Grand Prix de Pau

Pau, 20 Apr 1969

All cars are 1.6-litre F2 unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Lotus 59B [59-F2-19] (Jochen Rindt): New for 1969, and entered by Roy Winkelmann Racing for Jochen Rindt at Thruxton in April 1969, which the Austrian won. Driven by Alan Rollinson at Hockenheim, and then by Rindt again at Pau, which he also won. Rindt also won at Zolder and Tulln-Langenlebarn, and the car was driven at other races in 1969 by Rollinson, Roy Pike, Rolf Stommelen, and John Miles. According to Richard Spelberg's research, this car was converted to Lotus 69 specification for 1970, as F2.69.4.
2. Brabham BT23C [16] (Piers Courage): New to Frank Williams Racing Cars intended for Juan Manuel Bordeu to race in the F2 Argentine Temporada in December 1968. Retained by Williams for 1969 and raced for him by Piers Courage until his new BT30 was delivered. Earlier suggestions that this car was used by Gagliardi and Marcello Gallo in F3 in 1969 do not now appear to be correct. Sold to Alistair Walker and entered by him for Jacky Ickx to race late 1969, for Walker himself at Thruxton early 1970 and then in the Japanese GP at Fuji in May. Sold to Walter Kinnear (Gilford, County Down, Northern Ireland), fitted with a 1600cc Ford twin cam and raced by him in Irish libre racing from September 1970 to the end of the 1972 season. To John Blades (Whitley Bay, Northumberland) in part-exchange for Blades' Lotus 69 and advertised for sale by Blades in 1973. Sold to Joe Applegarth (Houghton-le-Spring, County Durham) who used parts from this car on his Monoposto Formula BT23C/5.
3. Tecno 68/F2 [T00 306] (François Cevert): New at the December 1968 Argentine Temporada as a works car for Jo Siffert but likely to have been the "brand new" spare car available for Clay Regazzoni at Vallelunga in October. Then a works entry for François Cévert in F2 in 1969, winning at Reims in June. Entered by Jolly Club for Giancarlo Gagliardi at two F2 races early in 1970 and then to Hervé Bayard for hillclimbs later in 1970. Bayard's car was described as "ex-Regazzoni" and a 1969 car, but identified by later owner Fred Marquet as chassis T00 306. Used in the 1971 French hillclimb series by Bayard with 1600cc FVA and 1800cc FVC engines. Then to Daniel Gache for 1972 and raced in the 1600cc G9 class. Unknown after the end of 1972 until acquired by Marquet from a M. Rabanel (Toulon, France) in 1987. Retained by Marquet in 2009.
4. Brabham BT23 [2] (Enzo Corti): Motor Racing Developments entry for Denny Hulme in 1967 and probably the car used by Jack Brabham for a few races in July and August after his usual car was sold to Mick Mooney. Then raced by Frank Gardner in September. It was then taken to the Tasman series for Denny Hulme to drive after he had wrecked BT23-5 at Pukekohe. The BT23 was then advertised by Frank Williams in early April and sold by him to Ernesto 'Tino' Brambilla in Italy. Brambilla raced it as a Scuderia Picchio Rosso entry at Tulln-Langenlebarn in July 1968, but was then recruited by Ferrari to drive the F2 Dino 166, and his BT23 was only seen once more that season, when driven by Enzo Corti at Vallelunga in October. Corti drove the car for Scuderia Picchio Rosso right through the 1969 season, and it was then raced a few times in early 1970 by Vittorio Brambilla, Tino's younger brother. In 1970, the car had BT30 sidepods and wings. Its last appearance was in July 1970, after which the brothers bought new Brabham BT30s. The next steps in the car's life remains unclear, but it is said to have been acquired by Antonio Bernardo (Lugano, Switzerland) some time in the early 1970s. An original claim that Bernardo acquired it directly from the Winkelmann Racing at the end of the 1967 season appears to have been a misunderstanding. He stored it unused "for over 30 years". It was bought from Bernardo in 2006, and restored between 2006 and 2010. Paint layers on the bodywork match the colours used by MRD and Corti, and the double-rollhoop also matches Corti's car, but some questions remain unanswered about this car as of February 2023.
5. Tecno 68/F2 [T00 304] (Nanni Galli): A brand new Tecno-FVA taken to the Argentine Temporada in December 1968 for local driver Andrea Vianini. Brought back into the factory Tecno team for 1969 and driven by Nanni Galli in the 1969 F2 series. Taken over by Clay Regazzoni at the Albi GP in September 1969 and crashed into the Armco on the opening lap of the race. Not seen again.
6. Merlyn Mk 12A [109?] (Robin Widdows): New for Bob Gerard's quasi-works F2 team in 1968, and raced early in the season by John Cardwell. This car was updated to MK 12A specification for 1969 and run alongside Gerard's Brabham BT23C for Robin Widdows and others. Advertised by Gerard Racing in January 1970 but not seen again until Pete Tester ran it in a libre race at Lydden in early 1973. Used by Peter Bull (London) in sprints that summer, by which time it had a BRM engine of some sort, and then advertised by Bull in September with a 1600cc Ford twin cam engine and FT200 gearbox. Bull bought a Brabham BT30 for 1974 and the later history of the Merlyn is unknown.
7. Pygmée MDB12 [269] (Eric Offenstadt): New for Eric Offenstadt to drive in Formula 2 in 1969. Wrecked when Offenstadt cartwheeled off the track after a driveshaft broke at Tulln-Langenlebarn in July. Rebuilt and sold to Pierre Maublanc (Rillieux-la-Pape, Rhône-Alpes), who used it in French hillclimbs in late 1969. Retained for 1970 and fitted with a 1800cc Cosworth FVC. To Richard Daniel for 1971, still with the FVC, but crashed at Brides-Méribel in August, when according to reports, "la Pygmée est pulvérisée".
8. Brabham BT23C [11] (Bill Ivy): New to Winkelmann Racing for Alan Rees to race in F2 in 1968 but also raced by Gerhard Mitter at Hockenheim in October. To Bill Ivey for 1969 and entered for him in F2 races by Paul Watson Racing Organisation (PWRO). To Brian Cullen (Limerick, County Limerick, Ireland) in August 1969 and he raced it in a F5000 race and in libre in 1969, in European F2 events in 1970, and at Bogotá in early 1971. Entered by Irish Racing Team for Lingard Goulding at Mondello Park in July 1971 and then maybe the BT23C raced by Ted Shanahan (Dublin) over the next two months and also possibly the BT23C raced by Roy Courtney (Lisburn, County Antrim, Northern Ireland) in local clubmans/club specials racing in 1972. To Harold McGarrity (Belfast) for 1973 and raced in Formula Ireland with a 1.6-litre Holbay engine. To Paddy Heron for 1974 and raced in clubmans and in Formula Atlantic. For sale from Glengormley in 1975 and entered by Belfast car dealer Noel Crymble for Chris Stanfield to race at Kirkistown a couple of times until the Holbay pushrod engine blew up. Next seen when bought from Ireland by Mark Raymont who still had it in the late 1980s with a Holbay engine and Hewland Mk 8 gearbox. Sold to Steve Worrad (Whitchurch, Shropshire) of Maverick Motorsport around 2002 and restored by him. For sale by Maverick in 2004 and sold the following year via the Bonhams auction at RAF Hendon to Joe Willenpart (Scheibbs, Austria).
9. Lotus 59B [59-F2-20] (Graham Hill): One of three Lotus 59Bs built for Roy Winkelmann Racing in F2 in 1969. This was Graham Hill's usual car, winning at Albi in September, but was driven at other races by Roy Pike, John Miles, Hans Herrmann, and Andrea de Adamich. According to Richard Spelberg's research, this car was converted to Lotus 69 specification for 1970, as F2.69.5.
10. Brabham BT30 [3] (Peter Westbury): New to Peter Westbury and used for a full season of European F2 in 1969, winning at Neubiberg in October. Sold to John Wingfield (London NW11) and used in libre and in selected F2 events in 1970 and 1971. In August 1971, Wingfield acquired a new BT36 and the BT30, still with its Felday-tuned FVA engine, was sold to Jim Charnock (Liverpool) for Formule Libre, starting at Rufforth in early September. Charnock won five races in the closing weeks of the 1971 season, then won three more in 1972, when he was a regular runner at Aintree. He continued with the car in 1973, when he competed at Aintree and in the BRDC Jaybrand Racewear Formule Libre series, and in 1974 and 1975 when he was mainly seen at Aintree. The car is then unknown until it was advertised by dealer Brian Classic (Bucklow Hill, Cheshire) as "chassis number 3" in June 1984. Sold to Chris Mann (UK) 1985 and then sold via Frank Sytner to Ray Delaney (Melbourne, Australia) in 1987. Raced by Delaney in east coast Australian historic events the next six years at Calder Raceway (Vic), Sandown Park (Vic), Oran Park (NSW), Amaroo Park (NSW), Winton Raceway (Vic) and the support races at the Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide (SA) in 1988 and 1989. Sold to Dick James in 1993. To Mike Carmody 2003 and sold by him to Tom Lee (Puyallup, WA) October 2005. Restored for 2007 to its original livery.
11. Pygmée MDB12 [169] (Patrick Dal Bo): New for Patrick Dal Bo in Formula 2 in 1969. To Jean Lachaud (Sainte-Colombe, Rhône, France) for hillclimbs in 1970, still with its 1600cc Cosworth FVA engine. To Marc Pozet (Trévoux, Lyon, Ain) for hillclimbs in 1971. To Georges Détalante (Dijon, Burgundy) for 1972, fitted with a 1600cc Cosworth BDA and used in mainly regional hillclimbs in 1972 and 1973. Advertised by him in October 1974. Also advertised as "ex-Pozet" in May 1975. Identified by Gérard Gamand as the car of Bruno Sotty (Dijon, Burgundy) at Mont Dore in 1974. As Sotty and Détalante both lived in Dijon, Sotty may have borrowed the car. According to Gérard Gamand and Didier Martin's research, this is the car later owned by Etienne Maire and Thierry Parriaux, which was last in 1985 when it was advertised by Noël Faillace (Bastia, Corsica), when it was fitted with a 1300cc Renault Gordini engine. Subsequent history unknown, but in the late 1990s, a MDB12 with a Renault engine was acquired by Stephan Kupka of Mec Auto in Belgium, who initially thought it was a F/Renault. It was still with him, unrestored, in 2009.

Sources

Note that the identification of individual cars in these results is based on the material presented elsewhere in this site and may in some cases contradict the organisers' published results.

All comments, clarifications, corrections and additions are most welcome. Please email Allen (allen@oldracingcars.com) if you can help in any way with our research.

Individual sources for this event

Autosport (25 Apr 1969 pp10-12) did not give chassis numbers but reported whether drivers were in their regular cars. The only uncertainty would be the number of Beltoise's MS7.