Race Report: Clermont Ferrand, 17 June 1973

clermont-ferrand_17_6_73

Race Report: Clermont Ferrand, 17 June 1973

clermont-ferrand_17_6_73

This 12 lap round of the French Formula 3 Championship was supporting the European 2-litre Sports Car Championship event. Jacques Lafitte took pole position in his works Martini, he was using the car usually driven by Jean-Pierre Paoli after damaging his normal chassis in a testing accident. Second fastest 0.7 seconds slower than Lafitte was Michel Leclere in the works Alpine-Renault, the sister Alpine of Alain Serpaggi was third.

The three front row men led away from the start with Lafitte and Leclere constantly swopping the lead as Serpaggi kept a watching brief in third until his Alpine lost a wheel fortunately without injury to Serpaggi. Next up were Larry Perkins and Bernard Beguin but the Cowangie Kid began to suffer from brake fade and gradually dropped away to finish sixth. Back at the front Lafitte and Leclere continued their fantastic battle for the lead with both men taking it in turns at the front but at the finish line it was Lafitte that kept the nose of his Martini in front to win by 0.3 seconds.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Clermont Ferrand, 17 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: Clermont ferrand, 2 July 1972

clermont-ferrand_2_7 _72

Race Report: Clermont ferrand, 2 July 1972

clermont-ferrand_2_7 _72

Although this FFSA Formula Three Trophy race supported the French GP there were surprisingly few foreign entries and the majority of the field was made up of domestic runners. This was possibly partially due to the fact that there was no start money on offer and also that the grid was restricted to 25 starters.

Fastest in qualifying was Roger Williamson in his usual GRD 372, he soon came to terms with the difficult track and his pole time was less than 12 seconds away from some of the slower F1 boys. F3 returnee Jean-Pierre Jabouille set the second fastest time in Depailler’s Monaco winning car, it was thought that Alpine wanted the F2 driver in one of the cars to continue their run of success in the French championship races. Two more Alpines were to be found on the second row of the 2X2 grid, the works car of Michel Leclere and the 1971 ex-Depailler car now handled by Lucien Guitteny.

Row three was Jean-Pierre Jarier, once again going very well in the La Vie Clare March 713M and the first of the numerous Martini Mk9s this one driven by Jacques Coulon. Further down the grid the man who builds the Martinis, Richard Knight, who had semi-retired was out giving a customer’s car a run. Both of the works Dastles arrived for James Hunt and Bubbles Horsley but worn out engines and wheel bearing problems afflicted both cars, Horsley did not qualify and although Hunt made it a broken upright meant he non-started. Bev Bond was initially first reserve in the Ehrlich ES1 but Hunt’s withdrawal meant he made it onto the back of the grid. UK non-qualifiers were John MacDonald (March 713M), David Powers (March 723) and Brian McGuire (Brabham BT38), Tony Brise could have expected to make the race but his BT38 was stuck at Calais due to problems with the French Customs.

It was Williamson who led Jabouille into the first corner at the start and once in front he was confident that he could keep the other cars behind him due to the problem of overtaking at this circuit. Two drivers were out immediately, somebody moved over on Ulf Svensson who then hit Bernard Beguin’s Martini, both cars spun and retired. Ascending the hill behind the pits Ethuin spun the Narval and was struck by Knight’s Martini which reared up over a low guard rail and dropped down a 50 foot ravine, Knight suffered a broken collar bone but more seriously the spectating wife of a photographer received serious chest injuries.
Behind Williamson and Jabouille it was Guitteny, Jarier, Rousselot, Rabbione, Leclere and Coulon. Mike Walker was down in eleventh after being delayed at the start and out were Stan Matthews with broken throttle slides, Alain Serpaggi with no third or fourth gears and Rikki von Opel with a broken clutch. Despite Jabouille’s best efforts Williamson continued to lead and the two drivers were pulling away at a second a lap from the chasing pack. Rousselot moved up to third outbraking Guitteny and Jarier into the pits hairpin, Jarier and Leclere then had a great battle until a bit of a misunderstanding saw Leclere leave the track under braking and hit a course marker which damaged the Alpine’s suspension and causing its immediate retirement.
At half distance Williamson still led with Jabouille indulging in some fist-waving in second, third was Rabbione whose Martini had lost its airbox and as a result was flying, next came Rousselot, Guitteny, Jarier and Coulon. Further back Lacarrau was ahead of the Dhotel/Walker battle followed by Wood, Andersson, Lewis and Bond all of whom were spread out from each other. Next retirements were Lacarrau and Dhotel who hit each other when they were blinded by the dust raised by the helicopter dealing with the injured from the Richard Knight opening lap accident, Mike Walker was lucky to avoid the two colliding Martinis.

On lap 8 Williamson suddenly appeared on his own as Jabouille had hit the rear of the GRD under braking and had fallen back into the middle of the third place battle. Williamson was now able to relax and so at the end of the 10 laps it was the Englishman in first from Rabbione who was immediately disqualified for his lack of airbox this moved Rousselot up to second making it a GRD 1-2. Guitteny took third from the disgruntled Jabouille with Jarier fifth despite his March having lost most of its oil. At the end of the race all the leading cars were scrutineered and weighed in public, much to everyone’s relief, and happily they were all declared fully legal.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Clermont ferrand, 2 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: Clermont-Ferrand, 20 June 1971

clermont_20_6_71

Race Report: Clermont-Ferrand, 20 June 1971

clermont_20_6_71
The works Alpines finished 1-2 at Clermont Ferrand leading the other runners from start to finish. José Dolhem held third place after the Tecno-Novamotor of Christian Ethuin retired with a water leak until the Martini-BRM driver found himself in a battle with Migault’s Martini-Novamotor. At the chequered flag Migault got the verdict by one second from Dolhem, fifth went to Rousselot, whilst sixth went to Claude Bourgoignie despite a collision with Lacarrau’s Martini-Renault. Jean-Louis Lafosse was lucky to escape any injury following a high speed off in his Brabham-Holbay BT35. British based drivers who made the trip to France were out of luck, Andy Sutcliffe failing to qualify his Lotus 69 and American John Bisignano crashed his March 713M in qualifying fracturing his elbow.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Clermont-Ferrand, 20 June 1971

Qualifying

Patrick Depailler

Alpine-Renault A360 3:27.1

Fastest Lap

Jean-Pierre Jabouille

Alpine-Renault A360 3:26.8

Race

1 Patrick Depailler

Alpine-Renault A360 34:44.8 10

2 Jean-Pierre Jabouille

Alpine-Renault A360 34:45.1 10

3 François Migault

Martini-Novamotor MW7 35:36.2 10

4 José Dolhem

Martini-BRM MW7 35:37.2 10

5 Pierre-François Rousselot

Brabham-Holbay BT35 35:44.4 10

6 Claude Bourgoignie

Lotus-Holbay 69 35:52.1 10

7 François Rabbione

Martini-Novamotor MW7 35:53.0 10

8 Patrice Compain

Martini-Novamotor MW7 36:31.0 10

9 François Lacarrau

Martini-Renault MW7 37:04.0 10

10 Gérard Gourdon

Tecno-Renault 37:57.0 10