British Formula 3 1975
After the poor 1974 season, Formula 3 was completely revived in 1975, not just in Britain but in Italy, Sweden and Germany. The British series was dominated by three works operations: March, with drivers Gunnar Nilsson and Alex Ribeiro, Modus, with Danny Sullivan, and Safir, with Patrick Neve. There was also a works GRD operation but it was a failure and the company collapsed the following year. Nilsson was a worthy champion, winning five British championship events plus three others, including the opening round of the Swedish series in April.
The series continued to be a stepping stone to F1 with Nilsson, following a very successful late-season cameo in Formula Atlantic, securing a drive at Lotus for 1976. The March 753 was the dominant car with 32 podium finishes, followed by the Modus M1 with 10, the Safir with six, the new Ralt RT1 with five. Old GRDs and Brabhams shared the other four. The March 753 looked much like the previous year's F2 742 while the Modus was a development of the 1974 car. Ray Jessop's Safir was a one-off so apart from a handful of GRD 375s, the only other production F3 car was Ron Tauranac's new Ralt RT1.
The races
02 Mar 1975 > Thruxton
31 Mar 1975 > Thruxton
27 Apr 1975 > Silverstone
10 May 1975 > Monaco GP F3 Race at Monte Carlo
18 May 1975 > Brands Hatch
26 May 1975 > Thruxton
08 Jun 1975 > Anderstorp
15 Jun 1975 > Snetterton
29 Jun 1975 > Gran Premio della Lotteria at Monza
13 Jul 1975 > Cadwell Park
19 Jul 1975 > Silverstone
26 Jul 1975 > Oulton Park
03 Aug 1975 > Knockhill
17 Aug 1975 > Thruxton
25 Aug 1975 > Silverstone
31 Aug 1975 > Silverstone
07 Sep 1975 > Polydor Records Trophy at Brands Hatch
21 Sep 1975 > Brands Hatch
28 Sep 1975 > Silverstone
04 Oct 1975 > Oulton Park
26 Oct 1975 > Thruxton
15 Nov 1975 > Thruxton
Championship events shown in bold
BP Super Visco Championship table
| 1. | Gunnar Nilsson | works March 753-Toyota/Novamotor | 74 pts | 5 wins |
| 2. | Alex Ribeiro | works March 753-Toyota/Novamotor | 59 pts | 3 wins |
| 3. | Danny Sullivan | works Modus M1-Ford twin cam/Neil Brown, works Modus M1-Toyota/Novamotor |
59 pts | 3 wins |
| 4. | Patrick Neve | works Safir RJ03-Ford twin cam/Holbay, works Safir RJ03-Ford OHC/Holbay, |
50 pts | 1 win |
| 5. | Larry Perkins | Team Cowangie Ralt RT1-Ford/Novamotor, Team Cowangie Ralt RT1-Toyota/Novamotor |
40 pts | 2 wins |
This series ran over 19 rounds and used a 9-6-4-3-2-1 points system with an extra point awarded for fastest lap. Points tables from Autocourse 1975/76 p200.
Three rounds of the new European Championship also counted towards the British championship and these were won by Renzo Zorzi (Scuderia Mirabella Mille Miglia GRD 374-Lancia/Repetto), Conny Andersson (Rotel Racing Team March 753-Toyota/Novamotor) at Anderstorp and Perkins at Monza.
The other three championship rounds were won by Eddie Cheever (two races in his work Modus M1-Ford twin cam/Neil Brown) and Ingo Hoffmann (Creditum Investments Brazil March 753-Toyota/Novamotor). The three non-championship races covered here were won by Ribeiro, Perkins and Nilsson; Nilsson also won a minor race at Aintree in April.
The most successful engine of 1975 was Novamotor's Toyota twin-cam powerplant, maintained in the UK by John Penistan. At £2,900, it was nearly twice the price of Neil Brown's Ford twin-cam engines and a lot heavier but had a wider power range and won 11 of the 19 championship races. Seven of the other eight were won by Ford twin-cams with Novamotor's version proving the most successful ahead of the Neil Brown and Holbay versions. The other race, the Monaco GP F3 race, was won by a Lancia Beta twin-cam engine built by Repetto. Other engines to be seen included the BMW 2002 or M10 engine, built by Josef Schnitzer, Max Heidegger and Peter Schrick; the Ford Pinto or OHC engine developed by Holbay; and, right at the end of the season, a Triumph Dolomite Sprint engine built by Neil Brown.