Race Report: Snetterton, 15 June 1975

snetterton_15_6_75

Race Report: Snetterton, 15 June 1975

snetterton_15_6_75

Another round of the BP Super Visco Static British F3 Championship, Alex Ribeiro took pole position from Dick Parsons in his Modus M1 with the works car of Danny Sullivan completing the front row.

It began to rain just before the start of the race and all the teams had to scurry around to fit wet weather tyres in a hurry. After the warm up lap the cars lined up on the grid in a very untidy manner, as can be seen from the picture at the top of this page both Ribeiro and Sullivan on the front row stopped ahead of their correct starting position.

Nilsson made a great start from the second row and leapt straight into the lead, Ribeiro made a complete hash of his getaway with his car apparently in reverse, Ribeiro got away last and made it all the way to Sear where he hit the spun Ray of Stephen South. Ribeiro works March was written off and South got a heavy bang on the head that left him a little dazed. Also out on the first lap was Parsons when he tried to take the lead from Nilsson at Russell, he left the track and hit the bank.
Pierre Dieudonné moved his March up to second place followed by Sullivan, Patrick Neve and Ingo Hoffman. Sullivan soon lost places to Neve and Hoffman as his engine began to misfire in the wet conditions, and he fell further back as the Marches of Chris Barnett and Hervé Regout demoted him and then Tony Rouff’s Ehrlich and Ian Taylor’s GRD followed suit.
As the race moved on to lap 17 and the track began to dry out Dieudonné began to close up on Nilsson and Neve lost a place to Hoffman as his engine suffered from fuel injection bothers. Hoffman’s March was suffering from a battered nosecone but it didn’t seem to be hampering the Brazilian’s progress. Despite Dieudonné closing in Nilsson kept his nerve and held on to take the win by just over three seconds. Neve fell further back on lap 24 when Chris Barnett passed him after a steady drive and Regout nearly caught Neve on the line but the Belgian held onto fifth by 0.2 seconds.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Snetterton, 15 June 1975

Race Heat 1

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 20:09.40

2 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 20:09.50

3 Luigi Fontanesi

Tecno-Ford 20:13.10

4 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 20:23.40

Race Heat 2

1 Giovanni Lo Voi

Brabham-Ford BT28 15:05.00

2 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 15:05.00

3 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 15:21.00

4 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 15:34.10

5 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28

Race Final

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 30:44.30 144.318

2 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28 30:44.34

3 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 30:45.10

4 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 30:55.40

5 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

6 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 31:11.50

7 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 31:59.60

8 Giovanni Lo Voi

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

Race Report: Snetterton, 28 July 1974

snetterton_28_7_74

Race Report: Snetterton, 28 July 1974

snetterton_28_7_74

With a race at Oulton Park the day before it was fortunate that most of the main runners all arrived at Snetterton for this Lombard North Central round, the only notable absentee being José Espirito Santo. Two new runners were both returnees, Pedro Passadore in a GRD 374 and Mike Tyrrell in a March 733 so a grand total of eleven runners made it to Norfolk. It was Alex Ribeiro who set the fastest time in practice ahead of championship leader Brian Henton although there was some dispute about the times given to some of the drivers.

Ribeiro lead lap 1, Henton lead lap 2 to 15, business as usual, Ribeiro stayed with Henton for a lap but then fell away to finish nearly 8 seconds behind at the end. The only problem Henton had was in having to twice lap the incredibly slow GRD of Len Smith, Ribeiro having similar problems, nearly being taken off the track at Russell as he tried to find a way through.

Tony Rouff made a very slow getaway after stripping second gear and he was down in ninth at the end of lap 1 but he pulled his way up to the fourth place battle between Nicholas von Preussen (March), Pedro Passadore, Barry Maskell (Dastle) and Marcos Moraes (GRD). Jose Chateaubriand retired the second works March at this point with a blown engine, his second of the weekend after loosing one in practice.
Maskell moved his Dastle up to third passing the von Preussen March but Rouff had disposed of the other runners and closed in on Maskell overtaking him at Coram when the Dastle understeered wide. Fifth went to von Preussen from Passadore, Moraes and Derek Lawrence who was hampered with a broken temperature gauge.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Snetterton, 28 July 1974

Race Heat 1

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 20:09.40

2 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 20:09.50

3 Luigi Fontanesi

Tecno-Ford 20:13.10

4 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 20:23.40

Race Heat 2

1 Giovanni Lo Voi

Brabham-Ford BT28 15:05.00

2 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 15:05.00

3 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 15:21.00

4 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 15:34.10

5 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28

Race Final

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 30:44.30 144.318

2 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28 30:44.34

3 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 30:45.10

4 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 30:55.40

5 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

6 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 31:11.50

7 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 31:59.60

8 Giovanni Lo Voi

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

Race Report: Snetterton, 30 June 1974

snetterton_30_6_74

Race Report: Snetterton, 30 June 1974

snetterton_30_6_74

It was originally planned to run F Fords who hadn’t qualified for their main race in with the F3s but after a fraught qualifying session the 12 F3 drivers protested the stupidity of this arrangement and the F Fords were given their own race.

Unsurprisingly it was Brian Henton who planted his works March 743 on pole position ahead of Nicholas von Preussen and Alex Ribeiro who had to have his GRD rebuilt after damaging two corners with an off at Riches in private practice the week before. Tony Rouff was stranded at the rear of the grid following a lack of oil pressure in his GRD’s engine.

It began to rain as the cars came onto the grid and after two warm up laps everybody except the three front row men and Julio Caio opted for wet tyres for the race. Then as the cars sat on the grid first Ribeiro and the von Preussen switched to wets and after another exploratory lap and a near spin at Coram Henton joined them just leaving Caio on dries.
Some 20 minutes later than scheduled the race finally got under way and although Preussen got the jump on the others by Russell it was Ribeiro in the lead followed by Henton, von Preussen and the rest. Of the others Rouff got away late, Marcos Moraes spun his March and Caio was dropping back on his slicks. Ribeiro’s lead lasted for a couple of laps before both von Preussen and Henton overtook the GRD whilst further down the field “Teleco” and Dick Parsons had a coming together at Sear, the Brazilian lost his nosecone and the Smiths Crisps Ensign retired with a broken wheel.
Back at the front it was a two way battle for the lead between von Preussen and Henton with a gap back to a battling Ribeiro and Barrie Maskell in his Dastle then a further gap to the fifth place fight between Derek Lawrence (Ehrlich), Jose Chateaubriand (March) and Rouff. Henton continued to harass von Preussen at the front the works March sliding more and more as Henton’s tyres wore down and over the last few laps von Preussen was in similar difficulties but the older March seemed quicker along the straights and von Preussen held onto win by a couple of car lengths. Six laps from the finish Maskell moved the Dastle up to third ahead of Ribeiro, the 1.7-litre engine in the Dastle less of a handicap in the wet, the rest of the field came home fairly well separated as the now dry track caused their wets to wear and chunk badly.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Snetterton, 30 June 1974

Race Heat 1

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 20:09.40

2 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 20:09.50

3 Luigi Fontanesi

Tecno-Ford 20:13.10

4 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 20:23.40

Race Heat 2

1 Giovanni Lo Voi

Brabham-Ford BT28 15:05.00

2 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 15:05.00

3 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 15:21.00

4 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 15:34.10

5 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28

Race Final

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 30:44.30 144.318

2 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28 30:44.34

3 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 30:45.10

4 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 30:55.40

5 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

6 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 31:11.50

7 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 31:59.60

8 Giovanni Lo Voi

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

Race Report: Snetterton, 12 May 1974

snetterton_12_5_74

Race Report: Snetterton, 12 May 1974

snetterton_12_5_74

It was 12 cars for the latest round of the Forward Trust Championship and it was Alex Ribeiro who had racked up hundreds of miles of testing at Snetterton who took pole position.

As the cars lined up on the grid front row man Brian Henton was missing, his engine had cut out on the warm up lap and his starter then failed stranding his car out on the track. Ribeiro went into an immediate lead from the start chased by Buzz Buzaglo in second but by the end of the lap Pedro Passadore who had had his practice hampered by the loss of fifth gear had moved his GRD up to second. Buzaglo found himself back in third with Jose Chateaubriand in fourth ahead of Tony Rouff who had suffered carburettor problems in practice. These leading five were having quite a close battle until lap 4 when Passadore retired with tyre problems and Tony Rouff had made a great overtaking manoeuvre to take second.
Buzaglo found his car beginning to cut out and it finally stopped for good at Coram allowing Chateaubriand up to third. Next came the battling pair of Nick von Preussen and Indonesian Hany Wiano in the second Ippokampos March, Wiano was desperately trying to pass von Preussen and on the last lap he got it all wrong at Russell and hit the pit Armco slightly damaging the car. Luis Moraes (brother of Marcos) moved his Team Brasil GRD up to fifth ahead of Peter Dugdale’s March. Tony Rouff began making inroads into Ribeiro’s lead over the closing laps but there weren’t enough laps left and Ribeiro took his first win of the season.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Snetterton, 12 May 1974

Race Heat 1

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 20:09.40

2 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 20:09.50

3 Luigi Fontanesi

Tecno-Ford 20:13.10

4 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 20:23.40

Race Heat 2

1 Giovanni Lo Voi

Brabham-Ford BT28 15:05.00

2 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 15:05.00

3 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 15:21.00

4 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 15:34.10

5 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28

Race Final

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 30:44.30 144.318

2 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28 30:44.34

3 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 30:45.10

4 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 30:55.40

5 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

6 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 31:11.50

7 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 31:59.60

8 Giovanni Lo Voi

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

Race Report: Snetterton, 8 July 1973

snetterton_8_7_73

Race Report: Snetterton, 8 July 1973

snetterton_8_7_73

The field for this Lombard North Central round was quite severely curtailed by non-starters, the travails of Paul Ricard proving particularly taxing. Pole position went to Alan Jones’ GRD from the March of Masami Kuwashima and the second DART GRD of Pedro Passadore. Row two saw an uncomfortable Richard Robarts (broken ribs due to a diving accident) heading Brazilian Leonel Friedrich. Third row occupants Ian Taylor and Tony Brise both from suffered engine problems, Taylor a misfire and Brise a blown Holbay after four laps.

There were problems before the start when “Teleco”‘s March refused to start in the paddock as did the Vegantune of pole man Jones, a change of master switch seemed to cure the problem but then the GRD refused to start again on the grid. The rest of the field started leaving Jones to get away well after the others in last place after a push. It was Passadore that took the lead from Kuwashima but at the Hairpin Taylor moved to the front from Passadore, Kuwashima and Rouff although lap 2 saw Rouff drop behind Friedrich and Robarts. Derek Lawrence was now running in sixth ahead of the March 733 of Nick Crossley whilst further back Brise was out with yet another blown engine and Jones was already making his way through the back markers.
Lawrence was gradually being dropped by the leaders and on lap 5 Kuwashima moved up to second and Friedrich and Passadore fought over third place swopping places on a number of occasions. Robarts was next out when a tyre failed at Riches and Lawrence found himself being passed by Jones on lap 6. The same lap saw Kuwashima try for the lead at Riches, for a moment he seemed to have done it but he lost control of his March and spun off the track. Friedrich was now on the move, on lap 11 he demoted Passadore and set off after Taylor. Passadore began to drop back with a puncture and just as he was about to loose a place to Rouff both men found themselves being overtaken by the flying Alan Jones.
Taylor managed to keep his March ahead of Friedrich to the finish helped by the Brazilian being another to suffer a puncture in the closing laps, Jones took an excellent third on the road although his push start penalty dropped him to fourth behind Rouff but ahead of Lawrence.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Snetterton, 8 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: Snetterton, 13 May 1973

snetterton_13_5_73

Race Report: Snetterton, 13 May 1973

snetterton_13_5_73

Japanese driver Masami Kuwashima showed that switching to a March had been a good idea by annexing pole position for this round of the Lombard North Central Championship, he was joined on the front row by Alan Jones and Ian Taylor. Russell Wood found himself back on the eighth row, his March was handling badly following a midweek practice shunt. Damien Magee was a non-starter his Brabham BT41 undergoing a weight saving programme as it was some 40 lbs over the minimum weight limit.

Although practice had been held in the dry it was raining very hard come the race and conditions were very tricky. Alan Jones made a very quick getaway, too quick the stewards adjudged and he received a one minute penalty, the Australian led briefly until he was swiftly demoted down the field.

By the hairpin on lap 1 it was Masami Kuwashima from Ian Taylor, Leonel Friedrich and Jose Santo in his March 733 fourth. Taylor moved into the lead on lap 2 with Tony Brise having moved up to third ahead of Freidrich, Neil Ginn and Mike Wilds. Taylor’s lead lasted a lap as Brise moved to the front and the GRD man quickly pulled out a three second lead that he would hold to the finish. Kuwashima was out on lap 3 when his March left the track and Taylor joined him in retirement on lap 16 when water in the electrics gave his March a terminal misfire.
Thus at the finish it was Brise from a steady Freidrich, Wilds who was driving with one eye on the following week’s John Player round, Neil Ginn took a good fourth ahead of Russell Wood. Alan Jones finished seventh on the road before the addition of his jump start penalty, he had driven most of the race with a flat front tyre!

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Snetterton, 13 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: Snetterton, 1 April 1973

snetterton_1_4_73

Race Report: Snetterton, 1 April 1973

snetterton_1_4_73

The track was wet as the cars came out to practice for this second round of the Forward Trust Championship and during the session it began to dry out causing some confusion as to whether to run wet or dry tyres. At the end of qualifying it was Mike Wilds who set the best lap in his Dempster Developments Ensign ahead of Ian Taylor and Brian Henton who had switched to dries at the end of the session after puncturing one of his wets. Fourth fastest and going well in only his second F3 race was Australian Larry Perkins in his year-old GRD.

Mike Wilds made the best start hotly pursued by Henton who soon lost his place to Ian Taylor, it wasn’t Henton’s day as he spun at the Hairpin on the opening lap dropping to thirteenth. At the end of the first lap it was Mike Wilds from Ian Taylor, Alan Jones, Mo Harness in his Ensign and Neil Ginn’s GRD. Jones moved into the lead on lap 2 with Wilds dropping to third behind Taylor whilst Harness was closing on these two. Jones began to pull away from the rest as fifth place runner Ginn was out when his Novamotor threw a rod, Richard Robarts moved up to take Ginn’s place closely pursued by Masami Kuwashima. The Japanese driver’s run was soon over when his clutch failed as was the Royale of Andy Sutcliffe with similar problems.
As Jones extended his lead at the front of the field the battle for second intensified and Wilds who had moved back to second found himself demoted by Taylor at the Esses on lap 11. Wilds wasn’t about to give in without a struggle and fought back hard over the next three laps and he regained second again at the Esses. Into the last lap and it was Jones who took the flag some eight seconds ahead of Mo Harness, to the amazement of Wilds and Taylor the Ensign of Harness got through to second at the Hairpin on the final tour and coolly held on to the finish.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Snetterton, 1 April 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: Snetterton, 8 October 1972

snetterton_8_10_72

Race Report: Snetterton, 8 October 1972

snetterton_8_10_72

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Snetterton, 8 October 1972

Race Heat 1

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 20:09.40

2 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 20:09.50

3 Luigi Fontanesi

Tecno-Ford 20:13.10

4 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 20:23.40

Race Heat 2

1 Giovanni Lo Voi

Brabham-Ford BT28 15:05.00

2 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 15:05.00

3 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 15:21.00

4 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 15:34.10

5 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28

Race Final

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 30:44.30 144.318

2 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28 30:44.34

3 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 30:45.10

4 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 30:55.40

5 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

6 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 31:11.50

7 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 31:59.60

8 Giovanni Lo Voi

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

Race Report: Snetterton, 26 March 1972

snetterton

Race Report: Snetterton, 26 March 1972

snetterton

33 cars arrived at Snetterton for round two of the Lombard North Central round, sadly they would only be given 10 laps to strut their stuff.

The track was damp in places for practice and wets were the order of the day for all the drivers, fastest was Mike Walker’s Ensign LN2 from Andy Sutcliffe (GRD 372) and Chris Skeaping (Chevron B20). Row two saw the Palliser WDF3 of Damien Magee sitting next to the Brabham BT38 of Tony Brise who fitted a rear wing when he found the back end of the car a little loose. Rousselot headed row three his GRD running better than of late, whilst next runner Tom Pryce was trying a rear wing but found it was hampering his straight line speed. Roger Williamson sat on the outside of the row, he like all the March 723 runners was unhappy with the handling of the car, the wide track at the front causing wandering problems. Drivers further down than normal were Ian Ashley on row nine with engine and tyre problems and Peter Hull who only managed one lap after a brake pipe failed on his Brabham.

It was Mike Walker who put his Ensign into the lead at Riches on what was now a dry track whilst the next dozen or so cars furiously slipstreamed each other around the lap, over the line at the end of lap one it was Walker from Magee with a damaged nose, Sutcliffe, Brise, Williamson, Maskell, Purley and Skeaping. Lap 2 saw Magee put the wheels of the Palliser on the grass at the Esses immediately spinning, this allowed Walker and Sutcliffe to get away from Maskell and Williamson who were delayed by the gyrating Irishman. Walker began to pull away from Sutcliffe despite grabbing brakes and a problem with third gear selection, the GRD in turn being well clear of Maskell, Williamson, Brise, Pryce and Purley. Brise put his Brabham in third place on lap 5 but it was Williamson again on lap 6, the March was going very quickly despite its wayward handling. It was all change on lap 7 when Walker had to pull off as his engine lost oil pressure along the Norwich Straight and he switched it off rather than risk damaging it.
This left a surprised Sutcliffe out in front with Williamson starting to edge away from the chasing group in second, Williamson really starting flying in the last few laps in an attempt to catch Sutcliffe but the GRD took the flag 3 seconds ahead of the March. It had been Maskell in third until lap 9 when worsening gear selection caused him to spin and then retire when all the gears disappeared. It was Brise who took third ahead of Pryce, Purley and a fast closing von Opel.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Snetterton, 26 March 1972

Race Heat 1

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 20:09.40

2 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 20:09.50

3 Luigi Fontanesi

Tecno-Ford 20:13.10

4 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 20:23.40

Race Heat 2

1 Giovanni Lo Voi

Brabham-Ford BT28 15:05.00

2 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 15:05.00

3 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 15:21.00

4 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 15:34.10

5 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28

Race Final

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 30:44.30 144.318

2 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28 30:44.34

3 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 30:45.10

4 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 30:55.40

5 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

6 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 31:11.50

7 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 31:59.60

8 Giovanni Lo Voi

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

Race Report: Snetterton, 3 October 1971

snetterton_3_10_71

Race Report: Snetterton, 3 October 1971

snetterton_3_10_71

Despite Dave Walker already having won the Shell Super Oil Championship an excellent entry of 47 cars arrived at Snetterton, it was therefore decided to run two heats and a final. 

Pole position for heat one was a new, if experienced face, Mike Walker in the works Ensign-Holbay, other front row occupants were Colin Vandervell’s understeering Brabham B35 and Roger Williamson’s oversteering March 713M after an overnight engine change.

Row two belonged to two drivers who had been going very well recently, Peter Hull in his Brabham BT28 and Peter Lawrence in the Palliser WDF3, next up were Brian McGuire’s BT28, Rikki von Opel’s Lotus 69 and and Bev Bond’s March 713M. McGuire was a non-starter after extensively bending the Brabham with an off during practice and Bond needed a clutch change. Richard Longman’s Lotus on the next row was another driver in clutch trouble, next to him was Brendan McInerney in the works March 713M. David Purley (Ensign LN1) was quickest of the fifth row ahead of John Bisignano and Wolfgang Bülow both in their March 713s, the sixth row was made up of Swedes Ingvar Petersson and Jan Persson in their BT35s. Next up was a surprise face, Alan McCully in the works Alexis Mk20, McCully found the car very unsorted but felt it had promise, next to him was a new face, Max Bonnin in a BT28 and finishing the row was a new car to British F3 a de Sanctis driven by Sandro Cinotti, sadly the de Sanctis was to be a non-starter with a broken driveshaft. Final runners were Roger Hurst in a March 703 and another debutante, Fernando Natividade’s Lotus 69 who non-started after an off at the Esses on his second lap of practice.

Two notable non-starters from the second heat were James Hunt who had a torn arm ligament after an off caused by a broken shock absorber in unofficial practice and Alan Jones who was caught out when another car braked unexpectedly in front of him and his BT28 was flipped up into the air fortunately without personal injury. Pole sitter was, as expected, Dave Walker’s GLTL 69 which needed an engine change after a cam broke in his Novamotor during unofficial practice. Surprise second quickest was Ian Ashley who was having an outing in the EMC 606 formerly driven by Jody Scheckter, final front row occupant was Pierre-François Rousselot’s BT35. Andy Sutcliffe, his Lotus suffering from a bad misfire and Barrie Maskell whose Chevron was wearing intermediates made up row 2 with row 3 consisting of Manfred Möhr (Lotus 69), Peter Lamplough (Palliser) and Steve Thompson (Ensign). Ulf Svensson took the next spot from Chris Skeaping who replaced his problematical Rowland engine with his original lump. Conny Andersson was disappointed to be so far back with his BT35 but he led Matt Spitzley’s March and Fabrizio Noe’s Lotus. French visitor Lucien Guitteny (Martini) was followed by Tim Goss (March), a group of Brabham BT35s were next, Chris O’Brien headed Portugal’s Jorge Pinhol followed by newcomers Hannu Stroh and Mimo Bertoni. Richard Mallock had taken over from brother Ray in the U2 but broken cam followers meant a non-start. Final runners were Stan Matthews who had fuel pump bothers with his BT28 and Cavan Riley in his March.

Vandervell took an immediate lead at the start of heat one, opening up a small gap to Williamson and Mike Walker with Lawrence, Hull, Purley and McInerney forming another group behind the three leaders. At the front the lead was constantly changing all round the track but on lap 7 Williamson took over in the lead as Vandervell began to drop back with a broken valve spring and Walker found himself embroiled in a battle with Lawrence until the Palliser spun and retired with no oil. At the finish it was Williamson from Walker with von Opel in third after a good drive, Vandervell held onto fourth from Hull and Purley who had a last lap puncture. Bev Bond was another to suffer a puncture which caused his retirement after 6 laps but he had already been suffering from a slipping clutch.

Dave Walker was slow away from the grid so it was Rousselot and Ashley fighting for the lead at the start of heat two, sadly for Ashley he beached the car on the bank at the Esses when trying too hard to pass the Frenchman. Dave Walker moved up to second ahead of Sutcliffe, Maskell and Lamplough and on lap 2 the Walker’s GLTL 69 took the lead he would hold to the finish. Rousselot, Sutcliffe, Maskell and Lamplough battled it out for second place with the French BT35 taking the position at the flag from Sutcliffe and Lamplough, Maskell fell back to sixth when his nosecone dropped off on the final lap. Chris Skeaping was going well in eighth when his engine cut out on the last lap causing him to finish well down the field in 16th place.

The final was made up of the first 15 cars in each heat and with one non-starter Chris Skeaping should have been allowed in as first reserve but apparently this was too complicated for the officials who wouldn’t let the unfortunate Skeaping on the grid. As the cars were forming up on the grid a heavy mist began to fall and it started to rain, this caused a certain amount of consternation amongst the drivers not to say confusion and a several teams changed their tyres. When the music stopped of the front runners, Dave and Mike Walker, Sutcliffe and Lamplough were on slicks, Williamson, Rousselot and von Opel chose intermediates and Vandervell opted for full wets.
With the track still only slightly damp Sutcliffe led away on his slicks and was in front at the end of lap 1 but for the next four laps it was Williamson’s March ahead at the line, behind these two there was a scrapping group of Purley, Lamplough, Mike Walker, Rousselot and Dave Walker. By the sixth lap the track had dried out and Williamson began to struggle on his unsuitable tyres, his cause made even more difficult by the fact that the tyres were fitted to 10 inch wheels all round, whilst Sutcliffe and Lamplough took their turn to have a go at leading the race with the two Walkers and Purley in close attendance. Lap 11 saw Lamplough out with a puncture and the the two Walkers both having a time in the lead, the Aussie leading for lap 11 to 17 and then the Brit having his turn. The GLTL 69 moved back to the front again after a lap with Sutcliffe, the other Walker and Purley right behind. Williamson was falling even further back on his intermediates and Vandervell had the ignominy of being lapped in second from last position on his wet tyres.
Suddenly the pattern changed as Dave Walker spun falling to fifth well behind the leaders but he immediately started an amazing charge catching the leaders by as much as 4 seconds a lap, he was helped by Sutcliffe being put off at Ritches by a backmarker, Williamson was also involved in the accident and he found himself being spun round by Tim Goss. The next lap saw the rain return this time quite hard which wasn’t good news for leaders Mike Walker and David Purley or the hard charging Dave Walker in third, all of whom were slick-shod, Williamson and Maskell, the next two runners, were now well down on the leaders. Mike Walker was the first to be in trouble when he went straight off at the hairpin and on the next lap David Purley aquaplaned uncontrollably in front of the pits and a potentially very serious accident took place, I can do no better than quote from the Autosport report;In all the confusion Dave Walker retook the lead while round the circuit cars were spinning everywhere and yellow flags were waving at every corner, Walker spun again but the officials decided to wave the chequered flag and the Lotus driver was the winner. The rest was mostly confusion but the final results as they were declared are shown below, Williamson’s low position being explained by a pit stop to fix a lose wire.

 

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Snetterton, 3 October 1971

Qualifying Heat 1

1 Mike Walker

Ensign-Holbay LN1 1:31.4

2 Colin Vandervell

Brabham-Vegantune BT35 1:32.0

3 Roger Williamson

March-Holbay 713M 1:32.4

4 Peter Hull

Brabham-Vegantune BT28 1:32.4

5 Derek Lawrence

Palliser-BRM WDF3 1:32.4

6 Brian McGuire

Brabham-Vegantune BT28 1:32.6 (DNS)

7 Rikki von Opel

Lotus-Holbay 69 1:32.6

8 Bev Bond

March-Holbay 713M 1:33.6

9 Richard Longman

Lotus-Novamotor 69 1:33.8

10 Brendan McInerney

March-Vegantune 713M 1:33.8

11 David Purley

Ensign-Vegantune LN1 1:34.0

12 John Bisignano

March-Holbay 713M 1:34.2

13 Wolfgang Bülow

March-Novamotor 713M 1:35.6

14 Ingvar Petersson

Brabham-Holbay BT35 1:35.6

15 Jan Persson

Brabham-Holbay BT35 1:35.6

16 Terrance Peterson

Chevron-Vegantune B17B 1:36.0

17 Bengt Radmyr

Lotus-Holbay 69 1:36.2

18 Willi Deutsch

March-Novamotor 713S 1:36.6

19 Alan McCully

Alexis-Vegantune Mk20 1:37.8

20 Max Bonnin

Brabham-Novamotor BT28 ?

21 Sandro Cinotti

de Sanctis-Novamotor ?

22 Roger Hurst

March-Rowland 703 ?

23 Fernando Natividade

Lotus-Vegantune 69 ?

Qualifying Heat 1

1 Dave Walker

Lotus-Novamotor 69 1:31.6

2 Ian Ashley

EMC 606 1:32.4

3 Pierre-François Rousselot

Brabham-Holbay BT35 1:32.4

4 Andy Sutcliffe

Lotus-Holbay 69 1:32.6

5 Barrie Maskell

Chevron-Holbay B18 1:32.6

6 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Novamotor 69 1:32.6

7 Peter Lamplough

Palliser-Holbay WDF3 1:32.6

8 Steve Thompson

Ensign-Vegantune LN1 1:33.2

9 Ulf Svensson

Brabham-Holbay BT35 1:33.2

10 Chris Skeaping

Chevron-Skeaping B17 1:33.4

11 Conny Andersson

Brabham-Holbay BT35 1:33.8

12 Matt Spitzley

March-Vegantune 713M 1:34.6

13 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Novamotor 69 1:34.8

14 Lucien Guitteny

Martini-BRM MW7 1:35.0

15 Tim Goss

March-Holbay/Middleton 713M 1:35.0

16 Chris O'Brien

Brabham-Holbay BT35 1:35.8

17 Jorge Pinhol

Brabham-Holbay BT35 ?

18 Hannu Stroh

Brabham-Albert BT35 ?

19 Mimo Bertoni

Brabham-Novamotor BT35 ?

20 Richard Mallock

U2-Holbay Mk11 ? (DNS)

21 Stan Matthews

Brabham-Holbay BT28 ?

22 Cavan Riley

March-Novamotor 713M ?

Qualifying Heat 2

1 Dave Walker

Lotus-Novamotor 69 1:31.6

2 Ian Ashley

EMC 606 1:32.4

3 Pierre-François Rousselot

Brabham-Holbay BT35 1:32.4

4 Andy Sutcliffe

Lotus-Holbay 69 1:32.6

5 Barrie Maskell

Chevron-Holbay B18 1:32.6

6 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Novamotor 69 1:32.6

7 Peter Lamplough

Palliser-Holbay WDF3 1:32.6

8 Steve Thompson

Ensign-Vegantune LN1 1:33.2

9 Ulf Svensson

Brabham-Holbay BT35 1:33.2

10 Chris Skeaping

Chevron-Skeaping B17 1:33.4

11 Conny Andersson

Brabham-Holbay BT35 1:33.8

12 Matt Spitzley

March-Vegantune 713M 1:34.6

13 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Novamotor 69 1:34.8

14 Lucien Guitteny

Martini-BRM MW7 1:35.0

15 Tim Goss

March-Holbay/Middleton 713M 1:35.0

16 Chris O'Brien

Brabham-Holbay BT35 1:35.8

17 Jorge Pinhol

Brabham-Holbay BT35 ?

18 Hannu Stroh

Brabham-Albert BT35 ?

19 Mimo Bertoni

Brabham-Novamotor BT35 ?

20 Richard Mallock

U2-Holbay Mk11 ? (DNS)

21 Stan Matthews

Brabham-Holbay BT28 ?

22 Cavan Riley

March-Novamotor 713M ?

Race

1 Dave Walker

Lotus-Novamotor 69 15:38.0 10 104.01

2 Pierre-François Rousselot

Brabham-Holbay BT35 15:42.6 10

3 Andy Sutcliffe

Lotus-Holbay 69 15:43.2 10 8

4 Peter Lamplough

Palliser-Holbay WDF3 15:43.4 10

5 Ulf Svensson

Brabham-Holbay BT35 15:49.4 10

6 Barrie Maskell

Chevron-Holbay B18 15:50.6 10

7 Steve Thompson

Ensign-Vegantune LN1 15:50.6 10

8 Jorge Pinhol

Brabham-Holbay BT35 16:16.4 10

9 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Novamotor 69 16:21.0 10

10 Stan Matthews

Brabham-Holbay BT28 16:21.8 10

11 Mimo Bertoni

Brabham-Novamotor BT35 16:22.2 10

12 Tim Goss

March-Holbay/Middleton 713M 16:23.2 10

13 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Novamotor 69 16:29.0 10

14 Matt Spitzley

March-Vegantune 713M 16:38.0 10

15 Cavan Riley

March-Novamotor 713M 16:41.2 10

16 Chris Skeaping

Chevron-Skeaping B17 16:58.4 10

17 Chris O'Brien

Brabham-Holbay BT35 17:15.0 10

18 Lucien Guitteny

Martini-BRM MW7