds protested Magee’s driving to the stewards but they let the result stand although Magee did receive a reprimand.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Brands Hatch, 4 March 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, 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: 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: Brands Hatch, 14 July 1972

brands-hatch_14_7_72

Race Report: Brands Hatch, 14 July 1972

brands-hatch_14_7_72

Despite receiving in excess of 100 entries, more than enough for three heats and a final, for some reason best known to themselves the organisers accepted only 41 (35 to race plus 6 reserves) of which 39 arrived for this the supporting race to the British GP. This somewhat shortsighted attitude meant the very large crowd had to forgo the pleasure of seeing most of the best foreign drivers as well as many of the regular British runners.

Practice was held over two one hour sessions during the mornings of Thursday and Friday, the first session was generally a couple of seconds slower than the second due to oil dropped by the F5000 runners. Fastest of all, as is becoming his trademark, was Roger Williamson who suffered a blown head gasket on Thursday but after experimenting with different Dunlop compounds on Friday he was half a second fastest than the rest. Sharing the front row was Colin Vandervell and his Ensign, Vandervell suffered a slipping clutch on Thursday but was flying on Friday. Row two, unusually for Brands Hatch the organisers were using a 2X2 grid, consisted of Mike Walker’s Ensign and Tony Trimmer’s Lotus 73.

Tom Pryce headed row 3 with Stan Matthews who was having his best run to date in his March 723, next up were Jochen Mass in the works STP March, there was some problem with the car but the team couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was and Brendan McInerney who was delighted with his new Ensign. Peter Hull led row 6, he had been second fastest on Thursday but gear selection problems slowed him on Friday, his time was shared by Brise who was 400rpm down due to a metering unit problem, von Opel who felt he should have gone quicker and Evans and Wood.
Of the rest of the runners, Maskell was in handling difficulties as were Skeaping and Jones although Jones was very pleased with the service from the GRD team in trying to sort things out with his new car. Roger Keele had a spin at Stirlings as the result of a puncture and was hit by the closely following James Hunt, the Dastle flipped twice and ended up inverted on a barrier, Hunt was very lucky to crawl out uninjured. Damage to Roger Keele’s Lotus was restricted to a couple of bent radius rods that were replaced for the race although he was a nonstarter when his shock absorber broke on the warm-up lap probably as a result of the accident. Other drivers in trouble were Vermilio whose Lotus was in bad gear selection difficulties, Bev Bond who crashed the Ehrlich, Lamplough who only did one session with engine problems, MacDonald with clutch problems, Horsley who had a shunt and O’Brien who didn’t qualify after an engine blow up.
Colin Vandervell had the edge at the start with Trimmer trying to follow him through but by Paddock it was Williamson from Vandervell, Walker, Trimmer and Mass. Further back Maskell braked hard to miss those in front, spinning as a result, several other drivers including Jones and Matthews taking to the grass to avoid him. Walker and Vandervell had agreed a plan to work together to try and beat Williamson but entering Druids Walker got inside Vandervell and slid wide allowing Trimmer and Mass to get through as well as giving Williamson the break he needed. At the end of lap 1 Williamson had a huge three second lead over Trimmer, Mass, Vandervell, Walker, Brise, Hull, Pryce, von Opel, Wood, Rousselot, Vermilio, and Skeaping. At the back were a recovering Maskell and McInerney, the latter having found himself pushed off at Druids. Of the midfield runners Stan Matthews called into the pits with handling difficulties with his March whilst Bond and Harness were out with broken engine mounts and a faulty fuel pump respectively.
Williamson continued to pull away at an unbelievable three seconds a lap whilst behind him Trimmer, Mass, Vandervell and Walker were having a great battle until lap 4 when Vandervell and Walker got ahead of the other two and began to pull away. The Brabhams of Brise and Hull were already out, Brise hit the barriers at Stirlings when trying too hard on lap 3 and Hull was out three laps later with a broken throttle cable. Pryce was another retirement when he was helped off at Druids which left von Opel in fifth from Sutcliffe, these two were pulling away from a battle between Rousselot, Vermilio, Evans, Skeaping and Wood.
By lap 7 Williamson was 13 seconds to the good and he was shown the “Easy” pitboard, second was Walker who was edging away from Vandervell and Mass. Tony Trimmer dropped 12 places when he went wide at Druids and hit Pryce’s abandoned Royale, fortunately he didn’t damage the Lotus 73. MacDonald was out on lap 8 after spinning at Hawthorns and Matthews retired with a puncture although he would have been disqualified anyway for reversing in the pit road .
Walker reduced the gap to Williamson to ten seconds by half distance but it was obvious that the GRD driver had everything well under control, Vandervell had pulled away from Mass who was suffering engine problems, next up was von Opel who had a couple of seconds in hand over Andy Sutcliffe. By this stage of the race the main interest was in the battle for seventh between Rousselot, Vermilio, Evans Skeaping and Wood. On lap 11 Evans was out with a damaged nose but Alan Jones moved his GRD up to take his place, Skeaping was next to go when a wheel stud sheered on lap 14. Meanwhile Jones had now moved to the front of the seventh place battle on lap 17 despite the best efforts of Vermilio to get ahead.
With only one lap remaining Mike Walker was an unfortunate retirement from second place when the engine in his Ensign cried enough although he had some consolation with a new lap record. So at the end of 20 laps it was Williamson who coasted to an easy 17.2 second win over Colin Vandervell, Mass took third despite his engine problems with von Opel fourth ahead of Sutcliffe and Jones. Late retirements were McInerney who bent a steering arm after light contact with Lamplough, Musetti who was another to go off at Druids and Lewis who had engine troubles.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Brands Hatch, 14 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